CJo ~7.ll
W USA V I T I A I il
I
NEW AND RARE
BEAUTIFUL-LEA VED
PLANTS;
CONTAINING ILLUSTRATIONS AND DESCRIPTIONS OF
THE MOST ORNAMENTAL-FOLIAGED PLANTS
NOT HITHERTO NOTICED IN ANY WORK ON THE SUBJECT.
BY
SHIRLEY HIBBERD, ESQ., F.R.H.S.
LONDON:
BELL AND DALDY, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN".
M DCCC LXX.
Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2015
https://archive.org/details/b21942274
TO
W. C. WILLIAMSON, ESQ., F.R.S.,
PROFESSOR OF NATURAL HISTORY IN OWEN'S COLLEGE, MANCHESTER,
WHOSE
EARNEST PROSECUTION OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH COMMANDS
UNIVERSAL ADMIRATION
THIS FASCICULUS OF BEAUTIFUL LEAVES
IS
g^j -j^IOST RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED
© m .• y
IN TOKEN OF THE SYMPATHY THAT COMMUNITY
£ -
.Cty^ OF TASTES ENGENDERS
BY
HIS CONSTANT- FRIEND IN LIFE AND LABOUR
SHIRLEY HIBBKRD.
CONTENTS.
PAGE.
Abutilon Thompsoni .
129
Acalypba tricolor .
. 121
Acer negundo variegata
81
Acer palmatum sanguineum
. 83
Adelaster albivenis
29
Agave Americana variegata .
. 61
Alocasia Jenningsii
125
Alocasia Lowii
. 49
Alter nan tbera sessilis
45
Anaactochilus setaceus .
. 87
Aralia Veitcbii ....
141
Aucuba Japonica anreo-maculata
113
Begonia Daedalea
5
Begonia falcifolia .
. 105
Bertolonia guttata
25
Bignonia argyrea-violescens .
. 27
Caladium Belleymei .
41
Caladium mirabile
. 17
Calathea Veitchiana .
65
Canna atro nigricans
. 127
Cineraria maritima Fairbairnianum 123
Coleus, New Vai'ieties of
. 89
Croton Hilli
100
Croton interruptuin
. 109
Croton irregulare
97
Cypripedium concolor
. 119
Dicborisandra mosaica
57
Dicborisandra undata
. 77
Dieffenbachia Baraquiniana
15
PAGE.
Draceena terminalis ... 21
Dracaena regina .... 139
Eranthemum igneum ... 79
Erantbemum sanguinolentum . 9
"Gesnera Exoniensis ... 85
Gymnostacbyum Verscbaffelti . 23
Hibiscus Cooperii ... 33
Hypcestes sanguinolenta . . 10
Lonicera bracbypoda ... 39
Maranta illustris ... 37
Maranta rosea-picta . . .13
Musa vittata . . . 1
Panicum plicatum' . . . 107
Passiflora trifasciata ... 93
Pelargoniums, Variegated . . 137
Peperomia argyreia ... 59
Pbalasnopsis Scbilleriana . . 95
Pbormium tenax variegatum . 51
Rbapis flabelliformis ... 73
Sancbezia nobilis . . . 101
Saxifraga Fortunei ... 3
Sedum Sieboldii medio-variegatum 55
Smilax macropbylla ... 67
Solannm marginatum . . 133
Teleiantbera ficoidea . . .71
Terminalia elegans . . . 135
Yucca aloifolia variegata . .103
Zca Japonica variegata . . 47
PREFACE.
The increased attention paid to Beautiful-leaved Plants constitutes a
distinct phase in the history of horticulture. It is but recently that the
beauty of leaves has been fully recognised, and the passion that has arisen
for collecting and cultivating "fine-foliaged plants" is one of the newest,
but is not at all likely to be transient. We do now and then hear that
ferns are less cared for than formerly, and perhaps we shall soon be told
that Begonias, Caladiums, Palms, Cicads, and Yuccas have had their day.
Fashion is certainly capricious; and in the cultivation of plants we are well
accustomed to see this or that particular subject or class elevated for a
time to the highest popularity, only to prepare the way for something else
which shall take its place, and eclipse it in public favour. Nevertheless,
we do not anticipate that a single plant figured in this work will be less
interesting fifty years hence than now, for our purpose has been to select
without regard to fashion, but with an eye to intrinsic beauty only, from
amongst the thousands of beautiful-leaved plants with which the earth is
adorned. Some of our friends suggest that by promoting the culture of
fine-foliaged plants we discourage the cultivation of flowering plants; but
this is a great mistake. Flowering plants will never lack admirers, and as
many of them have beautiful leaves, we have been enabled to figure and
describe many subjects that are as valuable for one feature as the other.
But we have chiefly sought for leaves, and have considered flowers as
secondary thereto; desiring to feed the large desire for information on the
subject of leaf beauty that has now sprung up, and direct, if possible,
the taste for the cultivation of such subjects.
In some respects leaves claim higher admiration than flowers: in regard
to their peculiar beauty we will be bold to say that the most lovely flowers
viii
PREFACE.
do not surpass them. We know of no flowers, for example, to match against
the leaves of an Anoectochilus; and a Gymnostachium or Peperomia may
satisfy the most exigeant eye for a season, without the aid of flowers.
Not that we wish to discuss so absurd a question as the relative merits of
leaves and flowers in general; all we wish to say here is this, — that we
may find leaves so sumptuously beautiful that we may do better in admiring
them than in discussing almost any question; and in one sense leaves
are more to be admired than flowers, because their beauty may be considered
permanent and ordinary, whereas the flower is more or less, and in a sense
which all will understand, temporary and extraordinary. We have illustra-
tion of this difference between them in the parterre, where the moment a
variegated-leaved Geranium is planted, the ground is enriched; but we
must wait to see what the green-leaved Geranium will do, for it is of little
value until it has attained to perfect inflorescence.
In times gone by a planthouse was thought well furnished if filled with
flowers. But now, "we have grown expensive and hard to please," and
look for the relief which is afforded by an intermixture with the flowers of
various forms of elegant leafage. The new taste is better than the old one:
it is broader, and more catholic. Where there are many flowers monotony
may prevail, but monotony is scarcely possible where there are many beautiful-
leaved plants. We can imagine a cultivator filling a house with Pelar-
goniums, and indeed have actually seen such a thing; but we never have
seen, and cannot imagine, a house filled with Begonias of the type of Rex.
No: whoever has a great liking for Begonia Rex will likely enough love
Palms, Musas, Dracaenas, and many kinds of flowering plants, and will seek
to produce in the conservatory a complete, various, and rich effect; to
produce in fact a beautiful assemblage of many of the richest colours and
most elegant forms which the vegetable kingdom offers us. Beautiful leaves
will not elbow flowering plants aside, but will- enhance their beauty by
contrast, and enrich the harmony in which they play so conspicuous a part.
S. H.
Stoke Ntivinglon, London,
September 30///., 1869.
NEW AND RARE
BEAUTIFUL-LEAVED PLANTS.
MUSA VITTATA.
PLATE I.
Musa sapientum vittata, The Wise Men's Banana.
Natural Order — Musace^s.
The green-leaved form of this Musa has been in cultivation in our
stoves about forty years, but the variegated form here figured is of
quite recent introduction. When compared with the finest variegated-
B
0
MTJSA VITTATA.
leaved plants of the stove, such as tlie Alocasia macrorhiza car., for
example, this striped-leaved Banana takes a very high place; and we
may search far and wide to find its equal for nobility of proportions
and splendour of colouring. The stripes and blotches of white, which
give it the right to be placed first in this scries of "Beautiful-leaved
Plants," are delightfully constant, so that when well grown it is but
seldom a green leaf is produced.
The treatment of this plant should be the same as that of Musas
generally, but it is advisable to abstain from the use of strong manure,
to avoid the development of a degree of vigour unfavourable to the
variegation. The Musas, as a rule, require a rich turfy loam, with
a liberal proportion of good manure, an abundance of water at the
root while growing freely, and a considerable degree of atmospheric
humidity. The plantain thrives in every part of the world where the
mean heat of the year exceeds 75° Fahr., and in Cuba it is reported
to bear a temperature occasionally as low as 40°, or even down to
the freezing point. In our planthouses a summer temperature of 70°
to 100°, and a winter temperature of 50° to 60°, are found to suit all
the species that are in cultivation. It is however certain that Musas
will with us bear low temperatures without harm, for during the past
summer some fine plants of 31. Cavendishii and 31. rosacea were
"bedded out" at Battersca Park, and they grew freely, flowered
abundantly, and actually formed a few clusters of fruit, before they
were taken in for the winter. The plant now under consideration
is possibly a trifle more tender in constitution than its green-leaved
congeners, and therefore should not be taken out of the stove except
during the very height of the summer.
All the Musas known to cultivators are worth house-room, and a
wealthy amateur may find amusement in collecting and keeping them.
But in the majority of stoves, where a number of large plants of the
same genus cannot be accommodated, the best are 31. sajnenticm vittata,
figured above, which will attain a height of twenty feet; M. ensete,
a plant of the most magnificent prorjortions, twenty or more feet high
when full grown, with bright green leaves fifteen feet long and four
feet wide; and M. Cavendishii, growing only three to five feet high,
and producing an abundance of fruit.
The propagation of Musas is easily effected by means of suckers,
which are removed when furnished with a sufficiency of roots. The
species vary in respect of the production of suckers, such as 31.
Cavendishii, rosacea, and sapientum affording them in plenty; whereas
31. ensete gives none at all, so far as we are aware, and hence doubtless
its great rarity.
SAXI FRAGA FORTUNE I.
Var. Tricolor.
II
SAXIEEAGA FORTUNE!.
Var. Tricolor.
PLATE II.
Saxifrarja Fotiimei, var. Tricolor, Fortune's Variegated-leaved Saxifrage.
Natural Order — SaxifragacejE.
This is one of the many beautiful-leaved plants for the introduction
of which we are indebted to Mr. Robert Fortune, who introduced it
from Japan in 1863, with other treasures that were subsequently
distributed by Mr. Standish. In all its essential characters this
Saxifrage is closely related to the well-known S. sarmentosa, the
"mother of thousands" of the window garden; but the beauty of its
leaves gives it a distinctive character, for, when richly variegated, the
shades of pink and red on the younger leaves, and the bright soft
blcndings of pale rose, pale flesh, and pinky blush upon the leaves
that are fully matured, contrasting with the fine dark green of the
disks, render it one of the most attractive of the inmates of the
4
SAXIFRAGA FORTUNEI.
greenhouse. The leaves are reniform cordate, lobed and toothed; the
flowers are white, in erect loose panicles, the petals very unequal in
size, one or more being elongated and saw-edged.
S. sarmentosa is sometimes described as hardy, but we have never
known it to live out of doors the winter through anywhere near
London, though in the warmer parts of the south-west of England it
remains unhurt on open rockeries, and spreads freely by its numerous
stolons. S. Fortimei is no doubt as hardy as sarmentosa, but it is an
important fact in the cultivation of the plant, that rough treatment
causes the variegation to disappear, and the leaves become wholly
green. We have been much interested in observing the effects on
the colouring of the leaves of various modes of treatment. We have
planted it out on a rockery in a cool fernhouse, and it has run wild
and become almost wholly green, shewing but an occasional touch of
variegation here and there. In a warm greenhouse, with abundant
pot-room and a rich soil, it has grown luxuriantly and been well
coloured;- but it has always been most richly coloured when grown
in small pots, with a soil consisting of sandy peat, and in the
temperature of an intermediate house.
Cultivators who have been disappointed with this plant, as many
have, usually destroy those stolons that are wholly green, in the belief
that unless there be some trace of variegation in them, there is no
probability of their ultimately assuming the rich colouring, for which,
principally, the plant is grown. But this is a mistake. Plants that
have been wholly green, without a visible spot of variegation upon
them, and in that state have attained maturity, have produced a
richly-variegated progeny, and in suspended vases have been most
attractive. We have thought in such cases that the reduction of
vigour consequent on the pot being filled with roots j favoured the
restoration in the stolons of the colouring which was lost in the
parent.
The flowers of this Saxifrage are thought little of by cultivators,
yet they are extremely beautiful, and never fail to remind the orchid-
grower of the pretty inflorescence of the Anccctochiluses. This plant, or
the common S. sarmentosa, is invaluable for window culture, especially
if suspended so that the progeny may be seen against the light, like
so many leafy sjnders descending by stout threads, but pausing in
mid-air until some fancied danger is past. Both are sadly subject to
become infested with green fly, for which the best remedy is fumigating.
But this is not always possible or convenient, and it is not a difficult
matter to remove the aphides with a soft brush. The warmer, drier,
and more pot-bound the plant, the more readily will fly seize upon it.
BEGONIA DfDALEA,
III
EEGONIA DJEDALEA.
PLATE III.
Begonia Dcedcdea, Begonia named in honour of Daedalus, the Athenian artificer.
Natural Order — Begoniace^e.
This noble plant is a native of Mexico, where it was met with by
Ghiesbreght, and by him transmitted to M. A. Verschaffelt, of Ghent,
who distributed it in 1861. It is one of the gems of a beautiful family,
and was originally described, and justly, as "la perle, le bijou de tous
les Begonias passes, presents, nous oserions presque dire, futurs." It
is of robust habit, the leaf stalks stout and richly tinted with carmine;
the leaves are in form obliquely cordate; when young their colour is
bright carmine or deep pinky red, but as they become matured they
acquire a fine deep green colour, richly overlaid with considerable
6
BEGONIA DJEDA LEA.
uniformity with deep brown or blackish reticulations, the margin being
clothed with pale rosy hairs in the manner of a light fringe. The
flowers are borne in a loose panicle; they are small, and their colours
are white with red streaks. Hitherto, in common with many other
Begonias, this species has flowered in the winter, but it occasionally
produces flowers at other seasons.
To grow the variegated-leaved Begonias to perfection, a good stove
heat is essential, and the cultivator should aim at producing fine
plants; for mere scraps, or half starved plants with broken leaves,
are a disgrace to the house in which they are to be found. A light
rich soil is required, and the courpost usually preferred is one
consisting of equal parts of fibrous peat, leaf mould, turfy loam, and
sharp sand. We have grown fine sjjecimens in good, mellow, turfy
loam, (full of fibre,) with only a little sand added to promote its
porosity. During the winter they should be kept rather dry, in an
intermediate house, where the temperature averages 60° to 65°, but if
from 45° to 50° they will take no harm. It is a good plan to lay
the pots on their sides, so that the roots will obtain no more moisture
than is given them intentionally and with proper care, for accidental
watering is frequently the cause of the death of these plants, csjjecially
when wintered in a low temperature. About the middle of February
they should be shaken out, the old soil removed, and repotted with
the crown of the plant just above the surface of the soil. The more
lumpy and elastic the soil the better, and the potting must be well
clone, and finished in a cleanly manner. A sweet hotbed, or a bed
over a tank in a propagating house, is the best place for them after
they are repotted. The atmosjihere must be moist, but they must
have but little water at the roots until they have begun to grow
freely. The cultivator must guard against excess of air, excess of
light, excess of water, and the wetting of the leaves. Never a drop
of water should fall on the leaves of any of the richly-painted Begonias.
When growing freely, copious supplies of water may be given at the
roots. When transferred from the stove to the conservatory, as
Begonias frequently are, a shaded and sheltered spot should be found
for them, as a cold draught or a burning sun will soon make havoc
among their velvet leaves. The propagation of variegated Begonias
from leaves is a very simple affair, the fact is it is almost impossible
to fail if the leaves are simply pressed or pegged down on moist sand
in a warm close place. The leaves may be cut into small pieces, and the
cut edges carefully pressed on the sand, and they will soon form
incipient plants, and need only tender nursing for their further
development. But for all ordinary purposes multiplication may be
BEGONIA D JED A LEA.
7
effected by means of suckers, or cuttings of the stems. Wide shallow
pots for specimens are to be preferred to those of ordinary make. We
have pots made expressly for such plants as these and specimen ferns,
by Messrs. Adams Brothers, of the potteries at Belle Isle, King's Cross.
To keep specimens in perfect condition they should be repotted at
least twice a year.
The following is a good selection of eight varieties of variegated-leaved
Begonias: — Dcedalea, here figured; Regina, olive green, with silvery
vanclyked zone; Madame Wagner, the centre dark green, the zone
broad and silvery, a bright and beautiful variety; Rex, massive and
rich, the zone silvery grey vandyked; Queen of England, the finest
large-leaved variety in cultivation; Rollisonii, a solemn plant richly
coloured with shades of deep green and purple; Rui Leopold, a tall
erect red stem, leaves very large, with reddish central star margined
with red, very distinct and splendid; Splendida argentea, leaves grey
suffused with red, with bright green lines marking the course of the
veins, very showy.
Begonias are not largely grown for their flowers, yet a few of the
freely flowering kinds should be found in every well-furnished garden,
especially where winter flowers are in request. The following merit
especial attention: — B. nitida, a favourite of small size, producing an
abundance of white flowers. B. insignis, very neat in growth, with
lively pink flowers. B. Digswelliensis, a hybrid with narrow leaves,
dwarf habit, flowering profusely, the flowers a bright purplish red
colour. B. fuchsioides, a well-known species flowering in mid-winter,
when it is very gay with scarlet flowers. B. ereeta multiflora, neat and
elegant leafage, and myriads of small rosy pink flowers.
F R 1 II T H P U I! M S f. N f> II I IJ (1 I F MI II Li
EEANTHEMUM SANGUINOLENTUM.
PLATE IV. FIG. I.
Eranthemum sanguinolentum, The Blood-veined-leaved Eranthemum.
Natural Order. — AcanthacEjE.
We have figured this lovely plant on the same sheet with Hypccstes
sanguinolenta because of its close resemblance in leafage to that plant,
and the too general opinion that they are one and the same, whereas
they are two and different. It will be seen by the figures, that they
could scarcely be distinguished from each other were verbal descriptions
to be alone relied upon; but when placed side by side, the plant now
C
II)
H YPGESTE S S ANG UI NOLE NT A .
before us is seen to be the richest and most decisive of the two in
leaf colouring. It is indeed a charming stove plant, of free healthy
habit of growth, and like the other members of the genus, producing
beautiful flowers. Soft growing shoots may be quickly struck in a
temperature of 80°, and the after culture is of the simplest description.
We find the proper soil for this Eranthemum to be good turfy peat
of a yellow colour, but black boggy soil is quite unfit for it. The
Eranthemums have fallen from their high estate as flowering plants,
we know not why, for their beauty is scarcely to be matched. Possibly
the introduction of this gem may revive an interest in them. At all
events we will hope for such a result. The companion plant must be
the subject of a separate and more lengthy notice.
HYPCESTES SANGUINOLENTA.
PLATE IV. FIG. II.
Hypaestes scmgwmolenta, Hooker. The Blood-veined Hypoestes.
Natural Order — AcantiiacEjE.
This pretty acanthaceous plant was first published by Van Houtte
as Eranthemum sanguinolentum, but the flowering of specimens at
Kcw, and in the Royal Exotic Nursery, Chelsea, furnished proper
reasons for removing it from the genus Eranthemum, with which it
has no relationship, and placing it in Hypoestes, with the characters
of which it accords pretty well. It is a stove herb, growing a foot
high, freely branching, and ultimately crowned with compound
racemes of pretty rose-coloured flowers. The stems are acutely four-
sided; the leaves are in pairs, about three inches long, bluntly
elliptical, with a velvety pubescence on both surfaces, and the veins
accompanied with broad bands of rosy purple, the intervening spaces
full deep green. The panicle of flowers rises five or six inches above
the topmost leaves, and bears about a dozen short branches, which
are sparingly clothed with small flowers of a rosy purple colour.
This HyjDcestes is a native of Madagascar, and one of many species
equally beautiful to be found in the same country and in the central
HYPCESTES SANG U IN 01 i EN T A.
11
parts of Africa, but which have not yet been introduced to Europe.
It can make no claim to eulogy on the ground of massive proportions
or gorgeous colouring. It is a pretty little plant, worth a place in
any stove, and very well adapted for occasionally decorating the
dinner-table. To grow it well is a matter of no difficulty at all, but
the cultivator who is accustomed to Ancectochili will be most likely
to succeed with it. Supposing we begin with a young plant, we
should shift it into a five-inch pot, using a rich light sandy soil,
and keep it in a moist stove or orchid-house, giving plenty of water,
but no more pot-room until it flowered. Immediately after flowering
we should cut the plant up and strike a sufficient number of cuttings,
and destroy the old stool, and thus from time to time renew the
stock. A number of small plants planted together in a shallow
ornamental basket, and kept pinched back, would for a time be highly
ornamental. To propagate the plant it is merely necessary to take
firm side-shoots, and remove the lowest leaves, and insert them in
sand, and cover with a bell-glass. A steady heat of 80° Fahr., and
very little water will be the necessary conditions for ensuring roots
quickly; and as soon as they begin to grow, they should be potted
in small pots, and have a warm place in the moist stove.
We have endeavoured to simplify the treatment of Ancectochilus by
abolishing bell-glasses, and treating them all in a less fastidious way
than formerly. In the "Intellectual Observer," of January, 1866, we
gave a sketch of our system, and refer to it here in order to say that
the many small beautiful-leaved stove plants that have been lately
introduced into cultivation, require just such treatment as we have
there prescribed for Ancectochilus. At the exhibitions we see these
subjects, such as Gymnostachium, Peperomia, Maranta, and even the
new variegated-leaved Hibiscus, covered with bell-glasses: such pro-
tection is needful, because dust and draughts are likely to assail them
when exposed to view in places of public resort, but it is better to
dispense with the bell-glasses when the plants are at home, for with
careful management all these plants become more richly coloured,
are healthier, and grow more freely when enjoying the gently moving
atmosphere of a well-kept house, than when stifled under bell-glasses.
Nor should any of these plants be subjected to a greater heat than
they absolutely require. During winter a mean of 55°, and in summer
a mean of 75°, will doubtless suit a greater number of beautiful-leaved
plants of the diminutive class we are now considering, than any greater
extreme of cold or heat. These means enable us to fix on 50° as
the winter minimum, and 90° as the summer maximum. In common
with all velvety-surfaced leaves of a delicate 1 nature, those of the plant
12
Hypcestes sanguinolenta.
before us should never be splashed with water. Humidity it will enjoy,
and plenty of water at the root, but the wetting of the leaves must
be constantly avoided.
There are about half-a-dozen species of Hypgestis known to English
cultivators, namely, II. Cochin- Chinensis, native of China, a pretty
climber with white flowers; H. purpurea, native of China, a deciduous
herbaceous plant with purple flowers; H.fastuosa, a splendid evergreen
plant, from India, with red flowers; II. involucrata, native of India,
white flowers; and H. serpens, an Australian trailer of most humble
character.
A NOTE OX GROUPING PLANTS.
The prevailing fashion of grouping tends to monotony. For example,
an orchid-house is usually deficient of variety of form, all Orchids, the
meanest and the most gorgeous, have certain features in common, and
the eve wearies of beholding repetitions of a type. The connoisseur
who perhaps (and most likely) is a man of one idea, may find in the
most tame collection of Arads, Orchids, or whatever else may be his
favourite class of plants, abundant and exhaustlcss entertainment, but
there are many who can appreciate beauty without any regard for the
dreary particulars of affinities, values, distinctions, and differences, which
constitute the charter of connoisseurship. Just for these, who are
worthy of high regard, let us have in a spacious and comfortable
stove, bold picturesque groups comprising some of the grandest
Orchids, a few Palms, a few Dieffenbachias, Caladiums, Anthuriums,
Alocasias, Ferns, Begonias, Allamandas, Dipladenias, and Ixoras, and
we may dignify the collection by the title of Tropical Garden, and
satisfy the demands of true art much more completely than by special
collections which have the repute of being scientific, but perhaps
contribute nothing at all to the aggregate of scientific knowledge.
"Variety is charming," therefore we should seek amongst many families
for the furnishing of a plant-house, which is intended to afford delight
to various minds at various seasons.
MAR ANT* R0SEA-P1CT&.
V
MAE ANT A EOSEA-PICTA.
PLATE V.
Maranta rosea-picta, Maranta with rosy-veined leaves.
Natural Order — Marantace^.
