GESNERA HONDENSIS — CARNATION AND PICOTEE. 
179 
Spanish Dwarf Potato is so very dif- 
ferent in appearance from every other variety 
of Potatoe which is cultivated, that it attracts 
the attention of almost every person who sees 
it. It is so dwarf as not to exceed four inches 
in height ; its stems rather spread on the 
ground, they are dark green, strong, branch- 
ing, and hairy ; the joints are very close ; the 
leaflets dark green, hirsute, and slightly undu- 
lated ; the petioles rather long; the pinnules 
numerous. It does not produce blossoms. 
The tubers are oblong, middle-sized, with few 
eyes, their skin yellow and smooth ; the flesh 
yellow ; when dressed they are tolerably good 
and mealy. The sets continue a long time 
dormant, and do not shoot so as to show above 
the surface of the ground till after some of 
the early varieties are fit for use. By this it 
escapes all injury from spring frosts. It is a 
moderate bearer, and late in ripening. 
i Ona-tttird natural size-) 
Gl.SNERA HONDENSIS. 
(Humboldt.) 
THE HONDA GESNERA. 
Almost every plant of this family is a 
beautiful object when properly cultivated ; and 
the only reason why they are not now gene- 
rally grown, is that they fequire a high tem- 
perature, such as that of a hot-house or a hot- 
bed. Among the free-growing herbaceous 
Glass of stove plants they are very conspicuous 
from their beauty. 
Gesnera Hondensis has a tuberous root, 
as have most of the species : its stems 
are herbaceous and hairy, and grow erect, 
about a foot or rather more in height ; 
they are thickly set, with opposite spreading 
acutely-ovate hairy leaves, from the axils of 
which the flowers are produced, sometimes 
solitary, but more frequently two or three 
together from the same axil ; they are tubular 
and sub-ventricose, rather more than an inch 
long, of a yellow colour, but clothed nearly 
their whole length with shaggy bright red 
hairs, giving the flower quite a deep orange 
hue, yellow at the end from the absence of 
the hairs. 
The plant has been long known to botanists, 
though it is new to our gardens. Humboldt 
originally discovered it at Honda, in New 
Granada ; and from the same neighbourhood 
Mr. Purdie sent some of its tubers to the 
Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, where they 
arrived during the earl}' part of 1845. One 
of these, it appears, bloomed in December of 
the same year in the gardens of Syon house, 
the residence of the Duke of Northumberland. 
It is remarkable for the profusion in which 
its blossoms are produced : and, so far as 
opportunities haveyet been afforded of learning 
the most successful mode of treating it, there 
is reason to believe that it will admit of being 
bloomed atalmost anyperiod of the year, simply 
by retarding or accelerating its growth. This 
is a valuable property, and exists in plants 
generally far more than it is appreciated, 
though it is the very principle on which the 
gardener has to work when he is about to pro- 
duce a constant succession of flowers. It 
might momentarily be thought that it would 
be more pleasing, as afibrding more variety, 
to keep a succession of flowers by means of 
different kinds of plants, rather than by 
lengthening the season of blooming in any 
particular plant, but it is seldom indeed that 
the appearance of a really beautiful plant 
becomes wearisome and ungrateful to the eye. 
A light rich loamy soil suits this genus well. 
THE CARNATION AND PICOTEE, 
WITH REMARKS ON RUNNING OF THEIR C010ER. 
Among the most improving as well as ele- 
gant florists' flowers, must be mentioned these 
beautiful subjects produced from wildlings of 
the least possible interest, and brought to a 
state which renders it not unlikely they will 
at last attain perfection, although we have 
placed before the floral world a model not 
very easily approached. The habit and treat- 
ment of these plants are so similar, that it is 
impossible to separate them until we come to 
the perfect flower, when the different style of 
bloom forces us to distinguish several of their 
properties, which are totally different to each 
Other. Tin: Carnation has stripes of colour 
through the body, as it were, of the petal; 
the Picotee ha- its most de;ise colour on the 
exterior edge, and when at its best, it radiates 
n2 
