DILLWYNIA SCABRA. 
26 
side so as to present a channel above, obtuse, clothed when young with short, stiff, spreading hairs, 
and having very minute deciduous stipules. The flowers grow in peduncles, axillary or terminal to 
the branches. The calyx is pubescent, somewhat hell-shaped, with the limb spreading, two-lipped, 
the upper lip larger and bifid, the lower with three more deeply divided narrow teeth. The standard 
of the corolla has a long claw, with a broad, short limb, emarginate, and laterally expanded so as to 
he almost two-lobed, folded slightly up the middle, reflexed, scarlet, with a yellow claw and central 
disk; the wings are narrow, oblong, half as long again as the claw of the standard, deep red; the 
keel is rather shorter, boat-shaped, and attenuated into a recurved point, purplish red above. The 
stamens are free, included in the keel, with short, subulate, glabrous, somewhat curved filaments. 
The ovary is shortly stalked, hairy, gradually attenuated into a short, slender, pyramidal style, half 
as long as the keel, and recurved suddenly at the summit; stigma slightly capitate.—A. H. 
The Dillwynias are a tribe of free-flowering plants, of very neat growth, and generally great 
favourites among cultivators, and in consequence of blooming with great freedom and considerable 
certainty, they are found exceedingly useful for decorative as well as exhibition purposes. They 
are principally natives of New South Wales 
Like most of the hard-wooded plants, they delight in a peaty soil, liberally intermixed with sand : 
a mixture in the following proportions is found very suitable for their growth :—Four parts rich turfy 
peat; two parts mellow turfy loam ; one part sand; and one part charcoal, broken to the size of horse- 
beans. These ingredients should be passed through a sieve with half-inch meshes, and be intimately 
mixed together before using. In selecting plants, take care that they are strong and bushy, with 
plenty of healthy roots; but if the roots are not in a vigorous-growing state, do not pot the plants until 
they are so. If the plants are in good condition, the stronger-growing kinds will bear a comparatively 
large shift with advantage. It is, however, unsafe to shift any plants largely until you are quite sure 
that your soil is suitable; and therefore, in first receiving them from the nursery, it will be better to 
give them a slight shift, and if the soil is suitable, then, when the pots are full of roots, give a more 
liberal one, observing, however, as a general rule, that it is better for a plant to be short of pot-room 
than to have too much. In shifting, loosen a few of the matted roots round the sides of the ball, and 
take care to make the soil pretty firm at the time of potting. Now, if you procure nice bushy plants 
at this season (February), if they are nicely rooted in three-inch pots, they may be removed into pots 
one size larger, or even into six-inch pots, if they are of the more vigorous-growing kinds. In potting 
take care to use sufficient drainage, and with the very delicate rooting kinds a few crocks, broken 
small, may be intermixed throughout the soil in addition to the charcoal. Some cultivators recommend 
sand, freestone, or small pebbles for this purpose, but we prefer broken crocks, as being less likely to 
work their way to the bottom of the pots, or injure the roots. After potting place the plants in the 
warmest end of the greenhouse, or in a close pit or frame, and do not expose them to cold or arid 
draughts until they get into free growth. Almost all New Holland plants require more heat than 
plants from the Cape, and, indeed, those from low warm valleys are materially benefited in the 
growing season by a little extra heat, more than is usual for ordinary greenhouse plants. In the 
winter, all New Holland plants require more heat than Heaths, and similar hard-rooted plants. 
When the young plants give evidence of having their roots in action, it will be time to stop the shoots 
to induce a bushy growth, but do not attempt to stop the plants until they are properly established. 
In stopping you must be ruled by circumstances, such as the habit of the plant, and its disposition to 
produce side branches. Some of the kinds, as D. clavata and rudis , produce their flowers upon long 
shoots, while D. juniperina,jloribunda, and several more, produce their flowers at the points of short 
shoots, and hence, while those first-named require but little stopping after they are once properly 
formed, except to cut them boldly in after they have done blooming, those of the habit of D. juniperina 
should have the points of the shoots pinched off in the growung season whenever they are three inches 
long, as it is upon the multiplication and maturing of a number of small branches that we must depend 
for a good head of bloom. Do not stop any of the kinds later than the end of Julv, or the young- 
shoots will not get sufficiently ripened to produce flowers. 