The Marantas and their allies, the Carinas, arc fully as important
for economical as for decorative uses. From one of the family,
M. arundinacea, is obtained the Bermuda arrow-root of commerce,
and from another member of the order, the well-known Canna edulis,
is prepared a similar product. Maranta Indica yields the yellowish
Jamaica arrow-root; and the bland nutritive "Tons le mois" is
extracted from Canna roots; while from many other plants of these
two genera amylaceous products of the highest value as food, and
for various purposes in the manufacturing arts, are obtained. The
mucilaginous tapioca is derived from the root of Jatropha manihot;
and the seeds of Carinas (Indian Shot) are in some- places used in
1 1
MA RA NTA ROSE A-riCTA.
place of coffee, and some of them yield useful purple dies. Considered
as decorative plants, the Marantas, generally speaking, have but few
claims to attention. They are of small size, and rarely attractive; yet
the few that are in cultivation offer splendid examples of leaf colouring.
The Marantas constitute a good natural group, having distinct
features and strong family resemblances. They are stemless, or have
only annual stems. The leaves have diverging veins, the flowers are
very irregular, the ovary inferior, the root-stocks white, horizontal,
and the root-fibres swell into tubers, which in time become independent
plants. The leaves are alternate, with leafy sheaths; the flowers
white, with but a single stamen, which is attached to the petal-like
filament; the fruit is dry and one-seeded.
The species that have become favourites with English cultivators
owe their celebrity solely to the beauty of their leaves. 31. splendida
and 31. illustris present us with leaf-surfaces most elaborately and
richly painted, and moreover very distinctive as fine-foliaged plants.
In the first, the broad ovate leaves are striped with pale green,
passing into a greenish primrose hue upon a rich deep green ground.
In the second, the leaves are boldly marked with oblique bars of
grcvish green upon a deep bluish green ground. 31. rosea-jricta,
here figured, is a native of the Upper Amazon; it is of dwarf
growth, the leaves have a bright rosy midrib, and bands of brilliant
ied and white, the intervening spaces a solemn tone of deep green —
a remarkable example of leaf-colouring. AVe cannot pass without
mention 31. Lindeni, lately introduced from Peru, which is brilliantly
blotched with transparent yellowish green upon a ground of olive
green; or 31. Van dan Heckei, a native of Para, the leaves of which
are bordered with bold crescents of delicate silvery grey, the rest of
the surface being dark satiny green, divided by a bright grey line.
All these richly-painted plants require the fullest heat of the stove
to bring them to perfection. A light rich soil is essential, and
this may be compounded of leaf-mould, silky loam, and a small pro-
portion of thoroughly decayed manure; or they may be grown in
tough felt-like peat, from which all the fine dust has been removed.
Shade during sunshine in summer is essential. To multiply them is
quite an easy matter, for the process consists only in dividing the roots,
the several tubers of which will soon form plants. This should be
done in spring, and they should be at once started into growth in a
temperature of 70° to 80°, and have but moderate supplies of water
until they begin to grow, after which they may have abundance.
Amongst the older species in cultivation, the best are 31. bicolur,
31. lineata, and 31. variegata.
DIEFFENBACHIA BAEAQUINIANA.
PLATE VI.
Bieffenbachia Baraquiniana, Baraquin's Dieffenbachia.
Natural Order — Akace.e.
If richly-coloured leaves are in demand we may search for them in
the great family of Arads, and very shortly be overwhelmed with an
cmbarras des riches. Alocasias, Arums, Caladiums, Dicffenbachias,
Eichardias, Urospathas, how these contribute to our collections a wealth
of gorgeous leafage which no other order of plants can parallel ! The
subject now before us is a native of Brazil. Immediately upon its
1(5
U IE F F ENBACHIA B A U A Q L' I M A X A .
distribution in this country it became famous for its grandeur, and has
been several times exhibited, in every case eliciting the warmest
admiration of its majestic proportions, massive musa-like outline, and
delicious colouring. The plant attains a height of from three to five
feet, the stem and footstalks of the leaves are of the purest white,
and appear as if freshly carved in the finest ivory. The leaves are
oblong, and spread outwards in a fine tuft; they attain a length of a
foot or more, and a breadth of five or six inches. The rich green
hue of the general surface of the blade, invaded by the pure white
midrib and white veins, and here and there splashed with blotches of
the same white colour, render the plant peculiarly fresh and cool-looking,
and a fine contrast to such highly-coloured plants as Cahulium Chantini,
or the crimson-leaved Dracamas.
The inflorescence of the Dieffenbachia is no more acceptable in a
decorative sense than in many of its nearest congeners. As a botanical
study the flowers and fruits are of course worth attention, but they
add nothing to the beauty of the plant. The spathes are comparatively
short and swollen, of a whitish grey hue, the apex spreading out in
the form of a sagittate leaf, above which rises the club-like spadix, of
a dull brown colour. The exposed portion of the spadix bears staminate
flowers only, those below enclosed within the spathc arc pistillate, and
are followed by a mass of berry-like seeds.
This noble plant is of no use at all except where it can enjoy a
high temperature and an abundance of moisture. A rich light soil is
essential to a free development of the beautiful leafage, and there must
be shade from strong sunshine, or the leaves will be curled and browned.
When growing freely the syringe should be used twice a day at least,
to give the leaves and stems a genial shower, and there must be no
stint of water to the roots. If neglected, and especially if kept hot and
dry, it will become a .prey to vermin, and possibly never be rendered
clean again, but a sufficiency of moisture will prevent their approach.
Those who have conveniences for cultivating these handsome plants,
and especially those who benefit the public by exhibiting their plants,
may beneficially secure, in addition to the plant now under notice,
the following new species of Dieffenbachia, namely, D. gigantea, a plant
of most noble proportions, with beautiful blendings of green and
white in the leaves and stems, and D. grand is, the stem of which is
beautifully mottled, and the leaf-stalks spotted.
C ft L A D I U M M I R A B 1 1 E
CALADIUM MIRABILE.
PLATE VII.
Caladium mirabile, The Wonderful Caladium.
Natural Order — Arace.e.
It would be imprudent, even if it were not impossible, to proceed
far in the selection of beautiful-leaved plants without taking notice of
a Caladium. If we are not too early in placing one of the family
seventh in our list, we may reasonably rejoice to have met with one
so distinct and beautiful as the present for the enrichment of our
pages. Nature has herself selected types and exponents of powers
D
18
CALADIXJM MIRABILE.
and beauties, and placed them before us as examples of perfections
concentrated. Thus, the horse becomes the emblem of courage and
strength ; the nightingale and the thrush represent the whole of
nature's music. The humming-birds shew us what is possible in the
highest-wrought colouring of the feathers of birds, and Caladiums and
Begonias appear to be commissioned to demonstrate the fullest splendour
in the colouring of leaves. Unquestionably, though these two families
do not, as a ride, afford us any special gratification in beauty of
form, their colours outshine all others, and entitle them to the highest
place in respect of merit, if colour is to be a main criterion of the
criticism. Take the plant before us as an example. Place it in a
group with the gorgeous C. Chantini, C. Baraquini, the sombre C.
cupreus, and the marvellously delicate C. Belleymei, and its lovely
shades of green and white render it a help by contrast to all the
rest, and yet establish it as one of the most distinct and splendid of
them all.
In common with other of the richly-coloured Caladiums now in
cultivation, (recent introductions all of them,) C. mirabile is a native
of Brazil and the hot humid valley of the Amazon. It is a plant of
large growth, the leaves attaining a length of one to two feet, and
about half as much in breadth. As compared with the leaves of the
nearest-related species, those of C. mirabile are distinguished by breadth
and softly-rounded outlines, especially at the base, which has none of
the sharp angularity of Belleymei or Troubetzkoy , which remind us of
the cars of some quadrupeds. Here, indeed, the leaf suggests the
idea of a shield, and its great breadth is favourable to the display of
the bright light green divisions, which branch off from the median
line, and most elegantly determine its geometry. The ground colour
consists of a mixture of the same light green with a deeper green,
which, towards the edge passes into dark olive, and all the spaces
between the bright green veins are plentifully sprinkled with amorphous
blotches of white. It is but rarely the leaves of this plant vary from
the colouring represented in the figure; as they attain maturity they
are uniformly painted as in our example, and the advantage of
constancy is added to distinctness and beauty.
Caladiums may be grown so easily that it apj^cars but an idle task
to say anything on the subject. But, as beginners consult such works
as this, we will offer for their use a few practical observations. These
plants grow in vegetable soil in humid tropical countries; unless,
therefore, they have sufficient heat and moisture, and a good peaty or
loamy soil rich in vegetable fibre, it is impossible they should attain
perfection. A moist stove or forcing-pit is requisite, but a tank or a
CALADIUM MIRABILE.
19
warm corner in a propagating house will answer the purpose; a
temperature of 70° to 80°, a subdued daylight, and abundance of
atmosjmeric moisture being the principal conditions of success. The
plants require to be re-potted at least once every year, but to grow
them luxuriantly a second potting should take place in the height of
summer. "When started in the early part of the year, it is advisable
to plunge the pots in some moist material, such as cocoa-nut fibre or
tan, and at that time water should be given sparingly. As the growth
advances the supply of water must be increased, and as a few of the
first leaves advance towards maturity it is scarcely possible to give
too much. We have indeed grown fine plants for exhibition by
plunging the pots to a depth of three inches in water, at a temper-
ature of 80°, but with drier and slightly cooler treatment very
handsome plants may be grown. Shade from sunshine is indisjaensable,
but there never need be any fear of wetting the leaves, for they are
like fern fronds, and enjoy the shower-bath.
Perhaps failures in the culture of Caladiums more frequently occur
in winter than in summer. It is easy to remember that heat and
moisture are essential to growth, and it is easier still to forget them
altogether when the growing season is past. We prefer to keep them
in the stove the whole year round. As winter approaches we give
less and less water, and when they are nearly dry remove them to
a cool part of the house, where the temperature is likely never to
go below 50° all the winter long. Two things we keep in mind;
one is, that
If dust dry,
They must die;
and the other is, that
If quite forgotten,
They are soon rotten.
As for the rest there is little to be said. Those who grow them
properly will learn how to multiply them, for in potting them to
start in spring they will be found to be as prolific of tubers as
potatoes.
A NOTE ON STOVE PLANTS IN THE CONSERVATORY.
Caladiums, Begonias, Marantas, and other stove plants with fine
foliage are admirably adapted for the embellishment of the conserva-
tory, when Pelargoniums, herbaceous Calceolarias, and other plants
20
CAI.ADIUM MIRABILE.
that flower in the early part of the summer are past their best. The
transference of such plants from the moist heat in which they have
been growing luxuriantly is sometimes so roughly accomplished that
their beauty is soon marred, and their stay in the conservatory is
only a publication of the fact that the cultivator is not yet a master
of his business. But all these delicately-constitutea plants will bear
the cool air of the conservatory without harm if a few precautions
arc taken. In the first place, their leaves should be fully developed
before they are removed, for it is the tender advancing leaves that
suffer most. To prepare them for removal they should first be taken
to the coolest and airiest part of the house they are growing in, or
to an intermediate house, and the supply of water should be at once
diminished. After a few days they will bear another remove, and
may go to the places they are to occupy in the greenhouse or
conservatory, where, as far as possible, they should be sheltered from
cold draughts and from strong sunshine. Their well-doing now will
mainly depend on the amount of water given, and the golden rule is
to give only just enough to keep them alive, and without flagging.
Some little preparation of the same kind is needful when any of
these plants are to be exhibited; but no fine-foliaged stove plant
should be kept long in a cool place previous to its being exhibited,
as a low temperature makes a sensible difference in the freshness and
brightness of the colouring of the leaves. As one of the most
important uses of fine-foliaged plants is to contribute to the variety
and richness of the conservatory in the late summer and autumn
months, these remarks will, wc hope, prove of service to many readers.
DRACO* TERMINAL IS, V A R. STRICT fl.
VIII
DRACAENA TERMINALIS.
Var. Stricta
PLATE VIII.
Draccena tenrdnalis, car. Stricta, Lindlcy. Calodracon terminal is, var. Strictus,
Planchon. Upright-growing tricolor-leaved Dragon Tree.
Natural Order — Liliac^.
We make a concession to usage in describing this as a Dracaena, for
in common with D.ferrea and other broad-leaved allies it more properly
belongs to the new genus Calodracon than to Dracaena. But we content
DRACAENA TERMINATES.
ourselves to prejjare the reader to look for it shortly in its newer and
more proper place, and our next business is to direct attention to it
as one of the most useful of beautiful-leaved plants in cultivation.
The elegant contour and rich colouring of this plant will always
secure for it plenty of admirers. The leaves are broadly lanceolate,
decurrent at the base, and sub-acuminate at the summit, of a thin
membranous texture; they have long channeled petioles, which, when
they decay and fall off", leave marks on the stem which in time give
it an annular appearance. The colours of the leaves are splendid, the
prevailing hues being a profound chocolate bronze, and a vivid scarlet
crimson. With these colours there is intermixed enough green to
increase their effect, and when viewed in a suitable light the leaves
have the appearance of stained glass of the deepest blood-colour toned
down with darker shadows.
Dracaenas of this type are usually grown in the stove, and certainly
D. Coopcri and some few others need a good heat to keep them in
health. But D. terminalis and its varieties, and D. ferrea and its
varieties, and D. rubra, which is valued for its flowers, may be grown
to greater perfection in the greenhouse; and are admirable plants for
the dinner-table, or to decorate the ball-room or the reception-room
on festive occasions, for they bear much rough usage and are little
the worse for it. Any good mellow soil will suit them jDrovided it
contains plenty of vegetable fibre. They require plenty of water all the
summer, but should never be watered overhead, for water lodging in
the heart causes either the death of the plant or the rotting of many
of its finest leaves. In winter water must be very sparingly given.
Shade from strong sunshine is essential to. the development and
preservation of their rich colours, and as they are subject to the
attacks of red spider it is well all through the summer to sprinkle the
floor of the house daily when shutting up.
GYMNOSTACHYUM VERSCHAFFELI!
IX
GYMNOSTACHYUM VERSCHAJTELTI.
PLATE IX.
Qynmostachyvm Verschnffelti, Nob. Fittonia Verscftaffelti. Eranthemum
Verschaffelti. Gymnostaclnjiim bracteosum, Hort. Versckaffelt's Gymnostachyum.
Natural Order — AcANTHACEiE.
The numerous synonymes of this j)lant are the consequence of its
deviation in a few particulars from the characters of the genera to which
it has been respectively assigned. It agrees most closely with Gym-
nostachyum, and under that name it will henceforth be known, until
some adventurous botanist shall see better reasons than arc now to be
GYMNOSTACHYUM VERSCHAFFELTI.
found for the establishment of a new genus for its accommodation.
One of the principal characteristics of the plant which give occasion
for doubt as to its place, is that the divisions of the ovary have one
seed each; whereas there should be two for complete conformity to
the characters of Gymnostachyum. The fact of its being a native of
South America would suggest the probability of its proving erratic in
some particulars of structure, for all other known members of this
genus are natives of India.
Gymnostachyum Verschaffelti is strictly herbaceous, and of humble
growth. The stems and branches are of a reddish tinge, and in form
cylindrical, but they appear to be four-sided, owing to the silky
pubescence with which they are clothed, the hairs being disposed in
regular lines in the spaces intermediate between the successive pairs of
leaves. The leaves arc opposite, on reddish leaf-stalks; the leaves
average four or five inches in length, and two or three inches in
breadth, the form being ovate with a slightly cordiforni base. The
upper surface of the leaf is quite smooth, and is richly painted with
reticulations which vary from creamy red to rich pink, and at times
pass into brilliant scarlet on a fine deep green ground. These colours
are seen to best effect in full sunlight, but in the absence of that
advantage, the plant has a most beautiful appearance, and has become
quite a favourite with cultivators. The flowers are pale yellow, and
have no beauty; they occur in an upright spike, which is clothed
with large green bracts, in the axils of which the flowers are produced.
A mere glance at them is sufficient for the determination of their
relationships to the Acanthads, and a glance will be sufficient, except
when an analysis of structure is required.
To grow this pretty plant is a matter of no difficulty, but there is
always a danger of it being killed with kindness. During the summer
it should have an airy place in an intermediate house, or common
greenhouse, but a draughty place is at all times unfit for it. In winter
it must be kept in the stove, and a moist atmosphere will be favourable
to its well-doing. A light vegetable soil is required, and we have
found a soft silky loam full of fibre to be more favourable to the
development of its proper colours than peat. When well grown it
throws up a multitude of flowering stems, and is then more interesting
than at other times, although we just now spoke of the flowers as
having no beauty. The young shoots readily strike in a moist heat,
and that is all that need be said about the propagation.
RERTOLONU C U T T M ft.
X
BERTOLONIA GUTTATA.
PLATE X.
Bertolonia guttata, Spotted-leaved Bertolonia.
Natural Order — Melastomace^.
This is emphatically a new plant, which, until quite recently, was
as much unknown to science as to cultivation. The late Sir W. J.
Hooker reported of it, "We have beautiful samples identical with this
in our herbarium, collected at St. Sebastian, Brazil, by the late Mr.
Fox; and again from the Province of St. Paul, South Brazil, collected
by Mr. Weir. It appears to be quite undescribed, and is, so far as
we know, peculiar to Brazil." It has frequently been exhibited at
Kensington and Regent's Park, and always under bell-glasses, as
represented in our woodcut; Messrs. Veitch, who first flowered it, and
Mr. Bull sharing between them the honour of its introduction to
public notice.
E
26
BERTOT,ONI A GUTTATA.
Bertolonia guttata is a stove herb. It has a long creeping root,
thick as a goose-quill, resembling the caudex of some fern. The
stem is obtusely quadrangular; the leaves occur in pairs: they are
ovate, submembranaceous, the margin entire or obscurely dentate.
The flowers are produced at the summit of the plant, where they
form a cyme containing five to ten flowers, the petals of which are
of a pale rose-colour. It is for the beauty of its leaves this plant
has been received with favour, for, although its flowers are of a
pleasing character, they alone would scarcely have secured for it the
place it has obtained in the list of the most select stove plants.
The upper surface of the leaf is dark green with five parallel veins,
on either side of which are lines of white or rosy spots, which are
laid on sharply and regularly. The younger leaves have, superadded
to these attractions, a delicate tinge of cinnamon-colour, and the
under surfaces of all the leaves are of a brownish purple colour,
divided by light green ribs.
It requires some care and skill to grow this beautiful plant as it
deserves. Young plants are obtained by dividing the caudex, or by
cuttings in the ordinary way; and in either case a strong heat is
required, with but a small allowance of water until roots are formed.
The heat of an ordinary stove, or indeed the coolest part of an
ordinary stove is sufficient for the plant when growing, and a rich
light soil is essential. One of its essential requirements is a decided
season of rest in the temperature of an intermediate or ordinary
greenhouse. If the atmosphere of the house is humid, and the plant
is safe from draughts, there is no occasion to keep a bell-glass over it.
B 1 G N 0 N I A ARDYR EA-VIOLESCENS
XI
BIGNONIA AUGYKEA-VIOLESCENS.
PLATE XI.
Bignonia argyrea-violescens, Bignonia with silvery and violet-coloured leaves.
Natural Order — Bignoniaceje.
We have in this Bignonia (if it be a Bignonia, a question not to be
settled until the plant has flowered) a good example of the wealth of
the central districts of the Amazon, in richly coloured forms of
vegetation. There is something apparently in the climatal conditions of
this glorious region peculiarly favourable to the production .of elaborate
colouring, for birds, insects, and plants, appear to vie with each other
in reflecting the colours of the rainbow, and in displaying combinations
of hues which the spectrum never suggests. Mr. Wallis, who under-
stands this country well, speaks of such forms of vegetation as common
to it, and we can form some faint idea of the extravagant richness of
its vegetation by the many wonderful plants we have obtained from
thence for the embellishment of our tropical and subtropical gardens.
28
B1GXOXIA AKGYREA-VIOLESCEXS.
The plant before us has claims enough in its exquisite leaf-colouring
to a leading place in our series, though it is but little we know about
it at present. Time, however, will reveal to us all its characteristics,
and for the present we must accept it as a companion to Cissus discolor
and other richly-coloured foliage plants that clothe the pillars and
trellises of the stove. It is a climber, and if a Bignonia, it belongs to
De Candolle's section Simplicifolim, the leaves being simple, and will
probably produce flowers less attractive than those we are accustomed
to in the compound-leaved species. There is a delightful diversity in
the colouring of the leaves. The midrib and the principal veins are
greyish green shading to silvery white, and the intervening spaces are
in the young leaves of a rich purplish chocolate or reddish violet hue,
changing as the leaves acquire maturity to a dull olive green. The
appearance of a neat healthy plant is delightful, and sometimes curious,
when, as in the plate, there is a strong contrast between the leaves
newly produced and those that have attained their full development.
There need be nothing said about the cultivation of this beautiful
plant. Ordinary stove treatment is all it requires, and to propagate
it is about as simple a matter as can be imagined by any one
accustomed to the practical details of plant growing. Those who
possess it should encourage free growth, with a view to obtain flowers.
These we expect will prove to be less attractive than the flowers of
the compound-leaved Bignonias; but at all events we want to see them,
and shall be glad if any of our readers who obtain flowers will favour
us with an opportunity to inspect them.
ADEUSTER ALBJVENIS.
ADEL ASTER ALBIVENIS.
PLATE XII.
Adelaster albwenis, Whitc-veiued-leaved Adelaster.
Natural Order — AcanthacEjE.
The Acanthus family provides our plant-houses with many examples
of beautiful leaves. Even the common Acanthus of the garden, the
supposed origin of the Corinthian capital, is one of the most beautiful
leaf-forms known. The plant now before us, however, has its own
peculiar claim to admiration, and it is one of the most distinct and
striking of the class in which we group it, irrespective of its botanical
affinities.
30
ADEI, ASTER A LB1VENIS.
This plant is a native of Peru, and may be considered a warm
greenhouse rather than a stove plant. It is herbaceous or subshrubbv,
the leaves are produced in pairs; they are ovate, lengthened out at
apex, and at the base decurrent. The upper surface of the leaf is of
a solemn tone of dark green, strangely lighted up with a pure white
midrib and veins, and obscure anastomosing reticulations of a greyish
white colour. On the under surface they are purplish. The plant
has not yet been seen in flower, and therefore it is only of its leaves
we can at present speak.
To grow this plant to perfection only ordinary care is required. A
temperate house is sufficient all the summer, but it needs the stove or
a warm place and very careful treatment in the greenhouse during
winter. A rich loam is the proper soil for it, for in light soil or peat
it soon becomes infested with vermin, and the leaves lack their proper
beauty. As a decorative plant it is particularly well adapted for vases,
and it might no doubt be placed out of doors during the best part of
our brief summer. Good drainage is an important requisite, and we
should prefer never to allow a drop of water on the leaves; but a
humid atmosphere is certainly favourable to full development. As for
propagation, it is so easy a matter that we only need say that a
cutting two or three joints long will root almost immediately, if inserted
in moist sand in a temperature of 70°, with a reasonable degree of
moisture.
WHAT is VARIEGATION?
The question has been asked and answered so variously and so
frequently, that unless we had now a distinct object in view we
should forbear to touch the hackneyed subject. " Variegation," as it
is termed, in the leaves of plants consists in blotches, lines, spots,
marginal bands, etc., of various colours, — white, yellow, and red
prevailing principally. To go into the whole question here is impos-
sible, but we must remark that some leaves are normally rich in
colour, and the question of the cause of variegation does not apply
to them at all. It is the abnormal (if abnormal) colouring of a leaf
which now interests us. Wkerever this abnormal colouring appears,
as, for example, in "Flower of the Day" Pelargonium, or the white
and creamy stripes of the " Pibbon Grass," ( Phalaris arundinaceaj
the vigour of the plant is less than that of its nearest relative in the
class to which it belongs. For example, "Flower of the Day" is
ASPIDISTRA LURID A V ARIEGATA.
