168 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[November, 
For horticultural purposes these plants are, no 
doubt, sufficiently distinct; and may he separated by 
the following characters :— 
Fkancoa appendiculata, Cavanilles. —“Stem 
very short, rarely an iucli long; leaves longer than 
in the two following, wi’h smaller auricles, and 2—3 
inches at the base of the petiole almost naked; 
inflore : cence usually compact, and very little 
branched; raohis and sepals pubescent; petals pink, 
often with a darker blotch near the base.” Figured 
in Cavanilles leones vi., t. 596; Botanical Magazine 
t. 3178 ; Botanical Register t. 1645 ; British 
Flower Garden v., t. 151; Botanical Cabinet t. 1864 
(as sonchifolia). 
Fkancoa sonchifolia, Cavanilles. — “ Stems 
3—4 inches long ; leaves with short petioles usually 
decurrent below the auricles to the extreme base; 
inflorescence more branched than the last, flowers 
more loosely arranged; rachis and sepals pubescent; 
petals pink, often with a darker blotch near the base.” 
Figured in Botanical Magazine t. 3309; British 
Flower Garden v., t. 169. 
Fkancoa bamosa, D. Don. — “Stem 3—4 inches 
long; leaves with short petioles, usually decurrent 
below the auricles to the extreme base ; inflorescence 
much branched, flowers loosely arranged ; rachis and 
sepals glabrous; petals white.” Figured in British 
Flower Garden vi., t. 223; Botanical Maqazine 
t. 3824. 
Mr. Rolfe remarks that the conflicting opinions 
expressed respecting the affinities of this genus and 
its position in the natural system, renders it addi¬ 
tionally interesting. Thus it has been placed near 
to and. included in Crassulacese, near Oxalidese, 
near Rosacese, in a distinct order Galacinete, near 
Sax'fragacese, near P^rolacese, between Umbelliferse 
and Araliacese. According to Bentham and Hooker, 
in the Genera Plantarum , the group Francoece forms 
a tribe of Saxifragacese, between the herbaceous Saxi- 
frageae and shrubby Hydrangea). The affinity with 
Saxifragacese is no doubt the correct one. The two 
tribes agree in being scapigerous herbs with a diplo- 
stemonous andrscoium; and differ in Saxifrages) 
having penlamerous flowers and a 1-celled ovary; 
while Francoese has tetramerous flowers and a 4-ce!led 
ovary. 
Possibly some share of the confusion existing 
in the nomenclature of these plants may be 
traceable to the variation which so commonly 
occurs amongst seedling plants, since the 
Francoas are freely and indeed usually pro¬ 
pagated by this means, though they may 
also be multiplied by division of the plant. 
The figures in Sweet’s British Flower Garden 
are particularly good.—T. Moore. 
AQUATIC PLANTS. 
I N all gardens where interesting plants are 
grown and appreciated these should find 
\ a place. Many of them are small and take 
‘ up but little room. Of such is Azolla 
caroliniana, which grows like a tiny little 
Selaginella on the surface of the water. 
Triancea bogoiensis, or Sponge Leaf, is larger, 
but also floats on the surface, and is very in¬ 
teresting, its circular leaves, each the size of 
a halfpenny, being quite fibrous below, the 
swollen space between the upper and lower 
sides being composed of air-cells. Salvinia 
natans is another little floating plant of in¬ 
terest, which like the above may be cultivated 
in an inverted bell glass a foot in diameter. 
Partial shade is essential or confervoid growth 
becomes too troublesome. 
Of Nymphmas there are two, viz., N. cccrulea 
and N. pygmcea, which will succeed well in 
limited quarters ; and to these may be added 
(Jeratopteris thalictroides, an aquatic fern, and 
the pale yellow-flowered Limnocharis Hum - 
boldtii. During the cold dull months of winter 
nothing can well be sweeter or prettier than 
a basin .or tank filled with the Cape Pond Weed 
(Aponogeton distachyon), which in a cool 
house yields quite a profusion of its Haw¬ 
thorn-scented flower spikes during December 
and January, just when most wanted. 
There are many other aquatics which may 
well and easily be grown in large places where 
every convenience is at hand for them, but 
the above are so readily grown in the most 
ordinary of vessels or appliances that I have 
thought them especially worthy of notice in 
these pages.—F. W. B. 
LITTLE BOG GARDENS. 
* Y first attempt at growing our native 
insectivorous plants were far from 
. being a success. I tried Droseras, 
® ^ Pinguiculas, &c., fresh from the bogs, 
in peat and other soil, but all to no purpose ; 
they succeeded for a time, but ultimately died 
away. At last the thought occurred to me, 
“ Why not try them in living sphagnum 
moss ? ” and my first attempt was so suc¬ 
cessful, that we have now quite an interesting 
collection of Droseras, Pinguiculas, Diomeas, 
Ac., growing in this way. 
I fill a six- or a twelve-inch seed-pan with a 
layer of rough peat on the bottom, then add 
a layer of old sphagnum moss, finishing off 
the surface above with a layer of fresh grow¬ 
ing points of the same, and then give the 
whole a good watering. The convex surface 
above is now ready to receive the plants, 
which are dibbled in over the surface, and 
the whole is again watered to settle them 
firmly in their places. The base of the pan 
