TRIPTILION SPINOSUM. 
569 
remaining during winter, and perishing either 
in great part, or altogether, before the plant 
again reaches its blooming condition ; the 
stem leaves are mostly very deeply cut and 
jagged ; irregularly placed along the stem, 
and without stalks, the segments as well as the 
point of the leaf being armed with a long stiff 
spinous point. The flowers grow at the top 
of the stems in densely crowded fasciculated 
corymbs ; they are syngenesious, or composite, 
and each consist of five two-lipped florets, 
the outer lip of a most beautiful and enduring 
blue colour, and the inner lip small and 
yellow ; these florets are arranged so as to 
form a small roundish " flower," as it would 
be popularly called, but more properly a 
" capitulum," or flower head, for each of the 
five florets are equivalent to the parts which 
in other plants are understood as individual 
flowers. Sometimes, in the case of cultivated 
plants, these flowers are succeeded by seeds, 
but usually seeds are but sparingly produced. 
The present plant has a considerable geo- 
graphical range, being found near Valparaiso, 
the city of Conception, and as far south as 
between Valdivia and Osoro, in fields and 
plains. It is a great favourite with the in- 
habitants of Chili, on account of the enduring 
colour of its blossoms ; they term it, Siem- 
previva, and employ it extensively for orna- 
mental purposes. It was first raised in 
England in 1827, by Mr. Frost, gardener to 
the Countess of Grenville, at Dropmore, but 
had previously been known for a long time to 
Botanists. It blooms about the month of 
July. Besides the name here adopted, it has 
been called Naussauvia spinosa (Don), and 
Triptilion laciniatum (Willdenow). 
The greatest difficulty in the artificial culti- 
vation of this plant lies in its safe preserva- 
tion during the winter, not, however, so much 
from the effects of cold, (for it will bear 
even some degrees of frost without injury,) as 
from the effects of the dampness and close- 
ness of the atmosphere, which at that season 
is more or less felt by all delicate plants. The 
effort required, therefore, is to keep it from 
what is technically termed " damping off," 
that is, becoming mouldy and decayed. To 
have a fair chance the grower should com- 
mence with a strong and healthy plant. After 
the flowers and their stems have decayed, the 
plants should be repotted ; they should be 
taken out of the pots they have been kept in, 
the old soil partially removed with great care 
from among their roots, and then repotted 
into as small a pot as the size of the plant 
and the number of roots may allow ; 
three- inch pots would in most cases be large 
enough, unless, indeed, the plants form — for 
so rare a subject — very large masses : the 
soil used should be sandy loam, mixed with 
about a third of good clean leaf -mould ; the 
pots must be well drained, with a large crock, 
and an inch or more of smaller ones, covered 
with a little rough leaf-mould. The plants 
should be potted rather high in the pot, that 
is, their base should be nearly level with the 
rim of the pot, the soil sloping slightly to the 
outer edge. After this potting, which will 
take place in September, the plants must be 
set in a cool dry frame, where they may be shel- 
tered from rains, and in due time from night 
cold, but they need not be kept very close, so 
that they are protected in these respects. In 
October remove them to a front shelf, near 
the light, in a cool greenhouse, where they 
may get air whenever it is admitted. This 
is safer than a pit, although, if they can be 
secured from damp and severe frosts, a pit 
will preserve them equally well. Continue 
this till spring advances. During all this 
time water them very carefully ; take care to 
let them become moderately dry — not so dry 
as to droop — before a fresh supply is given, 
and then give them just enough to thoroughly 
moisten the soil, and see that it drains readily 
away. In spring, when these begin to grow 
freely, they may be shifted into pots a little 
larger, still very carefully watering them, and 
keeping them in a light airy position. As 
summer draws on, the lower leaves are apt to 
perish, which is probably owing, in some 
measure, to the dry hot atmosphere to which 
they are then exposed : at this period, there- 
fore, a cool frame would certainly be prefera- 
ble for them, in which they may be shaded 
during the hottest part of the day, and the 
material they stand on sprinkled, so as to 
keep them cool ; at night, and at all other 
times, they should have abundance of air. If 
the pots get full of roots— not else — before 
the blossoms are much advanced, they may 
have a larger pot ; but a five-inch pot will be 
large enough for a plant of considerable age 
and strength. We should, however, recom- 
mend the plants to be grown in considerable 
masses, instead of being too frequently divided 
into a number of smaller plants, the effect of 
the larger specimens being infinitely prefera- 
ble to that of small puny scraps. 
Propagation may be effected by division of 
the plant as mentioned above; and this should 
be done early in the autumn, or as socn after 
flowering as possible, in order that the plants 
may get well established before winter : these 
plants would subsequently require the treat- 
ment already sketched out. Whenever seeds 
are produced, they should be sown as soon as 
ripe enough, in pots of sandy soil, and placed 
in a close pit or hot-bed to induce speedy ger- 
mination. The young plants, as soon as 
fairly developed, should be transplanted singly 
into small pots, using very light sandy soil ; 