31
less vigorous than the dark-zoned variety from which it originated,
and the Ribbon Grass is less vigorous than the green-leaved unva-
riegated form of the same Phalaris. Now we have watched over the
growth from seed of thousands — tens of thousands — of variegated-leaved
plants, or of plants bred from one or two variegated parents. In all
cases the more intense the variegation the less was the degree of
vigour, a fact which goes very far indeed towards establishing the
popular theory that variegation is the result of disease. We are now
approaching the object we have in view in penning this note, and
if of no interest to anyone but Mr. Darwin, it will at least be of
some interest to Mm, as a trifle in aid of his theory of "Pangenesis"
We have observed that whenever the seed-leaves or cotyledons present
any kind of variegation, even the faintest streak or spot of white or
yellow, the plant at some time or other produces variegated leaves,
and when this occurs, it also immediately and unmistakcably declines
in vigour. But the converse is not true: when the cotyledons are
apparently quite healthy, and destitute of a trace of variegation, it
is not at all certain that the plant will not become in due time
variegated; in fact, some of the most beautiful of the variegated-leaved
Pelargoniums were quite green in the seed-leaf. What is variegation?
Well, we can ascertain the contents of cells, and we can reason on
all the relations of the condition to that of albinism in animals, and
at the end of our inquiry what have we gained? It appears to us
that variegation is transmitted by roaming cells, which are capable of
development only under certain conditions of the individual in which
they circulate, and that the development is a form of disease for
which no better term can be found than one already in use by the
medical profession, namely, defective nutrition. The cells which
predispose to variegation are of a kind unfavourable to assimilation,
and the analogue to a variegated plant is perhaps not so much an
albino as the victim of atrophy.
Aspidistra lurida variegata. — This fine plant is as hardy as an Iris,
yet will bear the heat of the stove, and appears to be always at home
in a cool greenhouse. When planted out on a dry sand-bank it
grows freely, and is unhurt in the severest winters, and it answers
admirably as a pot plant to mix with hardy ferns. It is an interesting
subject, for, though strictly liliaceous, it appears to have no affinities
with the Lilies until we carefully study its structure and habits. Its
large handsome leaves, rising from a woody rhizoma, afford no hint
of its relationships; and its flowers we never see unless we make a
search for them. Some time in May, however, they may be discovered
32
ASPIDISTRA LURID A VARIEG ATA.
on the rhizoma, not rising from it; and as sometimes a little of the
earth has to be removed to afford a good view of them, it has been
described as "flowering under ground." When the flowers are dis-
covered, they are seen to be of a dull brown or earthy colour, and
about the size of a florin; their structure liliaceous, though quite
destitute of attractions. To ensure the production of leaves finely
variegated this plant must be grown in poor soil. If grown
generously the beautiful stripes of creamy white disappear, and the
leaves acquire a uniform dull green hue. It is a good plan to assist
pot plants with a little heat when the new leaves first appear; this
produces development. To multiply the plant is an easy matter.
Wait till it begins to grow, then cut up the rhizoma, and pot the
pieces, and put them in a steady bottom-heat.
HIBISCUS COO PER 1 1.
XIII
HIBISCUS COOPERIL
PLATE XIII.
Hibiscus Cooperii, Sir Daniel Cooper's Hibiscus.
Natural Order — Malvaceae.
We cannot be wrong in selecting for a place in this series Hibiscus
Cooperii, for it has leaves that are exquisitely beautiful, and in its
season it is crowned with gorgeous flowers. The Malvaceous order
contributes largely to the embellishment of our gardens, and the Hibiscus
is not the least amongst many of its genera in respect of decorative
properties. The hollyhock, abutilon, althaea, and a host of annuals, offer
themselves out of this great family for the most common but delightful
uses; from several species of Hibiscus and Gossipium valuable fibres
F
34
HIBISCUS COOl'ERII.
are obtained, the last-named furnishing the several varieties of eotton
which we have seen associated as a power, with some of the greatest
political agitations of modern times. In our stoves the species of
Hibiscus have long been prized on account of the brilliant colours and
great abundance of their flowers, those of H. sinensis, H. splendens,
and H. pulchellus, to name only three out of fifty or more that have
been introduced to cultivation, are certainly unsurpassed for splendour,
when at their best, in all the range of plants with which they may be
fairly compared in respect of merit. The particular subject of this
notice is a native of the hottest parts of the Australian continent,
where it was first discovered by Sir Daniel Cooper, Bart., of Woollabra,
near Sidney, and some time treasurer to the Royal Horticultural Society
of London.
The plant is of delicate constitution, but when properly treated grows
freely, and is extremely beautiful. The young stems are of a deep
red colour, and the footstalks of the leaves, and the stipules that
accompany them, are of the same colour. The leaves are lanceolate or
elongate-ovate, wedge-shaj^ed at the base, pointed at the apex, irregularly
bluntly toothed. They vary considerably in colours, but the prevailing
tints are carmine red, with patches of creamy white on the outer parts
of the blade, with more or less of light and dark green dappled in
the line of the midrib. Numerous as are plants with highly-coloured
leaves, we have few that equal this in the abundance and richness of
its tones of red. AVhen it flowers, however, surprise must precede
admiration, for the flowers are not surpassed in splendour by any other
species of this noble family. The flowers usually exceed six inches in
diameter; they present no peculiarities of structure, being of the
ordinary Hibiscus type, the long narrowish petals being rather widely
separated. The colour of the petals is an intense carmine scarlet, but
the base of each is blush, which breaks into the scarlet in delicate
veins, the centre of the flower being blackish crimson. The plant has
at least one defect, and that is extreme shyness in producing flowers:
this, however, is a common defect of new plants, owing to their being
kept in a constantly growing state, for purposes of propagation. When
quite established it will probably flower much more freely than it has
done hitherto.
Hibiscus Coopcrii requires careful stove cultivation. AVe are particular
in saying this, because it has been described as a greenhouse plant.
For all the stove species of Hibiscus we prefer a soil consisting
wholly of tough fibrous peat, or the most mellow fibrous loam that can
be obtained; mixtures answer very well for such free-growing kinds as
mvtabilis, sinensis, and p/ioeniceus, but the delicate habited do far better
HIBISCUS C00PER1I.
35
in gritty yellowish peat than in any mixture. U. Copperii may be
quickly struck with a good heat, but great care must be taken not to
make the cuttings too wet or they will perish. The specimens hitherto
exhibited in London have been presented covered with bell-glasses,
which is a good measure of precaution against cold draughts and dust,
but in the well-kept plant stove bell-glasses are unnecessary.
As it is but seldom we meet with collections of Hibiscus, the
following list of the beautiful species may be useful to some of our
readers.
HARDY SPECIES OF HIBISCUS.
H. trionum, (the " bladder -ketmia,") an annual plant; the flowers
citron yellow, with centre brown and black.
H. militaris, harby herbaceous plant, the flowers white with crimson
centre.
H. palnstris, a hardy herbaceous plant, native of North America,
where it grows in marshes ; flowers pink or rose with crimson centre.
H. speciosus, herbaceous, native of Carolina; flowers scarlet with
white centre.
H. syriacus, syn. Altlicea frutex, a splendid hardy deciduous shrub,
of which there are at least a dozen varieties. It requires a rather
poor sandy or stony soil, and the hottest place that can be found for
it in the garden. As it is unsightly during winter, looking much like
a dead tree, and is late in coming into leaf, it is not well adapted to
plant in a rich foreground where the finest evergreen shrubs are
usually placed.
H. Wrayce, a nearly or quite hardy deciduous shrub rarely met
with, but deserving a place wherever it can be treated as described
for H. syriacus. The flowers are purple, or lilac and violet, and are
rarely produced until October.
STOVE SPECIES OF HIBISCUS.
II. camcronis, native of Madagascar: there are two varieties, one with
rosy, the other with scarlet, flowers.
II. ficuloides, native of Ceylon; the flowers are yellow and purple.
36
HIBISCUS COOTERII.
The proper way to treat this is to roast and starve it; if cramped at
the roots, and in the driest and hottest part of the stove, it will be
in flower nearly all the year.
H. liliflorits, native of the Isle of Bourbon ; a fine shrub, producing
enormous lily-like flowers of a rosy scarlet colour. This should be
planted out in a border of free loam, and have abundance of water
when making its new growth.
H. Lindleyi, native of Burmah; a compact shrub, rising six or seven
feet high, growing freely in light mellow loam, and better adapted for
a pot than for the border. It flowers abundantly and continuously
throughout the winter and early spring: the flowers are neat in form,
the colour rich crimson purple, with black centre.
H. mutalilis, a noble tree, native of the East Indies; the flowers are
usually produced during the early part of the winter in great plenty.
This requires plenty of root-room, and should therefore be planted
out in a bed of rich loam, but it may be grown in a pot to great
perfection. It takes its name from the changeableness of its flowers;
they open in the morning an impure green colour, soon afterwards
they change to white; at noon they acquire a tinge of red, and before
they perish at night they become richly tinted a crimson rose colour.
H. rosa-sinensis, better known as the "Chinese rose." A magnificent
tree, native of India and the hotter parts of China; there are several
•varieties, producing respectively rosy, red, and yellow flowers, single
and double. These thrive as pot plants, but when planted out in
a border or bed of loam grow more freely and flower more profusely.
If more be required, add H. cannabinus, a stove biennial plant, with
flowers yellow and crimson; and H. multifidus , native of Swan River,
a greenhouse shrub, with flowers pale blue, the centre rosy crimson.
M A R ft N T ft I L L U S T R I S
XIV
MABANTA ILLTJSTBIS.
PLATE XIV.
Moranta illustris, Noble or Remarkable Maranta.
Natural Order — Maraxtace^e.
This charming plant will be a suitable companion for 31. rosca-picta,
(PI. V.,) which it resembles in its general character and habit of growth.
It differs chiefly in having crescentic bands of pale rose and white
in place of the brilliant red, and oblique bars of emerald green
alternating with deep olive green in place of the more uniform full
green of rosea-picta. 31. illustris was obtained from the Upper Amazon
by M. Linden, of Brussels, through his collector Mr. Wallis; it has
also been found by M. Baraquin, in districts watered by affluents of
38 MARANTA ILLVSTRIS.
the Amazon, and by him was transmitted to M. A. Verschaffelt, of
Ghent. A plant so easily multiplied and so highly attractive in
appearance, could not long remain in few hands, and it has been
largely distributed, and may now be found in all good stove collections,
associated with 31. rosea-picta, M. splendida, M. Veitchii, M. striata,
and others referred to at page 14.
LONICERU BRJCHYPODA, V J R. A U R E 0 • R E T I C U L ATA.
YW
LONICERA BRACHYPODA.
Var. Aureo-reticulata.
PLATE XV.
Lonicera brachypoda, var. aureo-reticulata, Japanese Honeysuckle with golden-
netted leaves.
Natural Order — Capeifoliace^.
We are strongly tempted to apologise for the picture, because it is
not occupied with the newest novelty, but perhaps its beauty may be
a sufficient vindication. We can defend the plant at all events, and
if it has any enemies we begin by hurling at them the declaration that
this hardy shrub created quite as much sensation on account of its
curious colouring as any other plant introduced in the same season
with it; and, being hardy, interested a greater number of amateurs
than any other of the time. And it has not disappointed any; even
those who doubted if such a slender beauty could brave a British
40
LONICERA BRACIIYPODA.
winter, are satisfied; and it lias now acquired a new interest, for
established plants are found to flower abundantly, and the flowers are
as pretty and sweet as those of the common evergreen Honeysuckle.
This pretty plant is one of the many acquisitions — we will venture
to say also one of the triumphs — of Mr. Robert Fortune, the intrepid
explorer of Chinese and Japanese gardens. It was first introduced to
public notice by Mr. Standish, and at Kensington and Regent's Park
obtained the highest awards that could be given for merit. When
distributed it was purchased eagerly, and proving as hardy as any
plant in our gardens, it may now be frequently met with covering
walls, trellises, and bowers with its lovely and peculiar leafage, or as
we have it in our own garden, sheeting a ruin in company with
dark-leaved ivies, which heighten its attractions by contrast. It can be
grown into specimen form in a pot with the greatest ease, but a firm
light trellis must first be prepared and fixed in a pot of suitable
size, (not less than eleven inches for a handsome example,) and a strong
plant must be planted and trained to the trellis from the first. It
may remain in the same pot three years, and may then be planted
out, or may be cut back and re-potted. Any light soil of tolerably
good quality will suit it; we have thought the colours were brighter
when the plant has been grown in mixtures of old mortar, broken
bricks, and sand in a considerable proportion. One thing is certain, the
plant should be fully exposed to light, and it attains to much richer
colours when grown in the open air, for then, in addition to its reticula-
tions of gold and green, there is added a crimson midrib, and in autumn
a flush of purplish red overspreads the whole surface of the leaf.
Two curious but very pardonable blunders have been made in
descriptions of this plant. Mr. Fortune said, "It produces two kinds
of leaves, one single and one like the oak." Mr. Thomas Moore,
misled no doubt by the error of Mr. Fortune, said, "The leaves are
commonly ovate, but occasionally become sinuately lobed, and in the
samples before us are about two inches and a half long, and nearly
two inches broad," etc. Observation of the growth of the plant
will soon furnish the explanation of these inaccuracies. It will be
seen that the young leaves are commonly lobed like those of the oak,
but as they acquire their full growth and maturity the lobes disappear,
and there is at last not a trace of their former existence to be found.
Those who wish to see the flowers of this pretty plant should allow
it to become established on a sunny wall or trellis at least ten feet
high, never resorting to pruning except to regulate the growth and
prevent overcrowding, the matured wood will in due time delight the
owner by a disjday of beautiful flowers.
C1U0IUM BtlLEYMEl
XVI
CALADIUM BELLEYMEI.
PLATE XVI.
Caladium Belleymei, or Caladium Belleymeri, Belleymer's Caladium.
Natural Order — Aeace^e.
This is one of the most remarkable of the series of Caladiums
collected by Baraquin in Para, Brazil, and introduced to European
cultivators by M. Chantin, of Paris. Frequenters of floral exhibitions
have of late become familiar with the sparkling appearance of its
dappled leaves, when presented in groups of its more strongly-coloured
congeners; and in every well-furnished stove it is valued as a
companion plant to the less robust, but not less beautiful, C. argijrites.
G
4;>
CAL UHl M BELLEYMEI.
It differs, however, in form and colouring, as well as in stature, from
that little gem; the leaves of C. Bellcymei being sharply sagittate,
and almost wholly white, with occasional suffusions of pale rose. In
the admirable figure here presented the artist has faithfully represented
its prevailing characters, the vivid green network arising out of the
course of the veins and their anastomosing divisions, constituting, with
the contrast of the white ground, the most decisive of its many
attractions.
Some general remarks on Caladiums and their requirements will be
found in the description of C. mirabile, (Plate VII., p. 17.) Special
directions as to cultivation, therefore, are not needful in this place.
THE FLOWERING OF CALADIUMS.
When Caladiums flower, as they do occasionally, cultivators who
have not previously had experience of their behaviour, are apt to be
in doubt as to the effect the act of flowering may have upon the
health of their plants; and some there are who declare that after
flowering a Caladium is sure to perish. As a rule, the inflorescence
of the Caladium cannot be considered ornamental; but there is nothing
to be gained by removing it, or indeed by removing the flowers of
any endogenous plant. Considered as to the effect of inflorescence, it
is favourable to the health and vigour of the plant, provided the
growth and ripening of the seed is prevented by removal of the
spathe as soon as the freshness of its appearance is past. The green
stalk should be left to wither away in its own time. After flowering,
if the ripening of seed is prevented, the plant usually makes a
number of offsets, and affords its possessor the means of increasing
his stock. Generally speaking, the flowering of Caladiums affords a
proof that they have been cultivated in strict accordance with their
requirements.
DISTINCTIONS BETWEEN THE CALADIUM AND THE ALOCASIA.
The sjiecies of these two genera are frequently confounded, and it
is no uncommon thing to find them incorrectly labelled at exhibitions.
In common with many other closely-allied genera, they are, by the
cultivator unaccustomed to scientific observation, regarded as differing
in name only, and that difference is of course attributed to the
CALADIUM BELLEYMEI.
43
pedantry and hair-splitting to which botanists have occasionally been
addicted. But the distinctions in this case are real and obvious, and
may be categorically stated as follows: —
The Caladiuni has a tubercular rhizome, and though bulb proper
it has none, it may for popular purposes be said to have a bulbous
root.
The leaves of the Caladium are all radical, that is, they arise
directly from the root.
The Alocasia has always more or less of a distinct stem, from
which the leaves proceed, the bases of the petioles being sheathed
and above ground.
The spadix of the Caladium and the Alocasia are alike in general
characters, as in each case it bears flowers along its whole length,
the flowers at the apex being males, those at the base females, those
in the centre combining both sexes, and abortive. But in Alocasia
the spadix is prolonged in a sterile appendix, which is not the case
in Caladium.
In Anthurium the stem is more distinctly and boldly produced than
in Alocasia, the members of this genus, therefore, have in many
cases a palm-like aspect.
TWELVE DISTINCT CALADIUMS.
C. argyrites. — Of small growth, leaves light green elegantly blotched
and lined with white, averaging ten inches in height.
C. Baraquinii. — Robust growth, and large leaves, averaging thirty
inches; they are almost wholly of a rich dull crimson red, bordered
with dull green. One of the best.
C. Belleymei. — Robust growth, the leaves (including petioles) attaining
a length of thirty-four inches. The whitest of the large-growing kinds,
and indispensable.
C. Chantinii.- — Average height thirty-two inches; brilliant crimson
centre. The most showy of its class, and indispensable in even the
smallest collection.
C. cupreum. — Dwarf habit, average height fifteen inches; the leaf is
broad and flat, the colour dull bronzy olive with dull reddish veins.
Very distinct, and metallic in colouring, but not desirable for a small
collection.
44
CALADIUM BELLEYMEI.
C. Detosianum. — Very robust, averaging thirty-five to forty inches
high: the broad leaves are of a rich deep green, sparingly marked with
clusters of white dots.
C. mirabile. — Medium habit, averaging twenty inches high; leaves
broad and shield-shaped, light green with white spots. Very desirable.
C. Perrierii. — Medium habit; leaf broad with blunt lobes, and sharp
at the apex, rich deep green irregularly marked with deep red blotches,
which are lightly edged with white.
C. regale. — One of the largest in growth and particularly handsome:
the leaves are finely formed, rich deep green with irregular blotches of
greyish white. A very fine plant, surpassing C. macrophyllum in
nobleness of appearance.
C. splcndidum. — A fine companion plant to C. Chantinii and Bara-
quinii, as Belleymci is a companion to argyrites. The leaf is almost
wholly tinted with dull carmine, the veins showing richly and boldly
in a deeper tone of the same colour, the margins slightly shaded with
dull green. This surpasses bicolor and its varieties.
C. Troubetzkoy. — Medium growth, averaging twenty inches. Leaves
very narrow with ear -like lobes: the ground colour grass green,
sparingly sjjotted with white and pale rose, the central veins rich
carmine red. Very desirable.
C. Wighti. — Growth moderate, leaves of a beautiful escutcheon form,
rich deep green dappled with large blotches of red and white. One
of the best, and indispensable.
HTERNANTHERA S F S S I L I S, V A fl. A M CE N A.
XVII
ALTERNANT HER A SESSILIS.
Var. Amcena.
PLATE XVII.
AUernanthera sessilis, var. amcena, Pleasing variety of the Sessile-flowering
Alternanthera.
Natural Order — AmarantacejE.
The commercial axiom that "demand creates supply" is amusingly
illustrated by the pretty group of plants of which the one now
before us is a member. Nature does not concern herself perhaps
about our commercial or even our scientific axioms, yet when it
became the fashion to colour the parterre with leaves, to the exclu-
sion in great part of flowers, Nature appeared favourable to the
undertaking, and presented us with a host of new plants suitable for
the purpose. The glorious Coleus Verschaffelti and Amaranthus
melancholicus had prepared the way, and when some half dozen lively
Alternantheras, and the sombre but useful Iresine ( Achyrantlt.es J
Herbstii appeared, the practitioners of "bedding" were in ecstacies,
and began to dream of abolishing flowers altogether. Well, the
Alternantheras have pleased a few and disappointed many, but we
4G
ALTERNANTHERA SESSIL1S.
believe their day is yet to come, for they were put to the proof
too soon, and have not even yet had a fair trial. To plant out bits
the size of one's little finger of a plant of diminutive growth and
comparatively dull in its leaf-colours, is a very different affair to
putting out tufts as large as one's fist or head, and in places where
the Alternantheras and their congeners have been taken care of,
effects may now be produced which were scarcely hinted at in the
earliest experiments. We fully expect to see in the summer of 1868,
in the best of the Parisian gardens, and in such richly-planted spots
as Battersea Park, near London, displays of leaf-colouring far
surpassing all former accomplishments, in which these plants will be
conspicuous features.
The generic designation, "altern-anthera," has reference to the fact
that the anthers are fertile and barren alternately. All the plants of
the genus are humble herbs, mostly requiring the stove, but the
members of the new bedding group are strictly greenhouse plants,
requiring to be kept near the glass and in an airy place all winter,
and growing freely in the open ground during summer. The most
striking of the series are the following: —
A. sessilis, v. amcena. — Growth very dwarf, neat, and spreading; leaves
spathulate; colours reddish orange and reddish purple, passing into
shades of bronze and olive.
A. spathulata. — Growth free and branching, quickly forming a sub-
shrubby tuft; leaves elongate-spathulate ; colours pink and buff, passing
into shades of brown, bronze, and green.
A. paronychoides. — Compact, tufted growth; leaves narrow-spathulate ;
prevailing colour bright orange red, passing into shades of dull olive
green. A very distinct leaf-colouring plant.
A. versicolor, syn. Tcleianthera ficoidea, v. versicolor. — Sub-shrubby
in aspect, freely branching, and quickly forming a neat round bush.
Leaves ovate and decurrent; prevailing colours lively pink and
bronzy crimson, passing into shades of green and brown.
As greenhouse plants these will please for a time, but their
ultimate fate in respect of the favour shewn them by English culti-
vators, will depend almost entirely on their value as bedding plants.
ZEA JAPONICA VABJEGATA.
PLATE XVIII.
Zea Japonica variegata, Japanese Maize with variegated leaves.
Natural Order — Graminaceje.
This is one of the most useful horticultural novelties, and withal
an interesting plant because of the constancy of the variegation,
though the plant can only be multiplied by means of seeds. Though
well worth a place in the conservatory, it is in the open border that
this fine Maize displays its beauties to the best advantage; and it
has been largely employed in what is commonly designated "sub-
tropical" gardens. Few novelties of so humble a nature as this have
48
ZEA JAPONICA YARIEG ATA.
met with a reception like it, for in the first season of its general
distribution through the ordinary trade channels, it was to be found
in almost every garden in which a new plant could find a place at
all. The reason for its sudden and extensive popularity may be
found in its close resemblance to a plant of much greater value —
the celebrated Arundo donax variegata, a plant which must always
be expensive, because difficult to keep, and one moreover much
coveted because of its distinctive grace and beauty. The Variegated
Japanese Maize may be regarded as a cheap substitute for this famous
Arundo, and it may be considered the best poor man's sub-tropical
plant in cultivation.
In raising plants the very simple plan may be followed of sowing
the seeds where the plants are to remain in the open bed or border.
The soil should be rich, light, and deep, well dug over, and left
rather rough on the surface. If a bed be sown, the seeds should be
placed a foot apart, and four inches deep, and a few extra should be
sown elsewhere to supply plants to fill any gaps that occur in the beds.
If required to form clumps on a border, about five seeds should be
sown for each clump, and they need not be more than six inches
apart. The last week in April or the first week in May is the
proper time for sowing in the open ground.
A better way, however, is to sow the seeds in pans of light rich
soil in February or March, and place them in a gentle heat. By
this means strong plants are obtained for planting out towards the
end of May. The plants are always green at first, but acquire
their proper variegation as they approach maturity; and when the
leaves are fully developed they are superbly marked with longitudinal
bands of white and grey, and sometimes a tinge of rose is added.
The best examples of this as a pot plant, that have come under
our notice, were grown by Mr. Chater, of the Gonville Nurseries,
Cambridge, in 1867. They were exhibited at the autumn meeting of
the Cambridge Horticultural Society, and were not only greatly
admired, but created some amount of surprise by their elegance of
outline and brilliant variegation. They were placed in a line down
the centre of the principal table on which cut flowers and fruits were
displayed, and in this conspicuous position established the right of
this Maize to be considered a valuable jdant for the conservatory.
