1876.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
141 
species several are valued as showy plants to 
run along the rafters or around the pillars of 
hot-houses; none of these are more interesting 
than Mrs. Thompson’s Clerodendron ( C.Thomp - 
sonce). It comes from Old Calabar, on the west 
coast of Africa. A live plant of it was sent to 
Edinburgh in a wardian case, fifteen years ago; 
the calyxes as white flowers. The plant is 
readily propagated from cuttings. 
The Coleus as a Specimen Plant. 
Some persons are singularly exacting in re¬ 
gard to plants, and expect to find all the good 
mass of color being the only object, have no 
idea of its appearance when grown as single 
specimens. The plants grow with great regu¬ 
larity, the branches coming off from the square 
stem in regular pairs, each pair at right angles 
to the next, and naturally assume a symmetri¬ 
cal form; by the aid of a little pinching and 
GOLDEN COLEUS, “THE SHAH.” 
■WILD BALSAM APPLE, OR WILD CUCUMBER. 
it blossomed in the Botanic Garden there, and 
was named by Prof. Balfour, in memory of 
Mrs. Thompson, of the Scotch Presbyterian 
Mission to that unhealthy coast. A seedling 
from it, raised in England, has rather larger 
flowers, and is the one most generally cultivated 
under the name of C. Balfouriana, and is now 
generally kept by our florists. Though the 
English writers rank it as a stove plant, we find 
it blooms freely in an ordinary greenhouse, 
and though naturally a climber, it may, by oc¬ 
casionally pinching in the branches, be made 
to grow as a compact bush, and as it flowers 
freely, it is one of the most desirable green¬ 
house plants. We were so much pleased with 
it that we had an engraving made of it when it 
was first introduced, which comes in play now 
to illustrate Prof. Gray’s article on fertilization. 
But few flowers present such strong contrasts 
of color; its large bag-like calyx is pure white, 
and appears itself like a corolla; after a while 
the proper corolla, which is much smaller, pro¬ 
trudes beyond the calyx and is of a fine blood- 
red or vermilion color, which shows brightly 
against the white calyx. The plant may be 
had in bloom at almost any time, by drying it 
off to give it a season of rest, and then bringing 
it into growth by means of water and heat. 
The red corollas do not hold on well after the 
flowers are cut, but this does not prevent its 
being very useful to florists, who make use of 
qualities of all plants concentrated in one. 
Show such persons the most beautifully formed 
and brilliantly colored flower, and without ad¬ 
miring it, they will put it to the nose and im¬ 
mediately inform you that it has no smell. If the 
flower is both bright and fragrant, they will then 
rub the leaves between thumb and finger, expect¬ 
ing these to be fragrant also. Show such your 
most elaborate specimen of bedding, in which 
coleus and achyranthes in variety are contrast¬ 
ed with cinerarias, and other “ foliage plants,” 
from which the flower-buds have been careful¬ 
ly picked, and instead of admiring the color 
effects, they ask when the plants will bloom, 
and what kind of flowers they have, and if told 
that such plants will not live through the win¬ 
ter in the open air, they at once lose all interest 
in them. But few who have gardens have not 
been visited by these unreasonable mortals, who 
never enjoy a plant for what it is, in looking 
for some quality it has not. The Coleus would 
no doubt be raised in the esteem of such per¬ 
sons did they know that while all of the varie¬ 
ties bloom, the flowers in some of them are 
quite pleasing. In using these for bedding ef¬ 
fects, they must be kept within bounds by cut¬ 
ting back, and their flowers, could they be pro¬ 
duced under this treatment, would not be desi¬ 
rable here. Those who have seen the Coleus 
grown in masses only, where the form of the 
individual plants is not regarded, the effect of a 
training, a perfect pyramid, two or three feet 
high, of the richest colored foliage may be 
formed, that will be well worth the slight 
trouble to produce it. Unfortunately the Co¬ 
leus is not well suited to window culture; it is 
impatient of changes of temperature, which 
are very frequent in the dwelling house; be¬ 
sides this they require a moister atmosphere 
than can usually be commanded in such situa¬ 
tions. As a decoration for a greenhouse or con¬ 
servatory, a well grown specimen of Coleus of 
good variety is very showy, and such plants 
may be used to decorate a room on special oc¬ 
casions with good effect. The full beauty of 
most of the finer varieties, in which the leaves 
are marked or edged with different colors, is 
only displayed by plants grown in the green¬ 
house; in the open ground,the hot sun soon 
causes the leaves to lose their markings and the 
various colors blend into one uniform tint. 
One of the most distinct of all the varieties is 
“ The Shah,” in which the leaf is divided cross¬ 
wise into two sections with distinct colors, the 
upper portion being golden yellow, and the 
lower part, or base, a rich crimson, the line be¬ 
tween the two being well marked. These col¬ 
ors are not often shown by small plants, but 
when the specimen gets strong, they become 
very striking. A large plant of this variety 
was one of the most attractive things in our 
greenhouse the past winter. This plant at 
