ACHIMENES PICTA. HARDY BIENNIALS AND PERENNIALS. 
221 
rate, if it is chiefly ornamental when in bloom, 
it is no mean ornament when devoid of blos- 
soms, for its leaves are most beautifully painted 
with zebra-like markings. 
Like the other species of Achimenes, this is 
furnished with scaly tubers, which afford one 
means of propagating the plant to an almost 
unlimited extent ; for, under suitable manage- 
ment, every one of the minute scales of which 
these tubers are composed, is capable of pro- 
ducing a plant. Above ground the plant 
assumes a succulent, herbaceous character ; 
the stems growing erect, to a varying height, 
from one to two feet, according to the manage- 
ment to which the plants are subjected. The 
leaves and stems, and, indeed, every part of the 
plant is thickly clothed with rather longish 
hairs. Opposite each other, at intervals, along 
the stem, the rich, deep, velvety black-green 
leaves are produced : they are of a cordate- 
ovate figure, and are mottled and reticulated 
with pale whitish blue, in distinct, broad bands, 
branchingoutwards from the centre, and giving 
them the richest imaginable appearance. From 
the axils of these leaves, towards the upper 
part of the stem, the flowers are produced ; 
their form will be understood from the annexed 
engraving ; their colour is very brilliant — the 
upper half of the tube and the two upper seg- 
ments being orange scarlet, and the other part 
of the flower deep yellow, mottled with broken 
lines of scarlet. It flowers towards the end of 
the summer, but its flowering period may be 
very much lengthened by the plan of raising 
young plants at successional intervals. 
The plant is a native of New Grenada, 
where, in the wooded heights on the east of 
Guaduas, Mr. Hartweg, the Horticultural So- 
ciety's Collector, found it growing in a forest 
of Wax Palms, (Ceroxylon andicola :) in its 
native habitat, it prefers dry rocky ground in 
places not much shaded, where it scarcely 
grows more than five inches in height, seldom 
producing more than two flowers on a stem. 
There is a very remarkable difference be- 
tween the plant in this wild form, and when 
seen under the influence of cultivation. Nei- 
ther is this Achimenes the only plant upon 
which horticultural skill has produced a marked 
improvement. Instead of growing merely five 
inches high, and bearing two flowers on a 
stem, it usually grows, at least, a foot in height, 
and every stem bears six or eight flowers ; but 
some plants of extraordinary luxuriance have 
been produced far excelling even this state. 
Plants have been grown to a height of three 
feet, quite healthy and thick of leaves, and 
bearing four or five flowers, or even more, to- 
gether in the axil of one leaf ; and " last 
spring." says Mr. Paxton, " we measured a 
stem, from which several vigorous branches 
had issued at a short distance from the root, 
which extended upwards of four feet and a 
half from the surface of the soil to the top of 
the plant, and with upwards of forty expanded 
flowers upon it." So far do our cultivated 
specimens surpass those in a natural state. 
The treatment of the plant is very simple ; 
after flowering, the stems die away, and the 
tubers then require to be kept dry and cool. 
At the proper time (usually in spring), the 
tubers are to be potted in shallow pots, in a 
light rich compost of loam, leaf-mould, and 
peat earth ; and they are best started into 
growth by the aid of a little bottom heat : 
about five roots may be placed at regular dis- 
tances apart, in a pot six inches in diameter ; 
or they may be planted thickly together in a 
shallow pan, and finally transplanted and ar- 
ranged when they have grown an inch or two 
above the soil. There is no necessity for in- 
curring the trouble of repotting them during 
their after growth, as they may be placed at 
once in their blooming pots, these being pro- 
perly and thoroughly drained. They grow 
best in a warm pit, where there is a moist 
atmosphere and a temperature of 65 or TO de- 
grees, and where they may be partially shaded 
during bright sunshine. In summer they may 
be removed to a warm green-house, where 
they continue longer in bloom. Some of the 
roots should be excited early, and others should 
follow them for as long a period as the succes* 
sion can be maintained. The plants will re- 
quire from two to three months (more or less) 
to grow them into a flowering state. 
But. besides, by means of the separation of 
the tubers, the plants maybe abundantly pro- 
pagated by planting the leaves, which produce 
roots readily under the ordinary treatment 
given to cuttings, and soon make good plants. 
Plantations of the leaves from the growing 
specimens, may serve to keep up the succession 
of blooming plants through the latter part of 
the year. 
HARDY BIENNIALS AND PERENNIALS. 
There are certain kinds of perennial her- 
baceous plants which it is convenient to raise 
in considerable quantities from seed, and an 
early opportunity may be taken forgetting the 
principal bulk of the seed sown. Biennials, 
too, which flower but once, in the second year 
of their growth, should be sown at the same 
time. We have, in the accompanying list, in- 
cluded only some of those perennials of which 
seeds are most easily procurable, but of course 
any plants of this nature of which seeds can be 
got may be similarly treated. The main sow- 
ing is best made when it is delayed just so long 
as that the plants get strong, but not over luxu- 
riant, before winter ; for if in the latter slate, 
they will sutler a good deal from severe u ea- 
