November 20, 1886. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
185 
AMASONIA PUNIOEA. 
Of the genus Amasonia some half-dozen species are 
known to science as natives of Southern Tropical 
America, but none of them are much known in gardens. 
The subject of this note seems to have been introduced 
from Trinidad in the West Indies so far back as 1823, 
but from some cause or other rvas little grown, and 
eventually, we believe, died out. But it has been 
introduced again, this time by Messrs. James Yeitch & 
Some of the plants now in bloom in the nursery, after 
a lapse of two months, are as fresh as ever, and promise 
to be useful for some time to come. The plant re¬ 
quires somewhat similar treatment to Poinsettia ; it is 
easily propagated by cuttings duiing the summer 
months ; likes a compost of loam, peat and sand, and 
moderate-sized pots. Under good management it may 
be grown into the form of bushes, and as every shoot 
flowers, there is no reason why handsome bushy 
specimens should not become conspicuous features of 
Hardening Miscellany. 
_ ♦ 
♦ 
Dichorisandra musaica. — A charming and 
very attraciive stove plant now rarely seen but rvhich 
when well grown and properly cared for, makes a very 
handsome plant, fit to stage amongst the best collections 
of foliage plants. The reason that we do not see so 
much of this kind of plant in general collections, is 
Amasonia punigea (half natural size). 
Sons, who imported it from British Guiana, and put it 
into commerce last spring. 
Under the Messrs. Yeitch’s skilful manipulation, 
Amasonia punicea proves to be one of the best intro¬ 
ductions of recent years, and is so beautiful and so 
useful as an early winter-flowering stove plant, that its 
wide cultivation would seem to be a matter of certainty. 
It is of shrubby habit, with brownish purple-coloured 
shoots, long lanceolate, serrate, alternate leaves, of a deep 
bronze-green colour, and stiff, erect, terminal racemes 
of pendulous, creamy white, tubular flowers, springing 
from the base of bright crimson-coloured bracts, which 
are the great charm of the plant, and the persistency 
of which renders it so valuable as a decorative subject, 
ottr plant houses at this season. The accompanying 
characteristic illustration, for which we are indebted to 
Messrs. Veitch, serves to show its floriferous character ; 
but, in order to appreciate its great beauty, it must be 
seen in flower as it is now in the Chelsea Nursery. 
Bricks of Cork.—T he waste cuttings of cork are 
now being employed for making bricks, which can be 
used for walls, impervious alike to heat or damp. The 
cork cuttings are reduced to powder in a mortar, and 
mixed with lime or clay ; and from this composition 
the bricks are made in the usual way.— Gardeners’ 
Monthly. 
that their culture is but imperfectly understood, and, 
in consequence, they are thrown from place to place is 
the houses, and finish up with being thrown away 
altogether. The plant under notice is extremely 
handsome, of dwarf habit, seldom exceeding above 
12 ins. in height, the leaves on the upper surface being 
a rich shining green, marked with quantities of parallel 
transverse fine white lines ; the under side is a beautiful 
deep purple, the flowers at the terminal point being an 
azure-blue. There appears to be no doubt that this 
plant wants a large amount of heat to bring it to per¬ 
fection, And at no time should it be allowed to become 
dormant. The root being fleshy, it requires to be 
grown in a loose rough soil—the best soil I find it to 
