CUPHEA AND IIYDROLEA. 
49 
THE GENERA CUPHEA AND HYDROLEA. 
WITH AN ENGRAVING. 
The genus Cuphea is composed of a rather limited number of 
South American plants, a portion of which are only of annual 
duration, which with us are found sufficiently hardy to bear the 
ordinary treatment of the most robust of the class; the other 
portion is comprised of more persistent and, at the same time, 
rather more tender forms. The individuals contained in the 
annual section of the genus are by no means remarkable for their 
beauty, and have consequently fallen out of cultivation, giving 
place to the many more specious members of the same class 
introduced to our gardens from the same quarter of the world. 
This being their position, we need not enlarge on the little manage¬ 
ment necessary to grow them, merely remarking, where it is de¬ 
sired to continue their culture, no further trouble is required than 
to sow the seed where the plants are wished to bloom, and after¬ 
wards to thin them to about a foot from each other. 
The perennial section in our climate is to be included among 
the most tender of greenhouse plants, at least through the dull 
months of our prolonged winters, when their succulent branches 
continually being extended, render them extremely liable to the 
destructive visitations of damp and mildew, and unless a tem¬ 
perature congenial to their development can be kept around 
them, some trouble will be experienced in their preservation. It 
seems necessary to successful management that they should be 
kept constantly in an active state, for as soon as this ceases the 
health of the plants appears to decline, and they will not long 
exist in a dormant condition. 
It is only in the winter season, however, that any difficulty is 
likely to arise, for in spring and summer their progress is most 
rapid, and the profusion with which well-grown plants will bloom 
very well repays the attention required. Treated as bedding- 
plants, or aids in the embellishment of the greenhouse through 
the vernal season, and stationed among conservatory plants where 
a temperature of about 50° is maintained in winter, most of the 
species of Cuphea are not only ever-growing, but also ever-bloom- 
ii. . 5 
