ZAUSCHNERIA CALIFORNIA. 
241 
ZAUSCHNERIA CALIFORNICA. 
WITH AN ILLUSTRATION. 
This fine addition to our ornamental border plants is a native 
of California, where it was found about Santa Cruz, by Mr. 
Hartweg, and by him forwarded to the Horticultural Society of 
London. The seeds were received at the Society’s garden at 
Chiswick, in May 1847, and from them were produced plants 
which flowered in the following autumn. The plant is called a 
herbaceous perennial, but it assumes a suffruticose habit, some¬ 
what like that of a fuchsia ; the stems rise from two to three feet 
in height, branching so thickly as to form a dense bush ; every 
part is clothed with ovate, sessile, toothed leaves ; and the general 
appearance, though compact, is by no means lumpish, as the 
spread of the branches, when the plant stands in an isolated 
position, is considerable, imparting an easy gracefulness, without 
impairing the neatness so desirable in everything connected with 
the parterre. In another feature it resembles the fuchsia : the 
flowers are produced from the axils of the leaves near the summit 
of the branches. It requires time to form about the half of its 
season’s growth, and then commences the production of blossoms, 
continuing to develope them as the subordinate shoots are ex¬ 
tended ; and this, be it remembered, is not of a partial cha¬ 
racter, but every leaf of every branch on a healthy plant, arrived 
at a blooming condition, emits from the base of its footstalk one 
flower, so that, on a well-grown specimen, the display is equal in 
every part, and extremely effective as a whole. The individual 
flower measures about an inch and a half in length, the coloured 
calyx tube occupying about two thirds, and the spreading limb 
the remainder; the four petals are inversely heart-shaped, the 
points of each being attached to the interior of the tube, which 
has four stout ribs, and the whole is of a deep and bright orange 
scarlet; the pedicles are strong, standing in a horizontal position, 
and of sufficient length to throw the flowers prominently forward 
among the foliage. 
The climatal character of the locality whence the plant was 
obtained is sufficient to warrant the expectation that it will bear 
21 
hi. 
