





120 THE LADIES’ FLOWER-GARDEN 
March, they will flower in perfection. In May, when they are again out of flower, take the plants and cut them 
down as before, to five or six eyes, according to the strength of the stems; re-pot them, and place them in the 
stove until they have taken root, and made shoots from nine to twelve inches, when they must be removed to a 
house of the temperature of from 55° to 60°, allowing them plenty of light, or the shoots will be apt to draw and 
become weakly.” They should also have plenty of air and moisture, and they will flower freely again in July. 
The soil for plants treated in this manner should be composed of one part of turfy loam, one part of heath mould 
or sandy peat, and one part of rotten manure. In this manner plants of the Erythrina may be made to flower 
twice a-year for two or three years in succession; but it is better after the second year to allow them a winter of 
rest, as if this is not done the plants will become weak, and the flowers will be small, and of a less brilliant colour. 
In the open air the plants will flower only once a-year, and it is best to cut them down so as to leave only about 
four inches of the stem above the ground, and to shelter them by turning over them an inverted flower-pot. 
OTHER SPECIES OF ERYTHRINA. 
E. HERBACEA Jin. 
This species is a native of Carolina and Florida, but though most plants from these countries require only 
greenhouse heat, this species seldom flowers well except it is in a stove; and yet when it is kept too hot, its 
leaves are generally destroyed by insects. 
There are many other species of Erythrina, but they are all stove plants. 
SUB-ORDER II.—MIMOSEZ. 
This tribe comprises those plants which have their flowers in compact heads, resembling either spikes or balls, 
as may be seen in all the Acacias and other allied plants. In these flowers, the stamens are the most conspicuous, 
and when the flowers are examined separately, their petals are so difficult to be distinguished from the calyx, 
that most persons who are not botanists imagine that they have no petals at all. There is another peculiarity 
in these plants, which is, that very frequently what appear to be the leaves are only dilated leaf-stalks, from which 
the true leaves have fallen ; and hence, it is not uncommon to see some of the species partly with entire leaves, 
and partly with bipinnate leaves, which last sometimes appear to grow on ordinary footstalks, and on other 
occasions hang loosely to the tip of the dilated footstalks or phyllodia, as they are botanically called. Some 
of the kinds of Acacia are prickly, the stipules of the leaves being converted into spines ; while in other cases the ~ 
stipules take their ordinary form. Most of the genera belonging to this tribe are stove-plants, and of these 
the most remarkable are those belonging to the genus Mimosa, including the Sensitive Plant and the Gum 
Arabic Tree, and the genus Inga, the flowers of which are remarkable for the great length and the silky 
appearance of their stamens. The genus Acacia contains most of the half-hardy plants included in this tribe. 



