134 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Fes., 1898. 
Popular Botany. 
OUR BOTANIC GARDENS. 
No. 3. 
By PHILIP MAC MAHON, 
Curator. 
As you enter by the gate opposite the Queensland Club for our third walk in 
the Gardens, you will notice on your left hand, immediately inside the entrance, 
a large bed of Cannas. It is made up of three varieties, and these are so 
peauetul and so easily grown that we may pause a few moments to admire 
them. 
The Canna in the outer line is named Madame Crozy. It is of a beautiful 
scarlet colour, the edges of the flower-leaves (petals) being edged with yellow, 
like the gold lace on an officer’s coat. The leaves are a brilliant green; it zrows 
vigorously, and flowers profusely. Inside this is a row of a slightly taller 
and much more beautiful Canna called Italia. The flower is like that of a most 
beautiful orchid. The groundwork of the outer flower-leaves (scientists, pray 
pardon the homely language—these lines are not written for you) are of a 
bright yellow, blotched and spotted with a red, approaching scarlet. The inner 
flower-leaves are mainly red with a margin of yellow. If blended by man, 
these colours would look hideously incongruous, but Nature makes no mistake 
in the blending of her pigments, and the result in this case is distinctly 
beautiful. The flowers average from 5 to 7 inches across. This plant sold 
only twelve mouths ago in the southern capitals at £1 10s. for a tiny offshoot, 
and it was from three such offshoots obtained from Italy that our present con- 
siderable stock was raised. 
The central group differs from the rest in having the leaves of a purplish 
colour. The flowers are smaller than the other two, but the colour of the leaves 
renders it very useful for producing pictorial effects. Its name is Gloire de 
Lyon. These plants are easily propagated from offsets, but must have rich 
ground to grow in. Plenty of manure should be added to land not naturally 
rich. They are particularly suited for cottage gardens if well arranged, since 
-they do not need so much attention as other plants, and their growth is so 
vigorous that they rapidly smother weeds. 
A little further on, upon the left, you will come upon two trees, now in 
flower. ‘They are tropical trees, and, apart from the exceeding peau of their 
flowers, there is a very useful lesson to be learnt from their history during the 
past few years. They are labelled African Tulip-tree (Spathodea campanulata), 
and they come from the tropical portions of Western Africa. 
You will notice that they area mass of glossy green leaves, and that the 
bright flowers, shaped like a seashell, and having a lace-like margin delicately 
fringed with golden yellow, stand out in bold clusters, the whole plant showing 
health and vigour. Well, two years ago these plants were nearly dead. It 
was a question whether to grub them out or make an attempt to save them. 
You have often seen orange-trees and other fruit trees suffering in the way 
in which these were. The ends of all the branches were dead, most of the 
leaves had fallen off; the few which were left were yellow and faded, mutely 
protesting against the state of things under which the poor plant was 
striving to exist. When a plant looks like that, there is something wrong 
with the roots. A trench was dug around the trees, 6 feet from the trunk 
and about 23 feet deep; a drain was led from the bottom of this trench to 