ALOCASIA LOWII.
PLATE XIX.
Alocasia Lowii, Caladlum Veitchii, Caladium Lowii, Low's Oaladium.
Natural Order — Arace^e.
The very close relationships of Alocasia and Caladium, and the
consequent impossibility of distinguishing the genera when the plants
are quite young, accounts for the three names which the plant before
us has respectively borne. Caladium Veitchii had been introduced to
cultivation prior to the discovery of the plant before us, and in due
time proved to be an Alocasia, and was re-named accordingly Alocasia
Veitchii. In the summer of 1862 Messrs. Low and Co., of Clapton,
received from Borneo a plant which they believed to be Caladium
H
50
ALOCASIA LOWII.
Veitchii, and under this name they first presented some immature
specimens of it at the Metropolitan exhibitions. In due time it proved
to be distinct from the plant bearing the name under which they
received it, and hence it was re-named Calaclium Lowii. When the
inflorescence appeared it proved to be not a Caladium, but an Alocasia,
and finally it was registered and described as Alocasia Loioii, (Hooker,)
as good a name perhaps as could be given it in these days of degraded
nomenclature, a diagnosis being no longer a needful preliminary to
the determination of a specific name.
Alocasia Lowii is one of the grandest plants of the remarkable
family to which it belongs, and if not superior to A. metallica, as we
are inclined to think it is, at least equals that fine plant in solemn
richness of colouring and majestic proportions, and is the best possible
companion plant to that. It is, like other Alocasias, an evergreen
stove perennial plant, having a distinct, erect, rhizomatous stem, to
which the sheathing bases . of the upright leafstalks are attached.
The leaves are sharply sagittate, a foot to a foot and a half long,
and five to nine inches wide, the base divided by a deep sinus into
a pair of oblong lobes. The colouring of the leaf, as in the case of
A. metallica, suggests to the spectator that he is looking at some
elaborate work of metallic art. It is poor praise perhaps to liken any
work of nature to a work of art, yet these two plants have such
peculiar appearances that we know not how to avoid it. In A. Lowii
the midrib and its secondary ribs are of ivory whiteness, and coalesce
with a thickened ivory white margin; the spaces between these ribs
are of a deep green, and the under surface is a sombre purple. In
its inflorescence it differs from others of the genus in being somewhat
ornamental; at all events the spathes are upwards of four inches long,
elegant in outline, and of the most snowy whiteness.
PHORMIUM TEfUX VARIEGATUM.
XX
PHOEMIUM TENAX VAKIEGATUM.
PLATE XX.
Phormium tenax va/riegatum, Variegated-leaved New Zealand Flax.
Natural Order— Liliacea.
The New Zealand Flax is now so well known that we need not
point out that the only relation it bears to the European Flax, ( Linum
usatissimum , J is in supplying a fibre well adapted for textile
manufactures. Botanically, Phormium is separated by an enormous
distance from Linum, and it is to be regretted that the term "flax"
was ever applied to this plant at all.
Phormium tenax was discovered in New Zealand, by Banks and
Solander, who accompanied Cook in his first voyage round the world,
52
PHORMIUM TENAX VARIEGATUM.
iii the years 1768 to 1771. Cook returned in 1772 and said much
about the beauty of this plant, and especially of its fibrous nature,
which was fully understood and appreciated by the natives, and he
appears to have been enthusiastic in his anticipations of the benefits
that would result from the introduction of the fibre to European
commerce. Strange to say, in the account of his first voyage, the
botanists who accompanied him said not a word about the plant; a
bright discovery appeared to be quickly and completely forgotten.
However, in his second voyage, 1772 to 1775, he was accompanied
by the Fosters, father and son, and the plant was re-discovered, and
was figured in the narrative of the second voyage, and some time after
that its characters were determined, and it was described under the
name it now bears. This name has been generally adopted by
botanists, with the exception of Gaertner, who re-named it Chlamydia
tenacissima, but this name has been rarely used.
There are two accounts extant of the introduction of this plant to
cultivation. The late Sir William Hooker, in an interesting notice,
reported that the seeds were brought to England by Joseph Banks
in 1789, and were distributed liberally on the continent soon after-
wards; and that Aiton, who was then head gardener at Kew, sent it
in 1800 to the Museum of Natural History, which was at that time
under the direction of the celebrated Andre Thouin.
Another account says that in 1791 Billardiere, botanist to the
expedition of Entrecasteaux, returned with a valuable collection of
new plants, amongst which was this Phormium. When taken prisoner
by the Dutch he lost his plants, which were sold by his captors to
the English. They were afterwards restored to the owner through
the intercession of Sir Joseph Banks, but the Phormium was now
missing, and we are led to infer that Sir Joseph knew of its value
as a plant adapted for textile industries, and desiring that England
should have the honour of introducing it to commerce, surreptitiously
detained it, and thus defrauded Billardiere. Professor Ch. Lemaire,
who relates these stories in Verschaffelt's "Illustration Horticole,"
vol. xiii., pi. 481, adds, "We cannot believe this of Sir Joseph Banks,
who had too grand a soul and too noble a sentiment for such
meanness, of which there is proof enough in his devotion of his
whole fortune to the interests of science." The brief note in"Hortus
Kewensis," 1811, vol. ii., p. 284, was of course written while the
history of the plant was fresh in the memory of many botanists and
horticulturists, and it tends directly to confirm the first account of its
introduction.
The New Zealand Flax was from its first introduction known as a
PHORMIUM TENAX VABIEGATUM.
53
valuable fibre-yielding plant, eminently adapted for manufacturing
purposes, as its discoverers had seen the natives use it in the prepa-
ration of ropes, fishing-nets, and garments. The fibres are long, fine,
strong, glossy like silk, and white as snow. Many experiments have
been made to test its strength, the most trustworthy of these being
those conducted by M. Freycinet, in the Department of Drome, in
France, where the plant thrives in the open air, and flowers freely,
though it does not produce seed. M. Billardiere, indeed, had put
the fibre to comparative tests long before, but M. Freycinet experi-
mented with fibre of European growth, which proved to be in no
respect inferior to that obtained from New Zealand. The following
results of the trial of several fibres will interest some of our readers.
If the strength of the fibres of the Aloe be estimated at seven, that
of the Common Flax is equal to eleven and three quarters, Hemp
sixteen and one third, Phormium tenax twenty-three and five elevenths,
silk twenty-four. There can be no doubt, therefore, of the immense
economic value of this plant; yet up to this time it has never, we
believe, been employed in European manufactures on a scale sufficient
to give it an important place in our markets. The fibre grown in
Europe is coarser, though quite as strong as that obtained from New
Zealand.
The common green-leaved form of the New Zealand Flax is well
known as a cool conservatory plant, which, in sheltered places in the
southern parts of England, endures the severest winters unhurt. It is
a plant of noble proportions and quite tropical aspect, associating well
with Yuccas, Aloes, and other subjects of like character, and requiring
scarcely any care in its cultivation. It is commonly reputed a marsh
plant, and it certainly thrives if allowed an abundance of water during
the summer. But it is not necessarily aquatic in habit, for we have
seen a plant covering a space of four or five yards square, the growth
of many years, in dry, barren, stony ground, almost the last jjlace in
the world where one would think of planting such a tropical-looking
subject as this.
The variegated-leaved variety here figured is quite a novelty, and
one of the highest value both for the conservatory at all times and
for the embellishment of the flower garden during the summer. The
leaves arc boldly marked with alternate stripes of green, amber, and
bright yellow, and occasionally bright red stripes appear. Mr. B. S.
Williams, of Holloway, was the first amongst the London nurserymen
to exhibit a large specimen of this plant, and we need not say that
at its first appearance in public it was noted by lovers of such things
as eminently desirable for decorative purposes.
SEDUM SI EBOLO 1 1 MECIO-VAH lE'CATUM.
XXI
SEDUM SIEBOLDII MEDIO- VARIEGATUM.
PLATE XXI.
Sedum Sieboldil medio-variegatum, Variegated-leaved variety of Siebold's Stonecrop.
Natural Order — Ceassxjlace^:.
Sedum Sieboldii is one of the best hardy herbaceous plants in
cultivation, but it is impossible to know much of its merits by
treating it in an off-hand way, as fit only for the rockery or border.
True, it is quite hardy if planted in a dry sunny position, and on
a sandy well-drained soil. But the neat habit and delicate glaucous
hue of its leafage are sadly marred by the assaults of weather and
vermin, to which it is exposed when out of doors: the rain and the
sunshine change the delicate bloom of the leaf to a dull dirty bronze,
and if there be but one snail in the garden it will discover the
plant, and regale upon its succulent substance until either snail or
plant come to an end. On the other hand, as a cool conservatory
plant it is well worth the little attention it requires. It must be
potted afresh every spring, and be allowed a larger and a larger
pot as the plant increases in size, but must never be over-potted.
Good drainage is essential, and any light rich soil will answer. The
56
SEDUM SIEBOLDII MEDIO- VARIEGATUM.
shoots may be trained out on a wire trellis, or may be allowed to
bang down over the sides of the pot, a mode we think preferable
to any kind of training. If kept in a sunny and quite airy part of
the house it will flower freely in September. The flowers are reddish
pink, every shoot terminating in a large dense umbel of them. The
finest plant we have ever seen was one of our own, which has been
several times exhibited in London. When in its fifteenth year it
measured a yard across, having been grown to that size in a pan
thirteen inches in diameter and ten inches deep.
This variegated-leaved variety is exquisitely beautiful, and, like the
common form, should always be grown under glass. It varies much,
producing occasionally shoots wholly green, and also shoots wholly of
a delicate cream-colour. The typical character is a central broad
stripe of cream-colour on the leaf, the remainder of which is of the
same soft glaucous hue as the original plant. It is said that Siebold
originated this variety by artificial means, in accordance with a system
known to him, by which variegation may be produced at will.
Hitherto this account of its origin has existed only as a rumour; no
definite statement has been made public on the subject.
D I C-H 0 R.I S A N 0 R A MOSAIC*.
XXII
DICHORISANDRA MOSAIC A.
VEATE XXII.
Dichorisandra mosaica, Mosaic-leaved Dichorisandra.
Natural 0 rder — C OMMELIH A.C E E .
The lovely plant here figured belongs to a family of stove plants
once highly esteemed by cultivators, but now known and appreciated
only by a few. The order of Npiderworts, to which this belongs, is
rich in beaiitiful and interesting plants; and amongst the most attractive
occur a few of the Dichorisandras, which are valuable alike for their
I
58
DICHORISANDKA IUOSAICA.
leaves and flowers. The plate represents one of the prettiest fine-
foliage plants known. The leaves are broadly ovate-oblong; the
ground-colour dark green, traversed with zigzag lines of white, which
remind the beholder of a delicate pattern in mosaic. When in flower
this is a siimptuous plant, but if kept in health, it is well worth a
place in the stove for its leaves alone.
Several species of this genus have been introduced from the tropical
parts of South America within the past half century; and of these,
two at least may be pronounced eminently desirable for the embellishment
of the stove in autumn and winter. These are D. picta, with prettily
painted leaves and blue flowers; and D. thyrsiflora, a plant of large
growth, producing fine thyrses of blue flowers during autumn and
winter. Our D. mosaica throws up a terminal thyrse of azure blue
flowers, which have a charming appearance while they last, and its
season of flowering is autumn. We recommend these three as the
best out of about a dozen species known to collectors; and of
thyrsiflora it may be said that there is not a finer winter flowering
stove plant in cultivation.
The treatment required by these plants is simple enough, but they
cannot endure neglect. A light rich soil of almost any kind will suit
them. They must have stove temperature, a moist atmosphere, and
shade from the full sun. Those that flower in the summer may be
removed when in bloom to the conservatory, but as they are all
delicately constituted, care must be taken not to expose them to cold
draughts at any time, and while in the stove they must never be
subjected to an arid atmosphere or long-continued dryness at the
roots, or they will be quickly covered with red spider.
The quickest way to propagate them is by division in spring, but
they may also be multiplied by seeds, which should be sown in a
good heat in spring.
PEPEROMIA ARGYREIA.
PLATE XXIII.
Feperomia arifolia, var. a/rgyreia, Arum-leaved Peperomia; Silver-striped-leaved
Variety.
Natural Order — Piperace.e.
One of the benefits resulting from the increased attention paid to
the beauty of the leaves of plants, is the enlargement of the horticul-
turist's field of selection; for he now finds it advantageous to make
acquaintance with plants that have never been prized for their flowers,
and his interest in botany and plant-form is increased proportionately.
The Peperomias were never cared for by cultivators until the passion
for leaves sprang up; they were regarded as plants for the botanists,
that is to say, ugly uninteresting things that were unworthy of the
attention of any one in search of beauty. The ugly plants are always
GO
PEPEROMIA ARGYREIA.
made over to the botanists, but now and then it happens that a real
beauty gets mixed with them, and the botanist, smarting under the
sarcasm of his exigent friend the horticulturist, has the advantage of
the laugh, and wins a point or two in the competition. No piperaceous
plant is worth consideration for the beauty of its flowers, but of the
Peperomias we have now at least half a dozen worth growing for the
beauty of their leaves, and the best of them are the one here figured
and a smaller leaved and darker coloured one, called P. marmorata ,
the Marble-leaved Peperomia.
The good points of these plants arc many, their bad points are few.
They are almost always in perfection if taken proper care of, for,
unlike most other delicate-leaved herbaceous plants, the leaves of these
retain their beauty a long time, and scarcely present an unattractive
appearance at any time throughout the year. No insect ever touches
them, they are most easy to keep and propagate, and they seem to do
equally well in a comparatively dry atmosphere as in one highly charged
with humidity; but the average humidity of the tropical house is more
favourable to their health than dryness.
The two we have named as most desirable are very nearly related
in their characters. The one figured, P. arifolia, v. argyreia, has
orbicular-ovate leaves borne on red footstalks; the blade of the leaf
averages three to five inches long; in texture it is somewhat succulent;
the colours are delicately blended, being bright green along the lines
of the principal nerves, and greyish white between them. The leaves
of P. marmorata, the Marbled-leaved Peperomia, are ovate-cordate in
form, deeply two-lobed at the base, the upper surface dull green,
mottled with lighter shades of green, and divided by irregular bands
between the nerves of greyish white marbling.
For these plants we are indebted to the industry of Mr. Weir,
collector in Brazil for the Royal Horticultural Society.
We cannot dismiss the subject of this plate without remarking on
the economic importance of the order to which it belongs. The most
important plant in the Avhole family is Piper nigrum, from which
both white and black pepper are derived. Several other plants of
this order furnish carminative stimulants which are valued as substitutes
for pepper and as antidotes to poison. The valuable drug called
"cubebs" is the produce of Cubeba officinalis, a piperaceous plant;
and the celebrated "betel" leaf, Chavica betel, is a member of the
same family.
AGAVE AMERICANA VARIECATA.
XXIV
AGAVE AMERICANA YAEIEGATA.
PLATE XXIV.
Agave Americana Variegata, Variegated-leaved American Aloe.
Natural order — Amaryllidace.e.
Favour does not always go by merit, else a few of the best of the
nearly hardy succulent plants, of which there are a myriad beautiful
varieties known, would be found in every private garden where now
62
AGAVE AMERICANA VAH1EG ATA.
Tom Thumb geranium reigns supreme. It is something to keep a
noble plant all the days of one's life, and hand it over at last to a
successor, along with the family plate and the testimonial snuff-box,
and the American Aloe is just such a plant as may be kept "in the
family" through any number of generations, and be to them "a thing
of beauty and a joy for" — as many centuries as they last, for the plant
itself may be considered an emblem of immortality.
Glancing through the Aloes, Yuccas, Cacalias, Houseleeks, Sedums,
Gasterias, and the rest of the subjects that are classed as "succulents,"
how many noble and beautiful plants do we find, which in characters
and requirements appear to be better adapted to the circumstances of
amateurs than almost any other large sections of the vegetable kingdom
that find favour with them. We are now considering those whose
range of selection must be limited, but who desire to derive from the
garden the largest possible amount of intellectual recreation, combined
with those varying attractions which render a garden a necessary
appendage and embellishment to the residence of a man of taste.
Having visited almost every good garden in the British Islands, and
being familiar with a majority of the best collections, public and
private, we know of but one example of thorough appreciation of
these plants, apart from business interest or professional duty, and
that one example would fire thousands with the spirit of emulation
were they but familiar with it. In the Catalogue of the International
Horticultural Exhibition of 1866, will be found the name of our friend
and neighbour, J. B. Kellock, Esq., of Stamford Hill, who distinguished
himself by the exhibition of rare species of Yuccas, Dasylirions, and
Beaucarneas, in competition with the best collections of such plants
from all parts of Europe.
Mr. Kellock has made the cultivation of these plants the amusement
of his life, and whoever is fortunate enough to see his conservatory,
will be ready to agree that amongst plants he might have found less
attractive and less noble subjects. They are kept in a large span-
roofed house, the floor of which is concreted, to secure perfect dryness
in winter, because many of these plants, Aloes in particular, suffer at that
season if exposed to damp. For the benefit of such plants as Beau-
carneas, and others that require a certain degree of moisture at all
seasons, there is a small fish-pond and fountain around which the
moisture-loving plants are grouped, to benefit by the humidity
communicated to the atmosphere by evaporation. A service of hot-water
pipes, sufficient only to keep out frost, is provided, and the whole
collection, which comprises many species and varieties, reputed to
require the stove, is managed on a strictly cool system.
AGAVE AMERICANA VARIEGATA.
63
The appearance presented by this group of plants is that of a
luxuriant tropical garden; tall Dracaenas nearly touch the roof with
their elegant tufts of dark green drooping leaves; the Beaucarneas
imitate their graceful outlines lower down ; the gigantic leaves of many
species of Agaves and Yuccas, the thong-like and wonderfully elegant
Bonaparteas, with many more of the most distinctive vegetable forms
diversify the scene throughout, and afford delightful variety of elegant
outlines, here and there lighted with a bit of cheerful colour.
Amongst these various and valuable plants there are none more
striking than the Variegated-leaved American Aloe, many examples of
which may be found, and every one differs from the rest in colours
and markings; yet it is doubtful whether there are in reality more
than two or three varieties with variegated leaves; the differences
observable in different plants may be attributed chiefly to differences
of age, but also in some part to differences of condition. Many
cultivators have been led into error by the striking distinctiveness of
characters presented by the plants, and as they are strangely slow
in their movements, it requires the observations of a long series of
years to determine their relationships to one common source, and
their ultimate convergence to one common type. Nurserymen have
been always ready to bestow names upon these supposed varieties;
but if the purchasers of them could watch them long enough, they
would find them all relinquish by degrees their minor distinctions, and
take the characters of the type.
Nearly all the succulents that require the protection of the greenhouse
in the winter, and not a few that are reputed to require the stove,
may be employed to embellish the garden during the summer. We
have never seen plants of this kind better employed out of doors
than in the garden of J. B. Saunders, Esq., of The Laurels, Taunton.
He has some gigantic specimens of the Variegated-leaved American
Aloe, which are placed on pedestals during the summer on either side
of the main walk, and their grand outlines and brilliant colours
render them most impressive elements in a beautiful scene. They
are kept all the winter in an unheated coach-house, where there is
but little light, and they do not have, after being housed, until
brought out again, a single drop of water. So long as they are
kept dry a few degrees of frost will not harm them; but it is
desirable to protect all fleshy-leaved plants from the slightest touch of
frost, for the expansion consequent upon the freezing of the leaves
is likely to rend the tissues, to say nothing of its effect on the
constitution of the plant in general.
The Agaves have been receiving considerable attention from botanico-
6i
AGAVE AMEKICANA VAKIEG ATA.
horticulturists of late, and a considerable number of fine species have
been introduced to Europe. One of the best trade collections of
these is that of Mr. B. S. Williams, of Victoria Nursery, Holloway,
near London. The Kew collection is a fine one, and has been
considerably enlarged recently.
Having on several occasions witnessed the flowering of the American
Aloe, we can testify that the event is to be desired by any possessor
of the plant who can afford it the space necessary for the full
development of its enormous flower-stem, for its appearance when in
perfection is one of the most remarkable the lover of fine plants is
likely ever to witness. The popular opinion that the plant flowers
only when it has attained the age of one hundred years is erroneous,
but it is quite true that many years must elapse ere it attains to a
flowering condition. In hot climates, where all the circumstances are
favourable, the American Aloe produces flowers at ten years of age;
in less favourable circumstances the time of flowering is deferred to
fifty, seventy, or even a hundred years, possibly longer; but these
periods are known to have elapsed from the birth of a plant until
the date of its inflorescence. As, when happily circumstanced, and
especially when preserved against the injurious effect of an excess of
moisture, it is a rare event for a leaf to wither, an aged specimen
has an immense number of leaves, many of which will exceed
six feet in length. The flower-stem rises to a height of forty feet
when the plant is grown wholly out of doors, as it is in many
parts of the south of Europe. It is regularly branched and perfectly
symmetrical; the flowers are of a greenish yellow colour, and of an
elegant liliaceous form. It is well known that from this plant are
obtained an ardent spirit, a strong flax-like fibre, food for cattle, and
a kind of vegetable soap; but it is not so well known that the centre
of the flower-stem makes a good razor-strop, owing to the particles of
silica it contains.
m/ITHFA W C I T n U I A M A
OALATHEA YE ITCH I AN A.
PLATE XXV.
Calathr.a Vuitchlano, Mr. Veitch's t'alatlioa.
Nat oral Order — M a r a n t a c e k .
Tins has become one of the most popular of the attractive family
to which it belongs, and is constantly met with at exhibitions. Whether
it is absolutely the handsomest species in cultivation we will not
attempt to determine, but it is certainly not surpassed in richness of
colouring and nobleness of character by any kindred species. Its floral
characters, a sceptre-like scape and dense flower-head, the bracts im-
bricated all round, determine its immediate relationship to the celebrated
K
66
CALATHEA VEITCHIANA.
Calathea (formerly Maranta) zebrina. Dr. J. L). Hooker says, "it differs
from any of its congeners known to us, in having several of the rather
large upper bracts empty, and from its nearest allies in the form and
colour of the perianth, of which unfortunately we do not possess the
material to enable us to give a detailed description." However
interesting to the botanist, the flowers offer but few attractions to the
cultivator, though their pale purple lips contrast pleasingly with the
pale green bracts, amongst which they appear. The leaves are
sumptuously coloured, and their outline is bold and commanding. Their
form is ovate-elliptical, broad and rounded at the base, marked above
on each side with a series of broad semicircular or crescentic blotches
of a rich dark green on a light green ground, which is bounded by
dark green in similar crescentic lines towards the margins.
In the description of Maranta rosea-picta, (Plate V. page 14,) a few
directions are given for the cultivation of this tribe of plants, and at
page 38 is a list of Marantas which we consider the most attractive in
their leaf colouring. Calathea pavonina may safely be added to the
best collections, the leaves are chequered with blackish purple spots,
and the flowers are a brilliant orange colour.
SMIL AX MACROPHYLLA.
PLATE XXVI.
Smilax macrophylla metadata, Broad-leaved Sarsaparilla, variety with spotted leaves.
Natural Order — Smilace.e.
Comparatively little is known of the plants of which the order
Smilacece consists. The genus Smilax is undoubtedly the most typical
of the whole of this genus. Only a dozen species at the utmost have
been subjected to cultivation in England, and we may travel far and
wide, and search much and curiously, ere we meet with any of them.
Yet they arc not destitute of cither beauty or interest, and the beautiful
G8
SMI LAX MACROPHYLLA.
plant figured may be considered a fair example of the most desirable
species for cultivation. Two good companion plants would be S. longi-
folia cariegata and S. ornata; and if more were wanted, »S. rubens,
which has red tendrils, and S. sarsaparilla, the reputed source of the
celebrated drug of the same name, might be added.
Smilaceous plants are of somewhat various characters; in general
bearing and habitude they approach very near to the asparagus section
of the Liliacece, but they differ in having quasi-exogenous stems and
net-veined leaves, the lilies being truly endogenous, and having parallel-
veined leaves.
The genera of Smilaceai comprise herbaceous and sub-shrubby plants,
many of which manifest a tendency to climb, a few are prickly, and
some have tuberous roots. The leaves are simple and undivided,
usually ovate and strongly ribbed. The flowers are small and insig-
nificant, with six-parted perianth, six stamens, three-celled ovary, the
fruit being a berry. Of the species about one hundred and thirty
are known. They are widely distributed, inhabiting for the most part
the sub-tropical and temperate regions of Asia and America.
