March 24, 1881. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER, 
229 
in a few weeks. When potted before starting they are very 
liable to decay. Seed sown now will produce plants that will 
flower by autumn and make fine tubers for the following summer. 
—Stifford. 
CHOROZEMA CORDATUM SPLENDENS. 
Amongst beautiful decorative plants at this season of the year 
this Chorozcma ranks very high with its distinct lovely Pea¬ 
shaped flowers. It is easy of cultivation, and admirably adapted 
for the conservatory, small plants being also suitable for the 
embellishment of rooms, and a well-grown specimen is very 
attractive in the exhibition tent. It is also suitable for planting 
out either against pillars or to cover walls in cool houses, but 
when employed for this purpose good drainage must be provided, 
or failure is almost sure to be the result. 
Propagation is effected by means of cuttings, which root readily, 
or from seed, which some consider the better mode. Having 
raised plants both ways I have never found much difference, the 
seedlings being perhaps a little more robust. As a rule the seed 
sets freely, and should remain upon the plant until thoroughly 
ripened, then sow it at once in a pan filled with fine peat and 
sand. The seeds should be well covered with similar compost, 
watered, and placed in moderate heat, and in a short time they 
will germinate. When large enough the plants should be potted 
singly in 2-iuch pots. Cuttings are plentiful after flowering is 
over. The young shoots should be selected and taken off when 
about 2 inches in length with a small heel, and a number placed 
in a 5-inch pot filled with sandy peat and half an inch depth of 
silver sand on the surface. When the cuttings are inserted care¬ 
fully water them, plunge the pots in slight bottom heat, and 
cover with a bellglass. The cuttings must be shaded from 
strong sunshine, and sprinkled with a fine syringe from time to 
time to keep them fresh. They will soon form roots—in fact, in 
shorter time than the seedlings will appear if sown at the same 
time as the cuttings are inserted. They must then be placed 
singly in 2-inch pots, and again placed in bottom heat for a week 
or ten days until the roots start freely, when it can be dispensed 
with altogether and the plants gradually accustomed to a lower 
temperature. A night temperature of 55° will be ample after 
they are established, and they will make much greater progress 
than if subjected to a greenhouse temperature from the first. The 
points of the young plants must be taken out as soon as rooted to 
induce a branching habit. When the small pots are full of roots 
the plants should be shifted into pots 2 inches larger, which will be 
large enough the first season, and if attention is paid to stopping 
the shoots bushy little plants will be produced by autumn. After 
being placed in 4-inch pots a cold frame will be the best position, 
with a bottom of ashes or any cool moisture-holding material. 
After this potting the frame should be kept close for a time, the 
plants being well syringed overhead and shaded during bright 
sunshine. The plants must be gradually hardened as they become 
established, ventilating the frame freely on all favourable occa¬ 
sions until autumn. During winter a temperature ranging from 
40° to 45° will be suitable. They will endure a much lower tem¬ 
perature, but with young plants it is not advisable, as the roots do 
not remain so active, nor will the young plants start into growth 
so freely in the spring. Early in the year, say in the month of 
Ifebruary, the plants should be placed in 6-inch pots, which must 
be well drained. The house must be kept close at first after pot¬ 
ting, and the temperature raised a few degrees. The plants will 
soon start vigorously into growth, and must as the season advances 
be hardened again by cool treatment. If good attention is paid 
to them the largest will be ready for 7 or 8-inch pots by the 
end of July, and the shoots should not be again stopped if wanted 
to bloom during the following spring. 
This Chorozema can be flowered every season from the cutting 
stage, but it is wise to sacrifice the bloom of one or two plants 
until creditable specimens are formed, which can be obtained in 
three years. After the first season growth should be rapid, and 
potting must be done twice each season until the plants are in 
10 or 12-inch pots, which are large enough for all ordinary speci¬ 
mens, unless required for exhibition. 
Potting must be carefully done in all stages. The old ball must 
not be broken nor the roots disturbed to any extent when remov¬ 
ing the crocks. The soil, which should consist of peat and coarse 
sand, should be pressed firmly into the pots. They will do well 
in a mixture of peat and loam, but all peat is preferable, as it is not 
so liable to become sour. Watering in all stages must be carefully 
attended to, especially for some time after potting, and the roots 
are quickly injured by an insufficient supply, red spider soon 
attacking the foliage. The syringe should be liberally employed 
twice daily during the summer months. Training is very simple, 
and a few stakes only are required at first to support the growths. 
When sufficient growth is made the plants can be trained upon a 
balloon trellis, as they are shown to greater advantage upon it 
than any other shape. Plants in 8 and 9-inch pots trained on 
small trellises about 18 inches high are charming and distinct 
objects for conservatory decoration. Beautiful little plants for vases 
and the front lines of plant houses can be grown in 5 and 6-inch 
pots.—W m. BArdney. - 
Chorozema cordatum splendens undoubtedly deserves to 
be much more generally known. Several other species and varie¬ 
ties are grown, but for general utility the one under considera¬ 
tion can scarcely be surpassed. The flowers are pea-shaped, 
Fig. 53.—Chorozema cordatum var. splendens. 
as the woodcut shows, the broad petal or standard being of a 
rich orange red colour, with a lighter blotch near the base ; the 
other portion of the flower—the wings and keel, being purple. 
The leaves are bright green, ovate in form, and having a spinose 
margin. The habit is rather loose and straggling, and, as has 
been stated, the plants require training to a trellis of some kind, 
when they become specimens of moderate size. Mr. Roberts, gar¬ 
dener to the Baroness Rothschild, Gunnersbuiy Park, has a high 
opinion of the plant, and grows a number of specimens mostly 
trained in a globular manner. These are now in excellent con¬ 
dition, and the accompanying woodcut represents a spray from 
one of them. 
The species is a native of the Swan River territory, whence 
seeds were obtained by Mr. Robert Mangles about 1833. They 
germinated, and the young plants were freely distributed during 
the three or four following years. The variety splendens is an 
improved form of the plant, surpassing the type both in the size 
and colour of the flowers, but when or where it originated I do 
not know.—L. C. 
SIPHOCAMPYLU3 Humboldtianus.—F or some time past a 
specimen of this plant has been flowering in one of the compart- 
