January 24, 1884. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
67 
thought and neglect on this point very often result in dearly bought 
experience. 
With such bulbous-rooted plants as Hyacinths, Tulips, and Nar¬ 
cissus, also Lily of the Valley, it is a very good plan to place inverted 
flower pots over their crowns for a short time when first put into heat. 
This has a greatly benefiting influence, especially with the last-named, 
which when thus treated throws up its leaves and flowers simulta¬ 
neously. Syringe well overhead two or three times daily all hard- 
wooded plants, such as Azaleas, Khododendrons, Deutzias, Lilacs, 
Syringas, and kindred plants up to a within a day or two of their 
first flowers expanding, at which period they may be moved to the 
conservatory or some other cool and airy structure.—J. Horsefield, 
Heytesbury. 
IVY-LEAVED SENECIOS. 
From the plebeian Groundsel to the handsome Senecio speciosus and 
S. pulcber is a great stride, but this exceedingly large family comprises 
an even greater range of variation than there is between those species. 
One of the most remarkable groups is that which includes the species 
from the southern hemisphere and other tropical or arid climates, mostly 
distinguished by their succulent stems and leaves, strangely imitative 
forms, and diverse habit. Among those the climbing Ivy-leaved Senecios 
are especially noteworthy and really ornamental, though but seldom 
seen in gardens and known to comparatively few horticulturists. 
It would be difficult to persuade the uninitiated that the remarkable 
plant Senecio macroglossus, represented in fig. 10, is a relative of our 
common Groundsel, yet such is the fact, and that is not the strangest 
part of its character. The leaves are so exactly like the smaller-leaved 
varieties of Ivy that when not in flower it is frequently mistaken for 
them by visitors to the succulent house at Kew. It is one of those 
strange examples of vegetable mimicry which Mr. Leo Grindon has so 
interestingly reviewed in his little work on that subject, and none of 
those he has noted is more striking than this. The two genera Hedera 
and Senecio are widely separated in natural arrangement, and the 
particular species in question are respectively from northern Europe 
and southern Africa, and therefore neither geographically nor naturally 
related ; yet the African Groundsel produces a leaf the exact counter¬ 
part of the European Ivy in form, colour, veining, and even somewhat in 
texture, though rather more fleshy. The habit of the Senecio also closely 
resembles the Ivy, the shoots scrambling about in an irregular and 
careless manner; but the stems, of course, are not furnished with the 
small roots that aid the Ivy in its progress up trees and over old walls 
or ruins. 
In the flowers resemblance to another plant may be noted, but this 
time much more closely related—namely, the Etoile d’Or variety of 
Chrysanthemum frutescens. The colour is a trifle lighter and rather 
more creamy, yet bright and clear ; the form of the flower heads, and 
especially of the outer florets, being Tery suggestive of the Chrysanthe¬ 
mum. They are produced very freely, and at a time of year when 
flowers are particularly appreciated—namely, from December to Feb¬ 
Fig. 10.— Senecio macroglossus. 
ruary, lasting either on the plant or if cut and placed in water a week or 
more. This is no mean recommendation, and should alone be sufficient 
to rescue it from its present position amongst neglected plants. 
Senecio macroglossus has been found on the Table Mountain, at the 
Cape of Good Hope, and in other districts of South Africa, seeds having 
been first sent to Kew by Mr. Sanderson in 1868, and from these pro¬ 
bably the first plants grown in this country were raised. Sir Joseph 
Hooker states that he has heard that in some continental or other cities 