In collections of officinal and medicinal plants, the plant known as
Smilax sarsaparilla is usually regarded as the source of the sarsaparilla
of commerce. It is certain, however, that sarsaparilla is obtained from
several distinct species, and it may be questioned whether it has ever
been really derived from the species accredited with its production.
Jamaica sarsaparilla is the produce of S. officinalis ; that from Vera
Cruz is derived from S. medico,. The variety of sources whence this
drug is obtained may be sufficient to account for the conflict of opinions
as to its medicinal value, for it may be effectual for the purpose for
which it is employed, or altogether useless according to its derivation.
One of the oldest known species of Smilax is the European S. aspera,
which is considered by many as valuable as any of the American
species. At all events it is much employed in Italy and Spain for
medicinal purposes. In Dr. Deakin's "Flora of the Colosseum of
Rome," this plant occurs amongst the "four hundred and twenty
plants growing spontaneously upon the ruins of the Colosseum." It
is described as "an elegant, wild-looking plant, hanging in festoons
in hedges or among bushes, and common in most parts of Italy."
Another ancient species is S. China, which has a tuberous root,
regarded by the Chinese and Japanese as possessed of properties
which render it valuable for purifying the blood and invigorating
the constitution. Dr. Liudley was of opinion that "probably some of
the species found in the Old World would be found to be possessed
of virtues equal to the American species."
SMI LA X M A C RO 1' HY r. r. A .
Iii the various references to the "Smilax" which occur in ancient
literature, it is a difficult matter to determine the particular species
of plants that bore the designation. Not only in ancient, but even
in comparatively modern times, the name has been applied to several
distinct species of climbing plants; as, for example, in Johnson's
Gerarde 8G1, the great bindweed, Convolculus septum, is named "Smilax
lacis" and the bindweed bears the same name in Dodonaeus {Stirp.
Hint. Pemp. 39.2.) Theophrastus and Dioscorides apply the name
to several distinct plants, and amongst others to the yew. Smilax
aspera was known to Dioscorides, who describes it as a species of
Phaseolus or Convolvulus, in accordance with the old unscientific rule
of associating plants by their outward and general resemblances,
without special reference to structural and physiological relations. In
the Greek tragedies we find it associated with the ivy in the worship
of Bacchus; as, for example, in the following passage from "The
Bacchse" of Euripides, where the messenger describes to Pentheus
the orgies he had witnessed upon the mountains: —
"'Twas wonderful to see the young, the old,
And the unmarried virgins. O'er their necks
Their loose-devolving hair they spread, refix
Their vestments, such whose cinctures were unloosed,
And o'er them bind the spotted skins of fawns,
With serpents wreathing round their shaded cheeks.
Some holding in their arms a kid, and some
The wolves' wild whelps, taught them to drain their breasts,
Swelling with milk, their new-born infants left
At home; then on their heads their garlands place
Of oak, of ivy, and the silvery bloom
Of Smilax : one her thyrsus took, and smote
The rock, out gush'd the pure transparent stream ;
Another cast her light wand on the ground,
Instant, so will'd the god, a fount of wine
Sprung forth; if any wish'd a softer draught,
These with their fingers oped the ground, and milk
Issued in copious streams; and from their spears,
With ivy wreathed, the dulcet honey flowed."
Potter's Translation, I., p. 23.
Similar allusions to the plant occur in the works of all the later
Greek poets, and in many of the Roman poets; but as wreaths and
garlands were not known at the time of the Trojan war, Homer
never crowns any of his heroes with them, In the story of "Alcithoe
and her Sisters," Ovid makes mildly merry over the dissensions that
70
SMILAX MACROPHYLLA.
led to the downfall of Bacchus from his high place amongst the gods,
and gives a hasty sketch of the rites that were paid to him: —
"Yet still Alcithoe perverse remains,
Aud Bacchus still, and all his rites disdains.
Too rash and madly bold, she bids him prove
Himself a god, nor owns the son of Jove :
Her sisters, too, unanimous agree,
Faithful associates in impiety.
Be this a solemn feast, the priest had said;
Be, with each mistress, unemploy'd each maid.
With skins of beasts your tender limbs enclose,
And with an ivy crown adorn your brows,
The leafy thyrsus high in triumph bear,
And give your locks to wanton in the air.
These rites profaned, the holy seer foreshow'd
A mourning people, and a vengeful god."
Metamorphoses, iv. 1-15.
None of the species that are worth growing are at all difficult to
manage. In the arboretum at Bicton, South Devon, there is a collection
of species of Smilax trained to j>oles, the only instance in which we
have met with these plants growing in the open ground. They are
usually treated as cool greenhouse plants; and those we have named
as desirable will be found of service to train up the pillars of the
conservatory, and to clothe the walls and trellises. Any good loamy
soil will suit them, and they are easily propagated by means of
suckers from the roots.
TELE I ANTHER A EICOIDEA.
PLATE XXVII.
Teleianthera ficoldea, var. versicolor, Alfernanthera versicolor, Variously coloured
leaved Teleianthera.
Natural Order — Amarantace^;.
This charming little plant was referred to in the description of
Alternanthera sessilis, Plate XVII. It has the best possible right to
a place here as a beautiful-leaved plant, and especially so on account
of its distinctness from all the true Alternanthcras. A well-grown tuft
in a shallow pan or a good bed of it, such as we have ourselves
enjoyed in the past season, presents a display of leaf colouring not to
be soon forgotten. At page 46 we have said in respect of the group
of plants to which the subject before us belongs, that, "their ultimate
fate in respect of the favour shown them by English cultivators, will
depend almost entirely on their value as bedding plants." We are
already prepared to recant, and to say instead that their ultimate fate
is pretty well determined, for if they never become popular as bedding
plants, they will be sure to keep a place on the greenhouse shelf, for
when well grown in large tufts they have a most beautiful appearance,
7j>
T ELEIA NTH ERA F I CO II) E A .
and are especially valuable for decorative purposes in seasons of the
year when flowers are scarce.
Teleianthera ficoidea is a sub-shrubby plant of compact tree-like
habit, with broadish ovate leaves, which are variously tinted with pale
carmine, deep bronzy red, and claret colour, and two or three shades
of pale green. To keep it in a lively state of colour . it should be
occasionally pinched back, and must have at all times plenty of light
and air. It may be multiplied to any extent, and at almost any time
by means of cuttings.
VARIEGATED-LEAVED TULIPS.
During the past three seasons we have grown several varieties of
early tulips with variegated leaves. We are not so much in love
with them as to give them a hearty recommendation, but as a few
of them are well worth a trial for the decoration of the conservatory
and the drawing-room in early spring, this brief notice may be useful.
Out of about two dozen varieties, the leaves of which were marked
with white, or cream, or pale yellow stripes and bands, the following
were the best : —
Edouard d' Argent. — The leaves are edged with creamy white ; the
flowers are double ; colour lilac rose.
Feu d'' Empire. — Leaves edged with sulphur yellow; flowers gold
with crimson flame.
Variegated Golden Standard. — Leaves finely margined pale sulphur;
flowers gold yellow. First rate.
Lac Bontlof. — Leaves margined pale sulphur; flowers purple, red
and white. First rate.
Silver Standard Variegated. — Leaves elegantly edged creamy buff;
flowers carmine. First rate.
RHAPIS FLABELLirORMIS.
PLATE XXVIII.
Bhapis fldbell/iformis, var. foUis luteo-vittata, Fan-shaped Noodle Palm,
variety with yellow ribbon-striped leaves.
Natural Order — Palmace.e.
Palms and ferns are least in need of the special embellishments
which are collectively known as "Variegation," because of their inherent
elegance of form, and their many pleasing shades of colour. We can
imagine that in many cases the appearance of variegation in the leal-
age would detract from their beauty. The lovely green hue of
Leopoldiana pulchra or of Leptopteris super ba, to name two examples
L
74
RHAPIS FLABELLIFORMIS.
only, would scarcely we think be improved by the addition of stripes
or spots of any colour; in fact, we cannot conceive of any possible
improvement on their rich and finished appearance. Yet experience
teaches us that all beauty is comparative, and the history of botanical
terminology tends the same way. We meet with a species which
charms us by its beauty, and we name it "pulchella." Presently we
meet with another, which certainly surpasses it, and we call it
"pulcherrima:" what shall we do when we meet with a species to
eclipse the last? take refuge in " speciosa," perhaps, or, if hard driven,
in "speciosissima." The beautiful palm here figured has been known
to cultivators in its green-leaved or normal form for nearly a century,
and at Kew, and indeed in all botanic gardens where palms are grown
in collections, large and handsome specimens may be found. If we
were asked about the desirability of a variegated-leaved variety, we
should probably say that the cheerful green hue of the healthy fronds
was all-sufficient, and variegation would in no respect improve it.
But when Nature solves the problem, we find that we should have
been altogether wrong in such a conclusion, for here is the plant in
a variegated state, its original beauty beautified, its graceful outlines
more distinctly marked by the lines of light that trace them, its
original green hue relieved and brightened by the contrast of the
yellowish or creamy stripes which accompany every division of the
fronds from base to apex.
For this charming variety of Rhapis Jlabelliformis English cultivators
are indebted to Mr. Standish, who in 1860 imported specimens from
Japan. Owing to the comparative slowness with which palms are
multiplied, and especially in the case of variegated varieties, this plant
has scarcely yet become known, except to a quite select few collectors
of rare and costly plants, and it will be many years ere it is met with
in collections generally. There are, if we trust to catalogues for
guidance, several distinct forms of this palm in cultivation, some with
white stripes, others creamy, others golden. The several names of these
however, are but several delusions, for there is but one variegated-
leaved variety, but as it varies in its appearances according to age
and condition, so it has obtained a multiplicity of names, just as in
the case of Agave Americana, and other strikingly and variably
variegated plants.
The common form of Rhapis Jlabelliformis is so nearly hardy that
we can safely recommend the introduction of the variegated variety to
the greenhouse and the cool conservatory. The cultivation of palms
has been well-nigh revolutionized during the past ten years, and a
host of them have been transferred from the stove, where they were
PALMS.
75
ever infested with vermin, to the conservatory and the open summer
garden, greatly to their benefit and the extinction of the insect plagues
they wore previously subject to. Every species of palm known may
be benefitted by stove treatment when young, and the most hardy
kinds enjoy a brief term of residence in a tropical atmosphere laden
with moisture, at the time of their seasonal growth. But a large pro-
portion of the species of this noble family may be preserved in perfect
health and vigour with ordinary greenhouse and conservatory treatment,
and their requirements are so few and simple that a few of the most
tractable and elegant should have a place wherever plants of striking
character and interesting history are valued.
A SELECTION OF PALMS
THAT ORDINARILY REQUIRE THE STOVE, BUT MAY BE PLACED
IN THE CONSERVATORY DURING SUMMER.
Areca aurea.
Areca rubra.
Calamus asperrimus.
Calamus elegans.
Caryota sobolifera.
Cocos nucifera.
Cocos coronata.
Dsemonorops plumosa.
Euterpe edulis.
Leopoldiana pulchra, (syn.
Cocos Weddeliana.)
Phamicophorium Scchcllarum.
Thrinax elegans.
Thrinax argentea.
Verschaffeltia splendida.
Acanthophcenix crinita.
A SELECTION OF PALMS
ADAPTED FOR COOL CONSERVATORIES AND FOR EMBELLISHING
THE FLOWER GARDEN DURING SUMMER.
Areca Bauerii.
Areca sapida.
Brahea calcarea.
Brahea dulcis.
Chamserops Fortunei, quite
hardy in the south of England.
Chamaerops humilis, also
quite hardy.
Corypha australis.
Chamsedorea elegans.
Chamnedorea Ernest Augusti.
Latania Bourbonica.
Molinia Chilensis.
Phoenix dactylifera.
Phoenix tenuis.
Rhapis arundinacea.
Rhapis flabclliformis.
Seaforthia elegans.
Thrinax parviflora.
Thrinax tunicata.
76 PALMS.
CULTURAL NOTE ON PALMS.
Stove Palms require a temperature of from 70° to 80° Fan., from
the commencement of the new growth until it is completed, say from
March to September, and a considerable rise may be allowed during
sunshine, say to 100°, provided there is no neglect of watering and
syringing, and a reasonable amount of air is allowed. From October
to February the temperature of the palm stove should range between
50° and 65° Fah., the first-named figure being the lowest allowable in
mid-winter.
Greenhouse Palms require an average temperature of 45° Fah.
during winter; the extreme minimum in severe weather should be 35°,
but a minimum of 40° is safer, although some few species will bear a
few degrees of frost with impunity. Palms require a good nourishing
soil. In their early stages of growth fibrous peat answers admirably,
but as they advance in size it is advisable to grow them in good
turfy loam, with a moderate admixture of thoroughly decomposed
hotbed manure and leaf mould. As a rule they are not fastidious as
to soil. During the season when growth is active they must have
plenty of water, but at other times comparatively little.
Palm seeds are frequently obtained by cultivators, and, as they
travel well and keep long, they are generally good. To raise palms
from seed is an easy matter, but stove heat is essential. The best
time to sow the seed is February or March; but where the cultivation
of stove plants is carried on in a systematic manner, it is advisable
to sow the seed as soon as it is obtained, no matter what the season.
The pots should be filled with a mixture of peat and leaf mould,
and the seed be covered with two inches depth of chopped sphagnum.
A hotbed at 75° is the best place for the pots, which must be kept
constantly moist.
D I C H 0 R I S A V. 0 R 6 U N 0 I T «.
XXIX
DICHORISANDRA UNDATA.
PLATE XXIX.
Dichorisandra undata, Wavy-leaved Dichorisandra.
Natural Order — Commelin ace^e.
Though bearing a close family likeness to D. mosaica, figured on
Plate XXII, this species is sufficiently distinct and beautiful to be
worthy of a place in the same house with it, and especially where
there is room to grow a few handsome specimens. A large mass of
this plant has a splendid appearance, the frequent repetition of the
undulations of the leaf-surfaces having a strange and charming effect,
and, in some circumstances of light and shade, giving the idea of
surfaces in motion. The broadly ovate leaves of this plant are banded
with alternate broad stripes of dark dull green and narrow stripes
of greyish green, the bands following the course of the veins from
base to apex. The under side of the leaves is a rich satiny purple.
78
DICHORISANDRA UNDATA.
This species is equally desirable with the one previously figured for
its flowers as well as its leaves. When carefully treated it flowers
freely, and affords a pleasing embellishment to the stove, or to the
bouquet in which the flowers when cut are placed. The treatment
required by this plant is precisely that described at page 58. Any
further remarks on that head are therefore unnecessary.
CYFERUS ALTERNIFOLIUS VARIEGATUS.
Many who have cultivated this lovely plant have been disappointed
of an abundant variegation, and many plants originally variegated
have become wholly green, and appear as if they would continue so.
A few remarks, the result of observation and practice, may therefore
be useful. This plant produces abundance of seed; and a considerable
number of seedling plants, from seed produced by the variegated
variety, have been raised and distributed. But seedling plants,
however richly variegated the parent may be, are not to be relied
upon, and the only safe course is to obtain rooted offsets. Even
when true offsets are obtained there is a danger of the plants
"running back," or, in other words, of becoming wholly green. To
prevent this, the variegated plants should be grown in the poorest
peat that can be obtained, and this should have added to it a very
large proportion of clean silver sand. Yet one more precaution: nip
out all green growths the moment they appear, for they communi-
cate to the whole plant such a degree of vigour that it soon gets
rid of its variegation altogether, and acquires its normal green hue.
At the first of the horticultural exhibitions held in the Guildhall, in
the city of London, when a vast collection of rare and valuable plants
were displayed in picturesque groups, a large specimen of this Cyperus,
from Mr. Tanton, of Epsom, was unanimously pronounced by the
judges the finest plant in the exhibition; there can be no question,
therefore, that it is worth growing, and growing well.
ERANTHEMUM I G N E U M,
XXX
EEANTHEMTJM IGNEUM.
PLATE XXX.
Erantliemum igneum, Fiery Love-flower.
Natural Order — AcantitacEjE.
We are indebted to M. Linden for this pretty addition to our rather
large family of stove acanthads. He obtained it from South America
in 1866, and very shortly after distributed it in commerce. It has
been best known hitherto on account of the beauty of its leaves,
which are oblong, of a dark bottle-green colour, the midrib and
primary veins forming bold copper-coloured lines. But in common
with other species of this interesting genus, its flowers are extremely
80
ERANTHEMUM IGNETJM.
beautiful, and the cultivator who has once seen them will desire a
repetition of the pleasure.
A considerable number of beautiful-leaved plants more or less related
to this have been introduced during the past few years. We have
figured a small selection of them, (vide Plates IV, IX, XII,) and
under each have offered a few suggestions on cultivation. We refer
especially to pages 10 and 11 for practical advices applicable to the
plant before us. By this plan we are enabled to avoid repetitions.
POINSETTIA PTjT.CHERRIMA.
The specimens of this useful winter-flowering plant usually met with,
decorated with gorgeously-coloured bracts, are tall and ungraceful,
frequently destitute of leaves for some distance from the base. Perhaps
there are not a dozen persons in England who can grow it in
perfection, though thousands succeed in producing gawky plants very
richly coloured. We have seen very beautiful specimens produced
by twisting the branches round, and fixing them firmly with sticks,
so as to constitute of three or four long shoots a neat dwarf bush.
If the leaves quite cover the sticks and ties, these examples are a
credit to their cultivators, but a disgrace if the harness is visible.
We offer to cultivators of this fine plant a hint that may prove vastly
more valuable than appears at first sight. It is to defer propagating
until June, and then to take short cuttings and push them along
smartly in a moist stove. They have not time to run up and become
giants, and yet they flower as richly as the tallest and ugliest.
Having said this much, we may as well occupy the space at our
disposal to add a few words more. It is then a delusion to grow
this plant wholly in the stove or tan-pit; excessive heat causes it to
run up and lose its leaves, and present the miserable appearance we
are accustomed to. Let us suppose we have a lot of plants that have
flowered well. We keep them in a warm house, but not in forcing
heat, and with small supplies of water, until February, and then cut
them down, placing them in a vinery or geranium-house, where they
have no attention at all until they begin to grow, which occurs about
the middle of April. By the middle of May the new growth is
sufficiently advanced to allow of re-potting; they are then shaken out,
and re-potted into small pots, and shut up close in a frame. As they
become stronger they are allowed more air, and as they grow they are
shifted on until they occupy their flowering pots. In October we put
them in the stove for flowering.
ACER NECUNDO VARIECATA.
ACER PfcLMftTUM S A N C U IN ED Mi
XXXI
ACER NEGUNDO VAMEGATA.
PLATE XXXI. — FIG. I.
Acer negundo variegata, syn. Net/undo fraxinifolia variegata, The Variegated
Ash-leaved Negundo.
Natural Order — A c e r a r e .k .
The two fine Maples here figured are important because of their
intrinsic merit, and also for the hint they afford us of our present
wealth of beautiful-leaved hardy trees. Within twenty years our
shrubberies and gardens have been as it were wholly replanted, —
another vegetable kingdom seems to have been developed during the
experiences of persons who are not yet old in rural life and obser-
vation. A large proportion of our most recent and most valuable
M
82
ACER NEGtJNDO V A R 1 EG AT A .
acquisitions to the lists of hardy ornamental trees are of the
coniferous order, where, if we were to search diligently, we should
find many worth a place in this connection on account of the bcautv
of their leaves. We have seen at least half a dozen varieties of the
noble Salisburia, or "maiden-hair" pine, with leaves of most elegant
outline; and the variegated Wellingtonia, several variegated varieties
of Cupressus and Thuia, to say nothing of the splendid autumnal
colours of the deciduous Cypress, are examples of such as might have
a place here could we venture to figure all the good things that
demand our admiration. But the range of choice for beautiful leaves
expands amazingly when we go amongst the oaks, beeches, maples,
alders, and poplars. It is true that some of the finest varieties of
these have been in cultivation for centuries, but they have within the
past few years been added to -immensely by importations from distant
countries; North America and Japan having more especially enriched
us with valuable contributions. We have selected for the accom-
panying plate two hardy trees which we think should have the first
place here for their distinct, peculiar, and splendid colouring. They
are both maples, yet as different in aspect and habit as if widely
separated in botanical classification.
Acer negundo variegata is a variegated form of a tree that has been
known to English arboriculturists now nearly two centuries. The
variety originated on the continent, and became famous so quickly
after it became known that the demand has always been in excess of
the supply, even up to the present time. The principal characteristic
of this tree is its excessive whiteness. In the plate the leaves are
represented as wholly of a pale creamy tint, or with a suffusion of
dull green on either side of the midrib, and the figure is strictly
correct; yet when we view the tree from the distance of a dozen
yards or so, it appears to be wholly white, so powerful in the mass
is the tone of the variegation. In continental gardens this Negundo has
within the past year or two been largely employed to form striking-
groups amongst such subjects as Cannas, Musas, and other of the so-
called "sub-tropical" plants. In this capacity it is certainly the most
remarkable of all decorative plants, and for just this reason, its ghostly
whiteness, it needs to be skilfully and perhaps sjiaringly used. When
employed in this way, as also when grown in pots for the conservatory,
it should be grafted low, so as to form compact dwarf bushes; but
when required for the shrubbery standards are to be preferred, to
afford striking blotches of white amongst the various hues of green
of other deciduous trees.
83
ACER PALMATUM SANGUINEUM.
PLATE XXXI. — FIG. II.
Acer polymorphwn palmatum sanguineum, Blood-coloured Palmate-leaved Maple.
Natural Order — Acerace^.
The Palmate Acer, (A. palmatum sanguineum) is one of a group
originally published under the specific name of polymorphum; whether
this is the same as an Acer known a few years back as Japonicum
we do not know, but strongly suspect it is so, as the name Japonicum
has quite disappeared, and polymorphum is rather an indication of a
group that has not yet been well studied, than the accepted name of
any one particular variety. Certain it is that we have half a dozen
or more richly coloured palmate maples, natives of Japan, all related
to a type which may for the present be imagined, since it appears thai
no one knows it, and of these palmatum sanguineum is the most
distinct and brilliant in colouring.
As we have referred to the confusion of the nomenclature of
these maples, we will here endeavour to convey to the reader a few
items of useful knowledge of the trees and the names by which they
are known.
Acer palmatum sanguineum is one of the many varieties of poly-
morphum. It has deeply-divided palmate leaves of a tine purplish red
or crimson colour. It has been described as Acer sanguineum.
Acer ornatum has the leaves more deeply cut, and the lobes again
divided into narrow notched segments; it is a fern-like tree, the
prevailing colours are purple, red, carmine, and grey. This also is a
variety of the polymorphum type; an exceedingly beautiful and curious
object. It has been described as Acer polymorphum palmatum fol.
dissect is pinnatifidis roseo-pictis I The simpler and not inappropriate
84
ACER PALMATUM SANGUINEUS!.
(though vague and general) designation "ornatum" is surely to be
preferred.
Acer Frederici Guilelmi is a feathery-looking tree with digitate
leaves, which at first are brownish red, and afterwards become greenish
red, streaked with rose and white. A beautiful variety.
Acer palmatum viridis has deeply-cut digitate leaves of a delicate
green colour; a very elegant and cheerful tree. It has been described
as dissectis fol. pinnatifidis viridibus! We might find half a dozen
more, but it is not our purpose to pursue the subject into all
possible ramifications.
A SELECTION OF BEAUTIFUL-LEAVED HARDY TREES.
Amongst our many hardy beautiful-leaved trees, the following are
the more distinct and striking after the maples above noticed : —
Acer pseudo-platanus var. Leo-
poldii, a variety of the common
sycamore, with leaves richly
mottled red, carmine, and olive
green.
Acer pseudo-platanus variegata.
Castanea Vesca variegata.
Fagus sylvatica variegata.
Fagus sylvatica purpurea.
Fraxinus excclsa aucuba?folia.
Pyrus aucuparia pendula fol. aureis.
Pyrus vestita.
Quercus cerris variegata.
Quercus coccinea.
Quercus nigra.
