GASTROLOBIUM PYRAMIDALE 
GASTEOLOEIUM P YE AMID ALE* 
T HIS is one of the most decidedly distinct species of Gastrolobium which has come under our 
notice for some time past, and as to form it into a fine specimen it will require peculiar treatment, 
a few remarks on that subject may not be out of place. It is a strong free-growing plant, but like 
many plants of that character, it is liable to run away, or as cultivators term it become “ leggy and 
hence, to form it into a compact specimen, it must he grown freely, and cut down repeatedly, until a 
good foundation or bottom is formed. Now in forming a good bottom of a plant various schemes are 
resorted to; with some plants frequent stopping of the young shoots will cause the plant to become 
bushy, hut with others, as it only leads to enfeebled growth, frequent stopping of the young shoots is 
neither advisable nor necessary. In such cases the best method to pursue is to encourage the plants to 
grow as wildly and unrestrictedly as possible, and then when they are properly established to cut them 
boldly back to the lowest bud that is likely to produce a shoot. Under such treatment they will 
produce strong vigorous shoots, and such cut back two or three times will form first-rate specimens. 
It is thus that fine bushy plants of the Hovea Celsi, and other hard-wooded plants are procured, and 
this in a great measure is the secret of success in the management of most of the upright growing 
plants seen in such rude bushes at the metropolitan exhibitions. We have seen a single stem of Hovea 
Celsi, when cut close down, throw up sixteen shoots, some of them four feet high, and form in one 
season a specimen such as most cultivators might justly be proud of. The subject of our present 
notice would no doubt succeed under similar treatment, but then as it is a new plant not out of the 
hands of Messrs. Henderson, we must w r ait some time before we can get a strong plant to cut dowm. 
However, those who can afford to buy two plants may try to train or stop one iuto proper form, while 
the other may be allowed to run wild, as we have before directed. The soil most suitable for Gastro- 
lobiums is rich turfy peat broken small, and intermixed with charcoal potsherds and gritty sand, but 
this kind, being a strong grower after it is thoroughly established, may have a sixth or eighth of nice 
mellow turfy loam added to the compost. Start the plants into active growth in February, and keep 
them by a moist atmosphere and a temperature of from forty to fifty degrees, growing as vigorously as 
you can until July. The plants should then be placed in a sheltered situation in the open air, and be 
gradually inured to the full sun, to which they may be exposed until they are housed for the winter. 
Shift the plants as they require more pot-room, but be cautious not to over-pot late in the season. 
This class of plants is liable to the attacks of red spider and sometimes thrip, but if each plant is 
placed upon its side and syringed with clean water, they may be soon cleared of such pests. The 
plants should be laid upon the grass, or a clean mat, while they are being syringed, and upon no 
account should they be syringed in the house, or many of the insects may rise again and attack the 
plants.—A. 
This magnificent greenhouse shrub has been raised by Messrs. Henderson of the Edgeware Eoad, 
from seeds forwarded by Mr. Drummond from the Swan Diver colony. It will become a most 
valuable exhibition plant, from its bold, striking habit, and the size and very rich colour of its numerous 
blossoms. Our drawing was made in the latter part of April in the present year. 
It forms a very handsome evergreen shrub, of pyramidal habit, growing four or five feet or more 
in height, the branches stout and erect, more or less woolly, and densely so in the j oung state. The 
leaves grow in whorls of three, and spread horizontally; they are oval-obtuse, sometimes rotundate, 
one and a half to two and a half inches long, terminated by a short rigid mucro, densely woolly on 
both surfaces when young, but becoming at length smooth on the upper side; they are stalked, the 
petioles being about half an inch long, and densely w T oolly. The stipules are three-fourths of an inch 
long, setaceous, becoming recurved, at first brown and woolly, but soon shrivelling and becoming 
* Gastrolobium pyrarnidale, n. sp.—Young branches and leaves, stipules, peduncles, bracts, and calyces, densely tomentose ; 
stipules long setaceous recurved; leaves stalked, in whorls of three, one and a half to two and a half inches long, oval-obtuse or 
rotundate, mucronate, at length smooth above ; racemes axillary, densely capitular, the peduncles somewhat shorter than the leaves ; 
bracts dark brown, the lower trifid, the upper obovate mucronate ; calyx teeth brown, the upper and lateral pairs oblique ; pedi¬ 
cels shorter than the calyx; ovary subsessile villose.—M. 
M 