Quercus robar var. concordea.
Ulmus campestris fol. var.
Ulmus montana purpurea.
Liriodendron tulipiferum var. foliis
aureo-pictis.
GESNERI EXON! ENSIS,
XXXII
85
GESNERA EXONIENSIS.
PLATE XXXII.
Gesnera Exoniensis, Gesnera of Exeter, (hybrid.)
Natural Order. — Gesnerace.e.
The sumptuous velvety leaf of this splendid Gesnera would overtax
the art of a magician, so if our artist has come moderately near the
mark we must be thankful and congratulatory. There is not a
herbaceous plant in cultivation that surpasses this for the embellishment
of the stove in winter, for its lustrous leaves are in due time lighted
up by a glitter of scarlet flowers, and it takes the eye captive with
its richness and suggestion of solemnity. We are indebted to Messrs.
Lucombe, Fince, and Co., of the Exeter Nurseries, for this novelty,
and it is, we trust, sufficiently novel for a place here, as it is being-
distributed for the first time while this portrait of its leaf is in the
press.
Gesneras may be flowered at any season of the year by judicious
regulation of their growing and resting periods. They are easiest to
manage in the summer, but most valuable in the winter. Those who
succeed with Gloxinias, Achimines, and Begonias, will readily enough
persuade the Gesneras to spread their velvet leaves and give a glow
of scarlet flowers. The bulbs after having rested sufficiently, require
to be started into growth in a moist heat, beginning at 60°, with very
little water, and rising to 80° as growth proceeds, when, of course, the
supply of water should be increased. They never require large supplies
of water, and it is well if they are never wetted overhead, for that is
likely to lead to damage of the leaves. When they have bloomed,
and begin to die down, water must be withhold, and the bulbs should
rest in the pots they were grown in at a temperature as near 45° as
ftN/ECTOCHiLUS SETACEU3.
XXXIII
ANJECTOCIIILUS SETACEUS.
PLATE XXX1I1.
Ancectochilus Setuceiis intermedins, Hairy-leaved Anaectochilus,
or Golden-netted-leaved Orchid.
Natural Order— Oiiciiidace;e.
This plant is the "King of the Woods" in Ceylon, and is probably
the most beautiful-leaved plant in the world. At all events it defies
description, and we are somewhat astonished at the success of our
artist in depicting it, though the best picture must in such a case fall
far below the fact. This section of the great family of orchids has
lately become peculiarly popular, being much grown in collections;
and many amateurs have taken to them who never tried their hands
at orchids of any other kind before. Their distinctive leaf-beauty
and peculiar constitution necessarily invite separate and special attention,
and they are admirably adapted to furnish recreation to such as incline
to the study of a group of plants that abound in interest, and present
a few difficulties to the cultivator.
The species before us was the first of its race to come under the
notice of English cultivators. It was introduced in 1836, and created
no little surprise at Kew, when it began there, under careful treatment,
to display its peculiar beauties. There are several varieties of
A. setaceus, and the particular one we have selected for a figure,
(intermedins,) is one of the newest, and perhaps the best; but on their
relative merits we have nothing to say: fortunate is the man who
possesses any one of them.
The number of species to be found in collections is about thirty,
but if we add to that number the varieties, no doubt we ?nay say
we have about seventy sorts in cultivation. They are peculiar and
difficult plants. Botanically, their alliances are the pretty silvery-leaved
88
A N JECTOCHI LU S S KT ACE US.
Goodyera, the lovely Spiranthes, and the unattractive British Listera
and Epipactis. They are grown for their leaves only, and in these
velvet, silk, gold thread, lustrous silver, and jewels of many kinds,
are represented and outdone. But they are not to be despised for
their flowers, which are as pretty as those of Saxifraga sarmentosa,
a glorious plant when in flower if well done, but a wretched thing
when starved and insulted.
To grow these orchids to perfection a damp shady stove is necessary.
They are usually kept under bell-glasses, which is a good plan to save
them from possible splashes of water, but a bad plan if the glasses
are not constantly kept slightly open at bottom to afford a slight
movement of air about the plants. To be shut down close like
mummies in glass coffins is a way to make mummies of them, and has
been the cause of many losses; but, on the other hand, to expose them
to currents of dry or cold air, or to sunshine, is equally injurious.
Damp, shade, and warmth, are the principal essentials for their well
doing. The winter temperature should range from 55° to 70°; the
summer temperature from 65° to 90°. As for soil, nothing is so good
as a mixture of chopped sphagnum, broken pots, and silver-sand ;
and they must be re-potted once a year at least, and in case of ill
health, prompt re-potting, as a rule, is the safest remedy.
The following are the easiest to manage, and both in beauty and
habit best adapted for a beginner: — A. argenteus, A. Lobbii, A.
maculatus, A. petola, A. striatus, A. Turnerii, A. xanthophyllus, A.
Veitchii.
COLEUS MURRAYI. — UPPER & N 0 UNDER SIDE.
89
NEW VARIETIES OE COLEUS.
FLATE XXXIV.
Coleus Blumei, vars. Marslialli, Murrayi, and Telfordi aurea.
Varieties of Coleus named in honour of Messrs. Marshall, Murray, and Telford.
Natural Order — Lamiace^e.
The three leaves figured represent fashionable weeds, beautiful,
useful, interesting; nevertheless, weeds which in a few years hence
will probably be utterly valueless, and perhaps unknown. Yet they
have a right to a place in this series, as we trust our few notes upon
them will prove. Let us go back, then, to a few elementary facts,
so as to bring these new varieties of Coleus before our readers as
having a place in history and many uses in art, weeds as they are,
and from a certain eclectic point of view comparatively valueless.
Coleus and Plectranthus are two closely-allied genera of labiates.
We may speak of them in a homely way as tropical nettles, and, in
common with a well-known "bedding" plant, Perilla NanMnensis ,
their affinity with the nettles is declared by their looks. Of these
two genera, a few distinct and pretty plants have been in cultivation
in this country several years, the oldest (perhaps) dating from 1774,
when was introduced the somewhat famous C. fruticosus or P. fru-
ticosus, the "Nettle-leaved Geranium" of the artizan's window, and
the plant most frequently seen of any at cottagers' and window
gardeners' exhibitions. A few amongst many species have become
favourites with cultivators, and none more so than C. Blumei, intro-
duced in 1850 from Java. In 1852 C. Macraei was introduced from
Ceylon. As for others, they are recorded in the books, and there is
no occasion here even to name them.
N
90
NEW VARIETIES OF COLEUS.
It was in 1860 that M. J. Verschaflelt, of Ghent, introduced C.
Vjerschaffelti, which is, without doubt, a variety of C. Blumei, and
thereby gave a new impetus to the employment of beautiful-leaved
plants in English flower-gardens, for this famous Coleus has been un-
questionably for several years past the grandest bedding plant known;
but whether to be equalled or eclipsed by any of the newer varieties
it is at present impossible to say. During the past ten years we have
seen immense improvements effected in the colouring of the parterre.
The glare of yellow and scarlet has been subdued, leaf-colouring
has been made auxiliary to the adoption of half tints in flowers;
richness and repose have superseded the vulgar fiery blaze of colour
which fashion sanctioned for awhile, and there is every reason to
anticipate that in this particular branch of art true taste is gaining
the ascendency. The varieties of Coleus, Amaranthus, Centaurea, and
Pelargonium, in which the tones of leaf-colours are rich and decisive,
have vastly expanded the range of materials available for garden
colouring, and the general desire for further expansion, for increased
means of accomplishing chromatic effects by leaves alone, renders the
production of a new race of hybrid Coleus a most important and
interesting matter.
We have not seen amongst the new Coleus a single one that
appears likely to supersede C. Verscliaffelti. Its splendid tones of
chocolate and ruby, and the delicate hues of violet and carmine that
overspread the youngest leaves, give it a distinctiveness of character
of the highest value, to which we must add in its praise that it is
comparatively hardy. The stems are stout and the leaves thick, and
in an average English summer it attains to a most luxuriant growth
in the open air.
As the varieties agree in their requirements, a few words on the
cultivation of this favourite will serve for all the rest. During the
winter it is a stove plant strictly; the greenhouse, as a rule, is too
damp and cold for its well-being. It may be propagated with the
greatest ease at any time of the year by means of cuttings in a moist
heat; but usually the plants required for planting out in summer
are struck in spring, and a good hotbed, or a bed over a hot-water
tank, is essential for the purpose. But in the height of summer
cuttings may be struck under bell-glasses without artificial heat. The
soil that suits the Coleus best is a rich light loam. Plants that
grow fast usually require good living, and to bring out the colours
of this beautiful plant, a rich and pulverulent soil is absolutely
necessary. As a rule the Coleus may be planted out at the
end of May or beginning of June, in a well-prepared bed, and will
NEW VARIETIES OK COLEUS.
91
soon after grow freely. In such a cold summer as that of I860 it
is a poor thing; in such a hot summer as that of 18G8 it is unsur-
passed for splendour by any of the most celebrated bedding plants.
We believe, however, that the plan adopted by Mr. Gibson at
Battersea Park is the best. He prepares a lot of plants in pots, and
plunges them thickly, and finishes the bed with an edging of Centaurea
ragusina or C. plumosa, and the success is so complete that his beds
of Coleus are the most remarkable of the many wonders of the
"subtropical garden" at Battersea, whither every summer thousands
of amateur horticulturists wend their way to enjoy a new surprise,
some of them travelling hundreds of miles for the gratification.
It was to be expected that a plant so famous for its uses in orna-
mental gardening should be taken in hand by the hybridists. This,
indeed, has been the case to such an extent, that at the time of
writing this note the horticultural world may be said to be in a
Coleus fever. The most successful hybridist is M. Bause, in the service
of the Royal Horticultural Society at Chiswick, the raiser of a
number of varieties, several of which are of the highest merit. A
first selection of these was sold by auction on the 22nd. of April,
1868, and realized a total of £402 8s. A second lot was disposed
of in the same way on the 10th. of December. No sooner was the
horticultural world awakened to the commercial value of the new
varieties, as indicated by the first sale, than Mr. Bull announced his
possession of a collection of original varieties, and soon after made
their merits known by exhibiting them. From other sources besides
these several new and beautiful varieties have been derived, so that
the number of varieties registered as candidates for public favour,
cannot now be less than fifty. From amongst the whole wc select
a few that are most distinct and attractive.
Marshalli is probably the best of the sombre-toned varieties, the leaf
being elegant in outline and of the richest purple or red chocolate
with brilliant green edge.
Murrayi, a fine expanse of leaf, the ground colour bright green,
invaded by patches of a fine deep purple colour.
Telfordi aurea, small and rather flimsy in texture, but very distinct
and brilliant in colour, the ground being golden green shading to buff,
with central stripe of purplish red.
92
NEW VARIETIES OF COLEUS.
Crimson Velvet, very distinct, the texture velvety, the colour rich
crimson .
Aurea marginata, the plant bushy and robust, the leaf elegantly
frilled; in colouring resembles Verschaffelti with the addition of a rich
gold-coloured margin.
Elegant. Rather diminutive in growth; colour blackish purple, with
bright green edge. Extremely beautiful.
Duke of Edinburgh, a fine form of leaf without frill, the colour clear
buff shading to lemon yellow.
Veitchi, extremely neat in habit, leaf elegantly ovate of a deep
chocolate colour, and margin of bright green. A charming plant for
pot culture.
Some of the varieties that prove to be of least value for bedding
will be invaluable for the conservatory or the exhibition. We have
seen specimen pyramids of Verschaffelti nine feet high and as much
through at the base, — wondrous masses of richly-coloured leafage. To
grow such plants requires only steady attention; skill is almost out of
the question.
*
SSI FLORA TBI FA SCUTA.
. XXXV
93
PASSIELORA TRIFASCIATA.
PLATE XXXV.
Passiflora trifasciata, Passion-flower with three-banded leaf.
Natural Order — Passiflobace^.
This noble climber was introduced into Europe in 1807, by M.,
Baraquin, one of the most successful botanical explorers of the tropical
parts of the new world. It is at once remarkable for its beauty, its
variableness, and its rarity, for in the great family of Passion-flowers,
there is not, we believe, another example to be found of true leaf
variegation, though there is a variety of the common P. ccerulea with
leaves of a milky green or glaucous hue.
P. trifasciata is a stove climber of robust habit, growing freely, and
producing beautiful white flowers which are richly odoriferous. Its
attractions consist mainly in its beautiful leaves; these are distinctly
trifid, the central lobe being the largest. When young these leaves
present a pleasing combination of full grass green, overlaid with three
irregular bands of mottled grey and pale green, following the course
of the principal ribs and coalescing near the petiole. As they advance
towards maturity the grey changes to rose, afterwards to deep red,
and even to scarlet; and at a later stage of growth, sombre purple,
brown, and maroon tints occur, forming a splendid and unique
blending of leaf colours. When the leaf begins to decay, these
colours fade in the reverse order of their appearing, until at last
when the leaf falls it is almost white.
On several occasions last summer, more especially at the exhibitions
at Kensington, Manchester, Leeds, and Taunton, we saw specimens in
94
PASSIFLORA TRIFASCIATA.
which the colours were fully developed, and there could be no doubt
of the distinctness of this plant, and its fitness for the grandest con-
servatory, and possibly it might form an admirable screen for the roof
of the orchid house. Lately we saw a lot of young plants in the
propagating house, at Mr. B. S. Williams's Nursery, Holloway, and the
colouring of the newly-formed leaves was so clear and delicate, that
we thought them well worth associating with such plants as Bertolonias
and Fittonias, until by their determination to outstrip them in growth
their removal became compulsory.
PHlL/tNOPSIS S C H 1 1 L E R U N ».
95
PHALiENOPSIS SCHILLEBIANA.
PLATE XXXVI.
Phakenopsis Schilleriana, Consul Schiller's Butterfly Orchid.
Natural Order— Orchidace.e.
An orchid house in which there are no promising specimens of this
charming Phalamopsis, will be considered by the orchid amateur as
sadly incomplete, for however richly it may be furnished, the visitor
will, soon or late, begin to look for the peculiar mottled leaves of
Schilleriana, and his disappointment will be great should his search
be unavailing. It is, in fact, one of the most celebrated of its family,
although of recent introduction; and to ensure a vigorous development
of its lovely flowers is the constant anxiety of the cultivator.
In common with others of this genus the plant is of Asiatic origin,
the principal importations having hitherto been from Manilla. There
is no definite record of the first introduction of this species to Europe,
but it is certain that in 1858 Consul Schiller, of Hamburgh, had it in
his noble collection, and that it was there first seen and named by
lleichenbach. Somewhere about the same time it became known at
Paris, Berlin, and London, M. Marius Porte having sent specimens to
M. Duchartre, while English collectors were also busy in obtaining
it for their own horticultural houses. The English cultivator who lias
the honour of first introducing it to public notice in this country is
Mr. B. S. Williams, of Holloway, one of the most able cultivators of
orchids in the land. Although always high priced, and regarded as
the most choice of choice orchids, it has probably never been very
scarce since the time it became known, for it is found plentifully in
its native habitats, and the importations have usually been large in
quantity.
90
PHALJENOPSIS SGHII.LERIANA.
It is so common for individuals of the species of orchids to differ,
that the reader need not be surprised to he told that scarcely any
two, even in a large collection, are exactly alike. There are differences
in the markings of the leaves, in the colours of the flowers, and in
the numbers of flowers in a scape. The flowers present delicate shades
of mauve, white, and yellow, with reddish brown spots, but the depth
of the colours varies, as do also their proportions. Rarely does it
flower under cultivation with a vigour equal to that it manifests when
wild and at home, for dried flower spikes measure three to four feet
long, and indicate that they have borne upwards of a hundred flowers.
A spike bearing twenty to thirty flowers is considered by English
cultivators satisfactory proof of good cultivation. But at the time of
writing these notes there is a specimen in flower in the nursery of
Messrs. James Carter and Co., Forest Hill, the spike being forty
inches long, with eight lateral shoots, and an aggregate of fifty-seven
flowers. In like manner the leaves vary both in the tone of the dark
green ground, and their grey or whitish markings; but in every case
they are exquisitely beautiful, so that the plant, unlike many other
orchids, is an elegant and interesting object when destitute of flowers.
It appears to be worthy of remark that, in many instances, the
leaves of this orchid lose much of their ordinary beauty of colouring
as soon as the flowers begin to expand, but occasionally we meet
with it in flower with leaves as bright and plump as in the finest
specimens not flowering. We suspect this is not so much a consti-
tutional peculiarity of the plant as a fault of the cultivator, who
does not sufficiently consider how the flowering taxes the energies
of the plant, and renders increased nourishment necessary at that
season.
In its native country this orchid is an epiphyte, growing high upon
the trunks and branches of trees in the dry parts of the forests: it is
never met with in damp localities, and therefore when under cultivation
does not need so much moisture as the majority of Indian orchids.
CROTON IRRECILiRE.
XXXVII
97
CROTON IHREGULAKE.
PLATE XXXVII. FIG. I.
Croton irregulare, Codiaeuni variegatnm irregulare, Irregular-leaved Croton.
Natural Order — EuphokbiacEjE.
The mysterious personage known as the "general reader" has an
intuitive dread of any plant bearing the name of Croton, and it may
be as much out of consideration for his feelings as for the require-
ments of nomenclature, that the botanists have lately suppressed the
Linnscan designation, and adopted that of Rumphius instead. All that
the general reader is supposed to know of this family of plants is
that they furnish to medical science that most powerful of all cathartic
drugs, croton oil, a few drops of which may prove sufficient to kill
the strongest man. Yet, for all this, the Crotons and their congeners
are eminent benefactors of the human race, and we may admire their
beauty not only with no admixture of painful associations, but with
the added pleasure of the reflection that they minister largely to the
service of man, both in the cure of disease and the amelioration of
suffering. In all our facsimiles we shall find nothing more interesting,
both in themselves and their surroundings, than the plants brought to
mind by the figure now before us. To write at the head of this
notice that they belong to the Spurges or Euphorbias, is to suggest
the whereabouts of a romance of natural history. The Eupliorbiacece
is undoubtedly one of the largest, most important, most various, and
most wonderful families of plants. Compare the weird Euphorbia
Canariensis, so admirably photographed in Professor 1'iazzi Smith's
work on "Teneriffe," with Euphorbia Jacquinijiora or Poinsettia pul-
cherrima, and how striking is the apparent disparity between them, how
O
98
CROTOX IRREGULARIS.
occult, as we may reasonably suppose, their physiological relationships.
Yet there are certain broad features which afford the basis of a real
unity in this great family, and are found to appertain in common to
the two thousand five hundred species that are known. Not the least
important of their common characteristics is their active virulent
property as irritants, not one of the number making a good claim to
be considered an esculent, scarcely one that may not be justly regarded
as a poison.
By far the larger proportion of the species of Euphorbia are tropical
plants. Their varieties of form are the most remarkable feature in
their general history. Some are tall trees, as, for example, the
poisonous M anchincel, the curious and useful Chinese Tallow Tree,
( StiUingia sebifera.J Others are shrubs, as the Brazilian Caoutchouc
or "bottle India rubber " of commerce, fSiphonia clastica,) the richly-
painted Crotons of our stoves, and the evergreen box-trees of our
gardens. Some are cactaceous and grotesque, as Euphorbia ecreifor/uis
of the Cape of Good Hope; others herbaceous, growing with marvellous
rapidity and grace, as the castor oil plant, which, by the way, is by
some believed to be the "kikayon" or "gourd" of the Old Testament,
and a particular subject of Jonah's occasion for murmuring that the
great city of Nineveh was not destroyed. Then again manv of the
inhabitants of temperate climes are humble, and, in some cases, insig-
nificant herbs, as the Sun Spurge and the Mercury, and amongst
these a few are handsome and peculiar garden plants, as the Caper
Spurge ( Euphorbia coralloides.J
"Croton oil" is obtained from several species, but chiefly from the
nuts of Croton tiglium, which is the most active and dangerous of
them all. The leaves of this plant are so acrid as to inflame the
mouth, lips, and fauces of those who merely chew them, causing
soon afterwards swelling and a burning sensation all over the body.
The "Cascarilla bark" is the product of Croton Cascarilla, a native
of the Bahamas and St. Domingo. The barks of several species are
mixed with the cinchona barks, the mixture forming what is known
in the tropics as "Gray Fever Bark."
The Crotons are widely scattered in the tropics, and in cultivation
here are known as stove plants of the highest value, on account of
the elegant forms and splendid colours of their leaves. The old
C. caricf/atum is a sub-variety of C. lancifolium, of which there are
many distinct forms. It is a free-growing, extremely handsome shrub,
a great favourite with exhibitors, notable for its splendid Mendings of
purplish red, bronzy brown, brilliant green, and golden yellow; when
well grown one of the most attractive plants in cultivation. Possibly
CROTON IE RKCi ULAKK.
99
the most striking of all the established varieties is C. angustifolium,
with long, narrow, pendulous leaves, which give to a well-grown
specimen the appearance of a dripping fountain of green and gold. Few
families of plants offer us such an abundant variety of variegation ; it
appears to be a physiological peculiarity of the race to produce these
curious and striking combinations of colour, and without a few good
Crotons a stove cannot be regarded as efficiently furnished.
The subject of our illustration is one of a series of new species
and varieties introduced by Messrs. Yeitch and Son, through Mr. John
Gould Yeitch, from the South Sea Islands. They constitute an extra-
ordinary group of plants, and rich as our collections are already with
such varieties as variegatum, pictum, angustifolium, elegans, and others,
the newer kinds are so distinct and splendid that there is ample
room for them without fear of repetition, sameness, or satiety. Mr.
Yeitch's acquisitions in Crotons alone make a distinct mark in the
history of horticultural botany, and very worthily enhance the fame
of one of the most successful of modern explorers.
Croton irregulare is a free-growing, elegant, evergreen shrub. The
name indicates one of its peculiar characteristics, for its leaves assume
a variety of forms; indeed it is seldom that two can be found on
the same branch exactly or nearly alike, and they not only vary in
shape but in attitude, some being lax and pendant, others gracefullv
arched, and others quite rigid and upright. The prevailing form of
the leaf is linear-oblong, the blade being eight to ten inches in
length, and one inch to one inch and a half wide near the base, the
petiole comparatively short and stout. In colouring the leaves vary
considerably, but the typical characters comprise a fine dark green
ground, a broad golden band in the line of the midrib, and
blotches and spots of yellow. The under surface of the leaf is dull
green .
All the Crotons require good stove cultivation. It demands con-
siderable experience to produce fine specimens for exhibition, especially
as in proportion to the increased vigour of growth induced by liberal
treatment, the variegation declines in brilliancy and power. The
cultivator has to aim at the "golden mean," which may be taken in
a twofold sense in this case, and while maintaining a sufficient vigour
of growth, securing also an abundant variegation. A substantial turfy
soil, rich and mellow, without admixture of animal manure, suits them
best; and full exposure to solar light will, with other favourable
conditions, tend materially to enhance the richness of their colours.
AVc see these plants to best advantage when they arc skilfully inter-
mixed with a good general collection, comprising plenty of such
100 CROTON HILLI.
subjects as Dracaenas, Caladiums, Alocasias, Ferns, and Rhopalas; for
being different in tones of colour, the golden lines of the Crotons
flash out from amongst them, and light up the whole with a beauty
and brightness obtainable only from these particular plants.
CROTON HILLI.
PLATE XXXVII. — FIG. II.
Croton HUH, Codlaeum spathidatum Htllianum.
This Croton belongs strictly to the exhibition class, being of the
most stately habit, and wonderful in colouring. When inspecting
Messrs. Veitch's collection we marked this down as the most desirable
of all for cultivators whose accommodation for such plants would not
permit them the luxury of a collection, as it is peculiarly distinct, and
makes a fine companion plant to pictum and variegatum. In growth
it is naturally compact and bushy; the leaves oblong, sub-spathulate,
about six inches in length, and two or more inches wide; the upper
surface purplish green, the midrib and secondary veins bright crimson,
the lower surface lurid purple or sanguineous crimson. The abundance
of red in the foliage can only be brought out fully by keeping the
plant near the glass.
SANCHEZIA NO B I US.
XXXVIII
101
SANCHEZIA NOBILIS.
PLATE XXXVIII.
Sanchezia nobilis, Noble Sanchezia.
Natural Order — Acanthace.<e.
The genus of acanthaceous shrubs, of which this brilliant plant is
the best-known representative, was named by Ruiz and Pavon in
commemoration of J. Sanchez, Professor of Botany at Cadiz, who died
prematurely at the commencement of the present century. We are
indebted to Messrs. Yeitch and Son, of the Royal Exotic Nurseries,
Chelsea, for the introduction, through their industrious and fortunate
collector, Mr. Pearce, of this peculiarly new and interesting plant to
our gardens. The genus Sanchezia properly embraces several fine
subjects which are known under other names, as, for example Ancylogyne
longiflora and its allies, which differ in no important particulars of
structure or even appearance sufficient to justify separation. We know
very little about these plants, and, judging by the attractive characters
of the two already named, and such others as Sanchezia oblonga and
S. ovata, we may reasonably anticipate that many species remain to be
discovered, which in beauty will equal and perhaps eclipse the plant
now under consideration. While we are waiting for fresh results of
exploration, let us not fail to do justice to the noble Sanchezia, for it
is unquestionably one of the finest amongst hundreds of the most
beautiful-leaved plants.
Although in attitude and aspect this plant may be described as a
shrub, it is in reality herbaceous, like the majority of the Acanthads.
The stems are obtusely four-sided; the leaves oblong-obovate, obtuselv
toothed, attaining a length of nine inches in vigorous specimens;
the colour a fresh bright green, richly embellished with yellow midrib
and veins. The flowers are produced in a terminal panicle, consisting
of separate fascicles of eight or ten yellow flowers, each enclosed in
102
SAXCHEZIA N01SILIS.
a pair of large concave bracts of a bright red colour. The abundance
and brightness of the colours of leaves and flowers together render
this plant, when in full perfection, so extremely showy that many
cultivators prefer to nip out the flower-stems in order to enjoy the
more simple lustre of the leaves alone.
It has been many times exhibited, and in almost every case without
flowers, the exhibitors appearing to fear that its excess of colour might
damage its reputation. The finest specimen we have yet seen was one
shown by Messrs. Veitch and Son at the Manchester Botanical Society's
Exhibition, on the oOth. of May, 1868. It presented an even surface
of the richest leafage, about two feet in diameter, and was generally
regarded by the exhibitors present as one of the most valuable
novelties amongst the many new plants then presented to public
notice.
This plant requires good stove cultivation, a light and rich soil, and
full exposure to sunshine at all seasons. The cultivator accustomed
to subjects of this class will have no difficulty in its management or
propagation.
YUCCA A l 0 I F 0 I I A V A R I E C A T A.
103
YUCCA ALOIFOUA YAEIEGATA.
PLATE XXXIX.
Yucca aloifoUa variegata, Variegated Aloe-leaved Adam's Needle.
Natural Order — Liliaceje.
The Yuccas are the best of such as we may call "grand plants"
for cultivators less rich than Croesus. Ten thousand amateurs, to whom
orchids and Crotons are as forbidden fruit, may find in the Yuccas,
Agaves, Dasylirions, and Eeaucarneas, abundant entertainment, lasting
interest, and deep gratification of their love of vegetable beauty. They
are all so nearly hardy that in the southern and western parts of
Britain they may be planted out as permanent occupants of the garden;
and in less favoured climates the shelter of glass alone, with little or
no aid from artificial heat, is sufficient for their preservation. For the
terrace garden Y. recur ca is, without doubt, the noblest of all; but for
the conservatory, and for vases anywhere, nothing can be more graceful,
cheerful, and dignified, than the variegated Y. aloifoUa, which we
venture to characterise as the best poor man's plant of its class.
The requirements of the Yuccas are extremely simple, but as they
are peculiarly constituted there must be some discretion exercised in
their management. A sound loam containing plenty of sand and
nodules of brick will suit them all. The most perfect drainage is
essential, as excess of moisture is as jjoison to them. They should be
quite dry during the winter months, and at all seasons should be fully
exposed to solar light, for that indeed is life to them.
All the Yuccas have pointed leaves, and tough silky fibres; they
may, in fact, be called " needle-and-thread " plants. The particular
species under consideration has a peculiar interest, commercially con-
sidered; for not only does it furnish an abundance of valuable fibre,
but the epidermis of the leaf is now prepared in a way which renders
it available for several purposes.
In the Memoirs of Margaret Puller, (Ossoli,) by Channing and
104
YUCCA ALOIFOLTA VAKIEGATA.
Emerson, occurs the following interesting episode, strangely character-
istic of Margaret's sentimental habit of observation: — "I had kept
these plants of the Yucca filamentosa six or seven years, though they
had never bloomed; I knew nothing of them, and had no notion of
what feelings they would excite. Last June I found in bud the one
which had the most favourable exposure. A week or two after, another,
which was more in the shade, put out flower-buds, and I thought I
should be able to watch them one after the other, — but no! the one
which was most favoured waited for the other, and both flowered
together at the full of the moon. This struck me as singular, but as
soon as I saw the flower by moonlight, I understood it. This flower
is made for the moon, as the Heliotrope is for the sun, and refuses
other influences, or to display her beauty in any other light. The
first night I saw the flower, I was conscious of a peculiar delight, I
may even say, rapture. Many white flowers are far more beautiful by
day: the Lily, for instance, with its firm, thick leaf, needs the broad
light to manifest its purity. But these transparent greenish white
leaves, which look dull in the day, are melted by the moon to glistening
silver; and not only does the plant not appear in its destined hue by
day, but the flower, though as bell-shaped it cannot quite close again
after having once expanded, yet presses its petals together as closely
as it can, hangs down its little blossoms, and its tall stalk seems at
noon to have reared itself only to ' betray a shabby insignificance.
Thus too with the leaves, which have burst asunder suddenly like a
Fan Palm, to make way for the stalk ; their edges in the daytime
look ragged and unfinished, as if Nature had left them in a hurry
for some more pleasing task. On the day after the evening when I
had thought it so beautiful, I could not conceive how I had made
such a mistake. But the second evening I went out into the garden
again, in clearest moonlight I stood, my flower more beautiful than
ever. The stalk pierced the air like a spear; all the little bells had
erected themselves around it in most graceful array, with petals more
transparent than silver, and of a softer light than a diamond: they
seem to have been made for the moon's rays. The leaves, which had
looked ragged by day, now seemed fringed by the most delicate
gossamer, and the plant might claim with pride its distinctive epithet
of filamentosa. I looked at it till my feelings became so strong that
I longed to share it; the thought that filled my mind was, that here
we saw the type of pure feminine beauty in the moon's own flower. I
have since had further opportunity of watching the Yucca, and verified
these observations, that she will not flower till the full of the moon,
and chooses to hide her beauty from the eye of day."
BEGONIA F A L C I F 0 L I A,
XL
105
BEGONIA FALCOOLIA.
PLATE XL.
Begonia falcifolia, The Sickle-leaved Begonia.
Natural Order — BegoniacEjE.
The plant here figured is unique in its character, whether botanically
or artistically considered. Dr. J. D. Hooker is "at a loss" to which
section of the genus to refer it, because of the peculiar structure of
the flower; and as to its aspects, we can liken it to no other
Begonia in any way, except as to the most general resemblances,
such as the configuration of the perianth and the unequally-lobed
base of the leaf. This is another of the long series of valuable
acquisitions of the late Mr. Pearce, who transmitted it to Messrs.
Veitch and Son in 1867.
Begonia falcifolia is an extremely elegant plant, admirably adapted
for the embellishment of the stove or intermediate house in winter,
and well suited for the decoration of the dinner-table, and for any
purposes for which usually the smaller winter-flowering Begonias are
employed. In habit it is strictly herbaceous; but, as it branches freely,
it has, when well grown, a shrubby appearance. The leaves are four
to seven inches long, elongated-falcate in form, the base unequally
two-lobed, the margins irregularly serrate, four to six small teeth
occurring between the larger. The under surface of the leaf is of a
pleasing reddish purple colour; the upper surface deep green, some-
times bronzed, covered with short stiff hairs, and when young freely
spotted with white or pale rosy spots. The flowers are borne in
short panicles consisting of six to ten flowers each; they are rose-
coloured, and abundantly produced.
P
106
BEGONIA FALCIFOLIA.
Mr. Richard Pearce, whose name has been frequently mentioned in
these pages as the discoverer of plants here figured, ended his career
in a manner too much like that of scientific explorers, the majority
of whom have fallen victims to the inevitable accidents of travel in
unfrequented lands. In the summer of 1868 he started from England
to make collections in South America for Mr. William Bull, of the
King's Road, Chelsea. He arrived at Panama on the 7th. of July,
was taken ill on the 13th., and died on the 19th., the malady which
caused his death being a fever peculiar to the marshy district in
which he commenced his new search for botanical treasures. During
nine years previously he had been abroad collecting plants, and
throughout the whole of that period had corresponded with a lady
in England to whom he was deeply attached. On his return from
Peru, after the journey in which he discovered this Begonia and many
more valuable plants, he married the object of his affections, and soon
after set out again on the adventure which cost him his life — a
melancholy end to a career which until then was as bright with
future promise, as it was already lustrous with achievements beneficial
to mankind. Of how many martyrs of science do the contents of our
gardens remind us, and how many memorials of them have we in
the names of the most familiar plants! It is well we should sometimes
meditate on the enormous cost at which many of our most cherished
enjoyments have been obtained for us.
For a few practical remarks on the cultivation of Begonias see
page 6.
PANICS M PL I CAT U M.
XLI
107
PANICUM PLICATUM.
PLATE XLT.
Panicum pKcatitm fol. mveo-vittatus, Folded-leaved Panic Grass, with snowy stripes.
Natural Order — GraminacejE.
This pretty grass, which is commonly known as "Panicum Varie-
gatum," has become a general favourite for the embellishment of
suspended baskets, the dressing of epergnes, and to form edgings in
the stove in the same way that Lycopods and Isolopis gracilis are
frequently employed. One of its recommendations, apart from its
intrinsic beauty, is that throughout the winter it presents a pleasing
appearance, though the summer growth is far more vigorous, and is
more richly coloured. We have several times met with it at exhibitions
in the form of a large specimen in a shallow pan, and when treated
in this way a fine tuft forms a pleasing and peculiar adornment, for it
is seldom we meet with grassy forms of vegetation at exhibitions, and
this is so distinct in colouring that it affords a welcome change from
the prevailing fashion. Probably it may become useful as a bedding
plant, at all events, we planted out a tuft in the summer of 1868, and
it grew freely, and formed an extremely elegant object, being brighter
in its tones of red than any other variegated grass in our gardens.
Agrostis colorata fol. tar. and Phalaris arundinacea fol. var., are
extremely elegant, and being quite hardy serve admirably for masses
and edgings in the flower garden ; but neither of them afford so
much colour as the subject of this note, and therefore we hope it
may prove as well adapted for bedding in ordinary seasons as in the
extraordinary season in which we made trial of it.
108
PANICUM PL1CATUM.
As to history this grass has none, and for description the plate will
pretty "well suffice. The plant is tender, and requires the stove all the
winter. It is jirobably widely diffused in tropical countries, whether
in its normal green colouring or variegated, this particular variety
having come from New Caledonia. It appears to be identical with P.
sulcatum of Linnaeus, P. asperatum of Kunth, and the P. plicatum of
Willdenow, Lamarck, and Roxburgh. It is, however, no easy matter
to determine its exact place and relationships, as there are hundreds
of species of Panicum, very few of which have been accurately
described.
We are indebted to Messrs. Veitch and Son for the introduction of
this plant. They obtained it in the year 1866.
CROTOH INTERHliPTUM.
XLII
CEOTON INTEEEUPTUM.
PLATE XLII.
Croton interruptum, CodicBitm variegatum intcrruptum, Interrupted-leaved Croton.
Natural Order — Euphokbiace.-e.
This is certainly not the handsomest of the new Crotons, but it is
the most curious and interesting, and it especially merits the watchful
observance of the student of vegetable physiology, for the likelihood
of its affording light on some dark problems of that branch of science.
It is a very curious plant indeed, as variable in the forms of its leaves
110
CROTON INTERRUPTTTM.
as C. irregular e, but, if we may say it, ludicrously so; for in some cases
the leaves are horned at the point; in others there is an interruption
of the blade, the central portion consisting of midrib only, forming a
connecting link between the two portions of the blade at the apex and
the base. In other cases, again, the leaves are spiral in the centre;
and in a few instances a small pitcher is formed at the end of the
naked midrib. It belongs to the linear-leaved series, and is a good
companion to C. irregidare, from which it differs strikingly both in
form and colour. Here the prevailing tones are red, whereas in C.
irregidare yellow predominates. Though so strangely variable in the
forms of its leaves, C. intern •upturn is pretty constant throughout in
colouring. The upper surface of the leaves is a deep purplish green,
the midrib crimson; the under surface is purplish, the midrib on this
side also being distinguishably crimson. The plant grows freely, and
soon forms an effective specimen, so no doubt we may expect it to
become a favourite with exhibitors.
The following outline of Dr. Masters's arrangement of the varieties
of Croton ( Codiceum J variegatum will be useful for purposes of
reference, as affording a ready key to their relationships.
CODI^UM VARIEG-ATUM, (Miiller.)
Var. Pictum, Miiller. — Leaves cordate at the base.
1. Pictum. — Usually grown as "pictum'''' in gardens. "It may be
recognised at once by its truly cordate-ovate or oblong leaves In
some gardens another plant is grown under this name without cordate
leaves, and which is therefore not the true var. pictum.''''
Var. Linearifolium. — Leaves not exceeding one inch in breadth
at the broadest part, usually very long, and tapering at the base.
There are six sub-varieties, namely: —
2. Angustissimum. — The " a.?igustifolium" of some gardens. Extremely
handsome when grown to a fine specimen.
3. Johannis. — Probably the same as " tczniosum" of Miiller. Like
No. 2, but freer in habit, with larger leaves and a deeper colour. A
splendid exhibition plant.
4. Wisemannianum. — Probably a form of "longifolium" Miiller.
5. Interruptum. — Closely related to "tceniosum."
6. Parvifolium. — Identical with " clegans" of gardens.
7. Pominyanum. — Long narrow leaves, with much red colour.
CROTON INTERRUPTUM.
Ill
Vak. Oblongifolium. — Leaves one to two inches in breadth at the
widest portions, rounded or tapering at the base.
8. Cornutum. — Curious and beautiful; the projecting horn-like pro-
cess from the midrib and its heteromorphous blades render it distinct
and interesting.
9. Irregulare. — Closely related to No. 3.
10. Erosiim. — Leaves spathulate, contracted in the centre.
11. Maculatum. — A speckled variety of angusti ; folium.
12. Ensifolium. — Leaves leathery, ensiform.
13. Veitchii. — Leaves richly painted with shades of pink, green,
and claret-colour. One of the finest of the series.
Var. Lancifolium. — Leaves half an inch broad, five to eight inches
long, lanceolate, tapering at the apex and base.
14. TJndulatum. — Leaves crisped at the margins. A very handsome
plant.
15. Acutum. — Grown in some gardens as " picAum" but has not
cordate leaves.
16. Hortense. — Known in gardens as "longifoKum" but is not the
longifolium of Miiller.
17. Lacteum. — Veins milky white or yellowish; the whitest of the
series.
18. Medium. — A bad form of the variety grown as " variegatum."
19. Medium variegatum. — This is the true " variegatum" of gardens.
A splendid exhibition plant.
Var. Spathulatum. — Leaves spathulate, two to three inches wide
at the widest portion, tapering at the base.
20. AucubcefoUum. — Richly coloured with tones of red, yellow, and
green.
21. Areolatum. — An improvement on variegatum in size and colour
of leaves.
22. Hillianum. — Unlike all the others in its reddish yellow foliage,
as well as in its compact bushy habit.
23. Tricolor. — Richly coloured green, yellow, and red. A very
handsome and distinct form.
24. Betifolium. — A large, free-growing form, of loose habit; the
foliage is rich in colour, but somewhat coarse.
Var. Macrofhyllum. — Leaves oblongo-lanceolate, seven to ten
inches long, three inches wide, rounded at the base.
112
CROTON INTERRTJPTUM.
25. Maximum. — A grand variety of mriegatum, exceedingly rich, in
its tones of yellow.
26. Auroum. — Margin, midrib, and secondary veins golden yellow.
27. Flaoum. — Marked like "milkmaid" holly.
28. Arcuatum. — Leaves arched and folded; midrib and secondary
veins yellow. A singular variety, totally unlike any of the rest.
A NOTE ON THE DEVELOPMENT OP COLOUR IN THE LEAVES
OF CROTONS.
In our suggestions to the cultivator at page 99, the necessity of
"full exposure to solar light" is insisted on. A comparison of our
experiences of exhibitions and gardens, adds to the force of this
direction. In many instances we have met with specimen Crotons
intensely rich in colour, far exceeding in this respect the best average
examples exhibited. In every such case that we have had an oppor-
tunity of inquiring into, we found that the intensity of the colouring
was due to intensity of light, the plants being placed only a few inches
from the glass, and without shading at all seasons.
AUCUBA JAPONIC* AUREO-MACULAIA,
XL f II
113
AUCUBA JAPONICA AUREO-MACULATA.
PLATE XLIII.
Aueuba Japonica faemina, var. aureo-maculata, Female Japanese Aucuba, with
gold-spotted leaves.
Natural Order — CornacEjE.
It has often been said that if we want romance, we must look for
it in the things nearest to us, and in the most common place. The
history of the Aucuba Japonica, or "Spotted Laurel" of English gar-
dens, affords a new and pleasing example of the truth of the observation.
At all events, there is no history more entertaining, and if we fail to
interest our readers in the few remarks that follow the fault will be
ours, for the subject is all that we would desire. One of the com-
monest of hardy evergreen shrubs has within the past few years become
possessed of entirely new and most valuable properties; not new to
the plant, of course, but new to us; for whereas its character appeared
to be fixed up to a certain moment, from that moment it offered a
series of new attractions ; leaves of many forms and colours, and berries
of the most brilliant scarlet hue produced in vast profusion. We will
relate the particulars in the fewest words possible.
The Aucuba Japonica was discovered by Engelbert Kocmpfer, a
Westphalian naturalist, in 1690, or thereabout, but was not then
introduced to Europe. In 1783 it was introduced to Europe by
Thunberg, a noted Swede. The distribution of new plants was a
different affair then as compared with the present day. Exhibitions
and horticultural papers now keep amateurs in a perpetual state of
preternatural excitement about novelties; but ninety years ago such
stimuli to plant collecting were unknown.
Q
114
AUCUBA JAPONICA AUREO-MACULATA.
The Aucuba slowly found its way into a few great gardens, and
being known as a Japanese plant, was considered too tender to be
exposed to the rough climates of northern Europe, and so was treated
as a "hothouse" plant. Observant cultivators noted that whenever it
was grown in a cool temperature, instead of languishing, it improved,
and its ultimate acclimatization occurred as the result of such ob-
servations.
At what date the Aucuba was first planted out as a hardy tree, we
do not know. It is described in Aiton's "Hortus Kewensis," (1813,)
as a hardy tree, as introduced to Kew in 1783, by Mr. John Grseffer.
In the twenty -first edition of Abercrombie's "Every Man his own
Gardener," (1818,) there is no mention of it to be found, though there
are abundant directions for propagating and planting evergreen shrubs
of many kinds. Though known to botanists as a far more interesting
shrub than to ordinary eyes it appeared to be, it was by the gardener
regarded simply as a useful member of the mixed shrubbery, and
particularly valuable to plant near towns, on account of its patient
endurance of smoke and dust. In Don's " Dichlamydeous Plants,"
(1834,) the following remarks occur in the description of the Aucuba :
— "This genus was included by Jussien in the order Rhamni; but
from its having no affinity whatever to either of the families into which
that order has been divided, its place in the natural system has re-
mained undetermined; and perhaps also from the want of novelty, the
plant has been despised by botanists, and its characters and affinities
consequently overlooked. Like the Salix Babylonica, or Weeping
Willow, too, we possess only one sex of the tree in Europe, and that
the female, which circumstance has likewise prevented its being accu-
rately examined."
Although the Diceceous character of the Aucuba, and its natural
fruitfulness of berries, were facts recorded, the importance of securing
the male plant was felt by comparatively few, even amongst advanced
botanists and horticulturists. Siebold brought with him from Japan a
collection of varieties differing in the dimensions, forms, and markings
of their leaves, but they all proved to be females. It was reserved
for our Robert Fortune, the most successful of modern plant collectors,
to obtain the male plant, and to bring it to England in safety. This,
to botanists, was one of the first fruits of the opening of Japan to
European commerce. The plant secured by Fortune was the only one
he had been enabled to discover; it was obtained with difficulty, and
when at last it fell into the hands of Mr. Standish, then of Bagshot,
the purchaser of Fortune's acquisitions, it was in such poor condition,
through the vicissitudes of the voyage, that great skill and patience
AUCUBA JAPONICA AUREO-M ACXJLATA.
115
were needed for its recovery. But the usual good luck attended
Robert Fortune's labours, the plant not only grew, but soon flowered,
and every particle of pollen was applied to its destined purpose, and
thus the first Aucuba berries were produced in England.
On the 5th. of March, 1864, Mr. Standish exhibited for the first
time a female Aucuba loaded with glistening coral-coloured fruit, and
a thousand amateurs were thenceforth fired with ambition to grow the
plant in such a way as to fully develope every one of its characters.
The demand for male Aucubas was immense; the first plant we pur-
chased for our own use cost us at the rate of a guinea for every leaf
upon it. There was no difficulty in selling at almost any price all
that could be produced; the only difficulty was to multiply them fast
enough, though every bud that could be cut was converted into a
plant by grafting, and hastened into growth by stove temperature.
The general public were scarcely interested in all this, though the
excitement of horticulturists was intense. To Mr. Bull must be awarded
the credit of publicly demonstrating the capabilities of the Aucuba by
his exhibition of some fifteen or more varieties, many of them covered
with scarlet berries, at the great Flower Show held in the Guildhall
of the city of London, on the 14th. of November, 1865. The com-
monest of all known garden trees was thus re-introduced to public
notice as an altogether new, interesting, and remarkable subject; and
thousands who never before reflected upon the laws which govern re-
production in the vegetable kingdom, resulting in so beautiful a
rejflication of the phenomena of the increase of animal life, were led
to inquire into the first principles of vegetable physiology, and thereby
to discover that in the common-place we have for all intellectual and
perhaps moral inquiry, an emblem of the inexhaustible. Since Mr.
Bull's famous exhibition of Aucubas covered with scarlet berries, the
fact of the separateness of the sexes in this plant, and the certain
development of its complete character in our gardens, in the course of
a very few years, has become part of the stock of every-day knowledge ;
but nevertheless it will be long before the air of novelty is worn away
from the subject.
Our own garden at Stoke Newington was amongst the first of private
establishments in which full justice was done to the Aucuba. We are
inclined to believe, but will not insist upon it, that it was the first,
for on the original distribution of the male plant we made the utmost of
its pollen, and by fertilizing a number of small handsome female plants,
previously potted for the purpose, secured a number of fruitful speci-
mens, which, when the berries were ripe, were grouped to form a bed
in the experimental garden. This was done in 1866. In the following
116
AUCUBA JAPONICA AUREO-MACULATA.
autumn we had a collection of seedling plants, and have been raising
seedlings every season since, hoping some day to find a few distinct
and novel forms amongst them.
We have not left space sufficient for any particulars of the structure
and botanical characteristics of the plant, nor need we say a word
about its cultivation. The time has passed by for it to be necessary
to relate how fertilization is effected by application of the pollen to
the flowers of female plants under glass, for the fact is, the male plant
is cheap, and being perfectly hardy, needs but to be planted out amongst
the females, and the bees will take care to secure their fruitfulness.
Our collection comprises twenty-four named varieties, besides numbers
of un-named seedlings. The following is a list of them: —
FEMALE ATJCUBAS.
Aucuba Japonica fcemina viridis. — This is the green-leaved or wild
form of the female plant. The leaves are smallish, sharply toothed,
and a most lively green colour. When well covered with berries it
is extremely handsome, and the smallness of the leaves favours the
display of the fruit, which is more or less hidden from view in larger-
leaved varieties. It is the most productive of berries of any in the
collection.
Aureo maculata. — A variegated variety, which originated in the
nursery of Messrs. Cutbush and Son, of Highgate. It was exhibited
at the "International," 1866, and will probably be distributed in the
autumn of 1869.
Elegans. — Variegated ; the leaf is large, and is marked with a broad
band of rich amber in the centre.
Flavescens. — Variegated; the young leaves being wholly of a rich
gold yellow colour.
Grandidenta. — Variegated with whitish spots, the leaves deeply toothed.
Lanceolate. — A green-leaved variety; the leaves are narrowish and
pointed.
Latifolia. — A green-leaved variety; the leaves broader than the
average, and extremely handsome.
ATJCUBA JAPONICA ATJ REO-MACULATA.
117
Longifolia. — A green-leaved variety; the leaves long and narrow.
Longifolia variegata. — Variegated with bars of pale amber.
Macrophylla. — A green-leaved variety; the leaves very broad and a
foot long.
Mirabilis. — A green-leaved variety; the leaves ovate, boldly notched,
an d handsome.
Metadata. — Variegated with yellowish blotches, dots, and stripes.
This is the common garden variety, that is to say, the oldest and best
known of all Aucubas. It varies very nruch: we have amongst our
common Aucubas at least a dozen sub-varieties, one of which produces
leaves which average (petiole included) twelve inches in length.
Lati-macidata. — A variegated variety, with splendid broad central
band of yellow, and rich yellow spots. It is the next best to the one
figured, Aureo-maculata.
MALE AUCUBAS.
Aucuba Japonicu mascula riridis. — The green-leaved male, corres-
ponding in all characters (except sex) to the first-named plant in the
list of females. We believe this will ultimately prove to be the best
for pollen, as its companion is the best for berries; but we have not
had it long enough to determine.
Bicolor. — Variegated and handsome; the majority of the leaves one
half green, the other half deep amber.
Corymhiferum. — Variegated with light splashes of a yellowish or
creamy colour; the leaves large and handsome; the flowers in large
corymbs.
Grandis. — Variegated; the leaves very large and handsome, with
occasional large, bright, gold yellow spots. So few leaves are variegated
that perhaps it should be classed with green-leaved varieties.
Macrodonta. — Green-leaved; the leaves large, broad, and boldy toothed.
118
ATJCTJBA JAPONICA AUKEO-MACULATA.
Maculata. — Variegated, and in every respect (except sex) the counter-
part of the common garden female plant bearing the same name.
This is said to be the best for pollen, and such we have found it; but
we expect the green-leaved male will supersede it in that respect in a
year or two. At all events this is undoubtedly one of the best male
varieties to plant out.
Marmorata. — Variegated, and in every respect a sub-variety of
maculata.
Maculata robusta. — A larger leaved sub-variety of the last.
Ovata — Green leaved ; the leaves large, ovate, a fine dark green colour.
A grand variety.
Picta. — Variegated; the leaves coarsely serrated, with broad central
blotch of yellow, and irregular margin of bright green. This produces
abundance of pollen, and is one of the handsomest in leafage.
Aucuba Himalaica is a beautiful green-leaved species from the
Himalaia Mountains. In leafage it is scarcely to be distinguished from
the green-leaved Japanese Aucuba, but the berries differ, as instead of
being wholly of a deep vermilion colour, as is the case with all the
Japanese species, those of Himalaica are of a rich deep red, with a
green circle near the apex. All our plants of the Himalaian Aucuba
are females; the male plant not having been as yet introduced to this
country. It can however be fertilized with the pollen of any of the
Japanese males.
119
GYPEIPEDIUM CONCOLOR.
PLATE XLIV.
Cypripcdium concolor, Self-coloured Lady's Slipper.
Natural Order— Oeciiidace>e.
To the orchid grower this is a peculiarly interesting plant, differing
from all others of its genus. The leaves are compactly arranged,
beautifully mottled on their upper surface, and of a rich reddish
purple below. The flowers are borne in pairs on a short hairy scape;
they measure two inches across ; the colour is pale yellow sprinkled
with minute crimson dots.
The Ladies' Slippers constitute a peculiarly distinct section of the great
orchideous family of plants, the construction of their flowers presenting
a curious series of departures from the prevailing characteristics of the
order. The plan of an orchid is ternary, and its elemental parts are
(theoretically) fifteen in number. There are three sepals, three stamens,
three pistils, three carpels. In many instances certain of these organs
never attain development, and others are so modified that it is difficult
to trace them. Thus the labcllum, or lip, one of the most conspicuous
features of an orchid flower, is but a transformed petal. Usually only
one stamen out of three is developed, and this is confluent with the
pistil forming the column. In Cypripedium all three stamens are
determinable, two being fully produced and placed right and left of
the column; the third is placed between them, but is sterile, and it is
no easy matter to recognize it. There are three sepals in a Cypripcdium
flower, yet there appear to be but two; one of them stands up and
forms the banner or topmost piece of the flower, the other two are
conjoined, and form one, corresponding in position to the banner, but
directed downwards from the centre. Right and left of the centre are
placed two petals like wings, and in front is the labcllum representing
the third petal. In some instances the two side-petals are prolonged
120
CYPRIPEDIUM CONCOLOR.
into tails, which give the flower a most eccentric appearance. The
elder Darwin saw in the peculiar structure of the Cypripedium, and
notably so in C. calceolus and C. spectabile, a resemblance to a spider,
the swollen pouch representing the body, and the anthers the eyes;
and in the fourth canto of the "Botanic Garden," (501-510,) he thus
fancifully alludes to it: —
"See where the humming-bird in Chili's bowers,
On murmuring piuions robs the pendent flowers;
Seeks where fine pores their dulcet balm distil,
And sucks the treasure with proboscis bill;
Fair Cypkipedia, with successful guile,
Knits her smooth brow, extinguishes her smile;
A spider's bloated paunch and jointed arms
Hide her fine form, and mask her blushing charms;
In ambush sly the mimic warrior lies,
And on quick wing the panting plunderer flies."
Cypripedium concolor is a native of Moulmein, where it was found
growing on rocks by the Rev. C. Parish. Colonel Benson also found
it in the same localities. It may now be found in all good collections
of orchids in private gardens, where it is esteemed chiefly for the
beauty of its leaves, in which respect it forms a companion plant to
the beautiful spotted-leaved Cypripedium which has been named in
commemoration of Dr. Hooker.
This plant, in common with all other exotic Ladies' Slippers, (except
C. insignc, which thrives in a cool house,) requires good stove temper-
ature, with plenty of moisture, and but little rest. The compost which
best suits this class of plants is one consisting of rough peat, sphagnum,
and sand. In the case of concolor nodules of chalk may be added with
advantage.
ACALYPH* TRICOLOR.
XLV
121
ACALYPHA TRJCOLOB.
PLATE XLV.
Acalypha tricolor, Threo-colour-leavcd Aoalypha.
Natural Order — Euphorbiace^e.
This beautiful-leaved plant was introduced from New Caledonia by-
Mr. John Gould Veitcb, for Messrs. Veitch and Sons, of Chelsea, who
first offered it to the public in 1867, having established its character
at the International Exhibition of 1866, where it was exhibited, and
obtained a first-class certificate. It is a very distinct and handsome
stove shrub, with ovate leaves of a coppery-tinted green, washed here
and there in splashes, dots, and large patches, as though smeared and
stained with red lead.
Some five and twenty species of Acalypha are recorded as in culti-
vation, but it might be a difficult task to find half a dozen of them in
English gardens. The reader needs not to be told that they are
unknown because they offer few attractions to the cultivator. The
plant here figiired, however, is quite worthy of a place in the stove,
both for its intrinsic beauty and its distinctive habit and colouring.
In common with other plants of the same class, Acalypha tricolor
requires a good stove temperature, with a moist atmosphere to bring
out its characters fully. It is however an easy plant to grow, and is
especially useful in winter, when many of the best fine-foliagcd plants,
and notably the Caladiums, are hors de combed. It may be readily
propagated by cuttings in a strong heat.
The natural order of Spurgeworts, to which this plant belongs,
offers us many fine subjects worthy of cultivation on account of the
beauty of their bracts or leaves. A few of the true spurges, as, for
example, Euj)horbia Jacquiniceflora and E. splendcns, are notable for
the brilliancy of their flowers; but they stand almost alone in their
R
\22
ACALYPHA TRICOLOR.
large family, which has few floral attractions. In the lovely Poinsettia
pulcherrima we have the most gorgeous floral bracts; in the Crotons
we have the richest leafage, many of the species being distinguished
by their brilliant golden variegation; and the species of Ricinus
presents us with leaves of most elegant outline, many of them unsur-
passed for elegance of form amongst all the plants with which, in the
garden, they are usually associated. One of the most interesting plants
of the Spurge family is Siphonia elastica, the "bottle India-rubber"
tree of Brazil, a more important plant than Ficus elastica, which yields
the principal supply of rubber from the eastern continent.
CINERARIA M A R I T I M A F A I R B A I R N
XLVI
123
CINERARIA MAEITIMA FAIRBAIRNIANUM.
PLATE XL VI.
t
Cineraria maritima, var. Fairbairnianum, Fairbaim's gold-striped variety of the
Silver-frosted Plant, or Sea Kagwort.
Natural Order — Asteeace^.
The "silver-frosted plant" of English gardens had but little celebrity
in spite of its intrinsic beauty, until it proved to be a valuable agent
in the development of the "bedding system." Since its adoption for
the formation of sharp silvery lines, and to mix with dark-leaved
plants in the parterre, it has become one of the most popular of
beautiful-leaved subjects for the embellishment of the summer garden,
and where bedding plants are largely grown, we may expect to meet
with it in thousands, seedlings being always preferred for the formation
of edgings and marginal bands.
Apart from the popularity of the Sea Ragwort as a parterre plant,
it has an interest of its own arising out of its habit and character. It
is a native of Southern Europe; has never, we believe, been found
wild in Britain, but is quite hardy in the southern parts of these
islands if growing in a sheltered and dry position. It thrives on a
chalky soil, and when cultivated will be found to grow most freely,
and have its own proper silvery lustre most fully produced, if nodules
of chalk or old mortar are added in plenty to the compost in which
it is potted. Like many other hardy plants that are treated with con-
tumely because they happen to be cheap, this is rarely grown into a
good specimen. Yet there are few plants more worthy of the little
care required, for fine specimens have a most beautiful appearance,
and form desirable additions to the embellishments of the terrace and
the lawn during summer. We have had specimens two and a half
feet through, the result of only two years cultivation.
To describe the plant must be needless. It has been known to
124
CINERARIA MARITIM A FAIRBAIRNIANUM.
English gardens for upwards of two centuries. The silvery whiteness
of its stems and leaves is surpassed by some of the Centaureas, and
by C. ragusina especially; yet the softer grey tone of the Ragwort
renders it serviceable in promenade colouring, when the Centaureas
are too decisively white to harmonize with their surroundings.
The variety figured was raised by Mr. G. Fairbairn, head gardener
to His Grace the Duke of Northumberland, Sion House. Its beauty
and novelty fairly entitle it to a place in this series, as for many years
to come it is likely to be in request as a bedding plant, and to grow
into specimens for the conservatory. Its peculiarity is its clear golden
yellow variegation — a most unusual occurrence in a plant of this kind,
yet one we might expect, for the normal silvery hue of Cineraria
maritima is not a case of variegation at all; it is the result simply
of the thick close down with which the plant is clothed, and which
properly belongs to it as one of its normal characters.
125
ALOGASIA JENNINGSII.
PLATE XLVII.
Alocasia Jetmingsii, Jennings's Alocasia.
Natural Order — AkacEjE.
This sumptuous and peculiarly distinct Caladium was introduced
from India by Messrs. Veitcli and Son, and was accepted by cultivators
as one of the choicest of its race on the instant of its first appearance
in public. It is a difficult plant to figure, the best possible picture
of it must be but a poor shadow of the fact. There are those who
should know better, who look upon all prints of new plants and
flowers as exaggerative. What an undeserved and undesired compli-
ment they thereby pay the artists. The poet Thomson asks, "who can
paint like Nature?" Now observe the possibility of an answer to this
effect — Here is one who can paint better than Nature ! ! !
Proh superi! quantum mortalia petora ccecoe,
Noctis habent !
But let Ovid sing to another tune while we appeal to all who know
the plant here figured, to pardon our shortcomings, for this after all
is the utmost we can do.
Alocasia Jenningsii has no history. It was first exhibited at the
Royal Horticultural Society's Show, May 7th., 1867, and was awarded
a silver medal as the best new fine foliage plant of the day. The
leaves are ovate-cordate in form, they attain a length of six to eight
inches. The ground colour is a delicate glaucous green, over which,
between the principal veins, are laid heavy blotches of black, which
are remarkably precise in outline and arrangement, as if determined
by rule and compasses.
126
ALOCASIA JENNINGSII.
No sjjecies of Alocasia will bear rough usage, and it is best not
to attempt to grow them unless they can have good stove treatment*
When started into growth the temperature should be maintained at
from 70° to 80° for about six weeks. As the season advances, and the
plants acquire a luxuriant growth, the heat may rise to a range of
from 80° to 90°. Throughout the growing season the atmosphere of
the house should be always heavily charged with humidity, but the
plants themselves should be only moderately syringed. As autumn
approaches less heat and moisture will be required. A decided season
of rest is necessary, but it must not be accompanied by a temperature
unduly low. We believe 60 c to be a safe winter minimum for Alocasias.
In common with the Caladium, the Alocasia will not endure to be
desiccated in winter, but in the season of rest very little moisture will
be required.
The soil in which these plants thrive best is one consisting of fibrous
peat, sphagnum moss, small potsherds, and nodules of charcoal. A pasty
peat, in fact a close compact soil of any kind, is utterly unfit for them.
Large specimens, if carefully potted, may remain in the same pots
several years, but small plants should be shaken out and repotted when
just about to start into new growth in spring.
• * j
C A N N A A T R 0 NIGRICANS,
CANNA ATRO NIGRICANS.
PLATE XLVIII.
Canna Indica var. atro-nigricans, Indian Canna with very dark leaves.
Natural order — MakantacEjE.
Although long and deservedly prized on account of their noble
leafage and gaily-coloured flowers, the varieties of Cannas really owe
their present importance to the development of "sub-tropical" garden-
ing, in which they have played a conspicuous part. The varieties
have now become so numerous that it is difficult to select from amongst
them distinct and typical kinds.
128
CANNA ATR.O NIGRICANS.
The varieties in cultivation number about one hundred and fifty;
they are all descendants of two species, namely, C. Indica and C.
flaccida, both natives of the New World, the first being met with in
shaded marshy places in Brazil, the second in marshy spots on the
banks of the Mississippi.
In 1846 the first attempt was made to employ the Canna as a
bedding plant in temperate latitudes. In that year M. Thre. Ann£e,
who had been for several years French consular agent at Valparaiso,
brought with him to Paris a collection of the various sorts he had
met with in his travels through South America, some of which he
planted in his garden at Passy. The experiment was so successful
that in the year following he planted out all the varieties he could
obtain, and in 1848 he commenced systematic crossing with a view to
obtain new sorts, and thereby laid the foundations of the splendid col-
lections that are now grown in English and French gardens. In 1855,
when the fine public gardens of Paris were assuming their true character,
Cannas were, for the first time, planted out extensively; and to M.
Rarillet Deschamps, the principal gardener of Paris, must be awarded
the praise of establishing the plant as one of the most suitable for
grand embellishments, and one of the most tractable in the hands of
the cultivator. Its tractability may be proved by the fact that in
Battersea Park, under the able direction of Mr.' John Gibson, there
are beds of Cannas that have not been disturbed for several years,
the roots being allowed to remain in the ground throughout the winter,
having for protection only a light covering of dry straw. One bed in
particular, consisting of Canna limbata, has thus survived seven
successive winters. This indeed is the proper way to treat the plant
when it is employed to form masses in the park or flower garden, as
when the roots remain undisturbed, the summer growth of leaves and
flowers far surpasses in splendour the best that can be obtained by
the system of annually taking up and planting out.
To grow the Canna to perfection a rich light soil is essential. When
grown as pot plants, or when intended to be prepared for planting
out, it is desirable to give the roots a start in a moderate heat.
The following varieties are particularly handsome and distinct: —
Annei, atropurpurea, gigantea, muscefolia, nigricans, purpurea-spectabilis,
zebrina-nana, Chatei-grandis, iridiflora, limbata, Porteana, rotundifolia-
rnbra, Vanhouttei.
ft B U T I L 0 M THOMPSON I.
129
ABUTILON THOMPSON!
FLATE XLIX.
Abutilon striatum, var. Thompsoni, Thompson's variety of the Striped Abutilon.
Natural Order — Malvaceae.
The normal or specific form of the beautiful plant here figured
is a very old and lightly-esteemed inhabitant of our greenhouses,
which was once in bad repute as an unmanageable stove plant. While
treated to a greater heat than was consistent with its nature it took
revenge against the cultivator by perpetually plaguing him by its thin,
unwholesome apjDearance, and its suitability as a breeding-place for all
the insect plagues that usually infest plants that are kept in too high
a temperature. When it was transferred from the stove to the green-
house, it acquired better health and considerable beauty; it ceased to
be a house of call for vermin; it made a free growth of cheerful
light green leaves, and produced abundance of pretty bell-shaped
flowers of an orange colour, delicately marked with red stripes. From
the greenhouse it was taken to the garden, where it proved so nearly
hardy that in many favoured spots in the south of England and
Ireland it survived ordinary winters unhurt; and of late years it has
been adopted freely by Mr. Gibson in his masterly system of embel-
lishing the parterre with "sub-tropical" plants at Battersea Park.
Abutilon striatum has never enjoyed the fame it is entitled to, perhaps
because, in the first instance, through ignorance of its hardy con-
stitution it was a troublesome plant to keep alive; and in the second,
that when reasonably treated it was so easy to keep and to grow, that
very few ever took the trouble to do perfect justice to it.
We believe and hope a better fate awaits the beautiful variety
" Thompsoni.'''' This, like the species, has had to pass through a fiery
S
130
ABUTII.OX THOMFSOXI.
ordeal, and at first was thought a worthless thing, because being kept
in the stove its beauty was stewed out of it. But tempora mutanta,
it is the fashion now to try every stove and greenhouse plant that
exhibits distinctive characters, especially distinctive characters of leafage,
in the open air; and when put to this test it came through the trial
bravely, assumed a quite novel and most attractive aspect, and so
became established as a nearly hardy fine-foliage plant, which, if planted
out during the summer, makes a display of variegated leafage, in the
highest degree beautiful and interesting. In proof of its capability
for this kind of work we put out at Stoke Newington, in the early
part of May, 1869, a few plants which Messrs. Veitch and Son sup-
plied for the experiment. During the five weeks which followed the
date of planting the weather was more like winter than summer,
bitterly cold, with fitful gleams of sunshine, and bedding-plants, as
a rule, becoming all the while small by degrees though not beautifully
less. Yet these Abutilons were unhurt, and now, (July 30th.,) having
had a good spell of genuine summer heat, they are so beautifully
coloured, and are growing so freely, that we are bound to pronounce
the plant admirably adapted for out-door embellishment, and one of
the most distinct and attractive of the class to which it belongs.
Abut/Ion Thompsoni was introduced by Messrs. Veitch and Son from
Jamaica, where it appears to have originated as a garden variety of
the well-known A. striatum, native of Brazil. To do justice to it is
no difficult task. It will grow freely in very light, rich loamy soil,
and its proper place in winter is in a warm greenhouse. During the
summer a thriving plant will make a growth of two to four feet, and
when allowed to grow naturally it forms a freely-branching pyramidal
tree, and flowers nearly as freely as the green-leaved species. It is,
however, not in need of flowers to secure for it the admiration of
such as can appreciate the beauty of its leaves. These are elegantly
lobed, the ground-colour is a lively green, over which is spread a
delicate mottling of amber and creamy white in many shades harmoni-
ously blended. Full exposure to solar light is necessary to bring out
these colours, therefore when grown under glass it should never be
shaded unless there is a risk of blistering, which, as a rule, can be
prevented by abundant ventilation. The plant may be increased by
cuttings at any season, but the summer is the best time; and of course
shade and a close atmosphere are favourable conditions for inducing
the formation of roots.
There are not many Abutilons in cultivation, but a few continental
varieties of A. striatum are much valued for their flowers, which are
particularly effective when the trees are planted out in groups in the
THE SUB-TROPICAL GARDEN.
131
garden. The best varieties in addition to the type, are, Dm de
Malakoff, insigne, and vanosum striatum; these have the free habit of
the species and flowers possessing distinctive features.
THE SUB -TROPIC A L GARDEN.
Many references to the "sub-tropical garden" occur in these pages,
and a few words in explanation of the term may interest the reader.
The Parisian gardeners must have the credit of originating the system
of out-door decoration to which this term is applied. The first
examples, on a scale large enough to attract attention, were presented
to public notice in the well-kept public parks and gardens of the city
of Paris. Great was the excitement, and almost unbounded the
admiration, created by plantations of India-rubber Trees, Dicksonias,
Caladiums, Palms, Cannas, Begonias, Wigandias, and other plants of
like noble character and tender constitution. Although from the
earliest days of horticultural art it had been customary to plant out
tender subjects for the summer, yet the scale on which this was now
done, and the new and peculiar scenery which resulted from the
practice, made the sub-tropical garden at once a novelty and a great
attraction. The leading English cultivators were not slow to take
lessons from their neighbours. The sub-tropical movement was inaugu-
rated on English soil under circumstances far less favourable than
in the better climate in which it originated. Nevertheless, success
attended it, and we have learned at least two lessons from the practice
up to this time. We have learned that the vegetation of the whole
world nearly is at our service for the embellishment of the English
garden in the summer season ; and also that our climate is far kinder
than we supposed it to be, for many tropical plants when planted out
in June make a free growth and attain to a fair state of development,
and continue attractive and display the distinctive features that belong
to them, until far into the month of October.
To select a number of tender plants and commit them to the com-
mon soil to take their chance, is not, in the proper sense of the term,
sub-tropical gardening. The soil should be of a light mellow texture,
rich, abounding in humus, and raised above the general level on a
foundation of porous materials. At Battersea Park, where are to be
seen the best examples in England of this system of embellishment,
the beds are all formed on foundations of broken bricks. This spongy
6ubstratum suffers surplus water to escape readily, and retains in its
132
THE SUB-TROriCAL GARDEN.
interstices a large amount of atmospheric air. The soil being placed
above a thick Layer of such stufF is more freely acted on by the
sun than the level ground, and the consequence is that the whole
bed is quickly warmed, and in the early part of June the tempera-
ture is some degrees higher than that of beds unprovided with a
porous substratum. Moreover, if some time during the summer theTe
should occur a change to cold weather, these prepared beds part with
their accumulated heat so slowly that it rarely happens the plants in
them suffer by the change; they are in fact enabled to endure it,
owing to the warmth of the soil, until the natural heat of the season
returns, to carry them on safely far into the autumn.
As for the remainder of the routine, it consists for the most part
in selecting sheltered sites for large-leaved plants that are likely to be
torn by the wind, and in giving throughout the season abundance of
water. The details of the system will afford endless amusement to
those who practise it, provided the first essential to success, a rich
light soil upon a porous foundation, is secured to start with.
X
SOUNUM MARGINATUM.
L
SOLANUM MARGINATUM.
PLATE L.
Solatium marginatum, Margined-leaved Solanum.
Natural Order — Solan ace.*:.
To be related to a potato may be an unfortunate circumstance even
for a plant, especially such an aristocratic subject as the one before
us. Yet "worse things are possible, as, for example, we have heard a
human being described as the "son of a gun," and the "great Prod-
agrum" of Foote's "incoherent story," must have had some queer
consanguinities. To see a bed of Solanums in full bloom in one of
the best public gardens of Paris, or in our own Battcrsea Park, where
they are handled with remarkable skill by Mr. Gibson, is to experience
anew the conviction that Pope was right when, speaking of the supe-
riority of individual merit over all its possible surroundings and
relations, he said, —
"Worth makes the man, the want of it the fellow;
The rest is all but leather or pranello."
134
SOLANUM MARGINATUM.
A large number of ornamental Solanums are in cultivation. They
make handsome pot-plants, but to see them in perfection, they should
be planted out, when their curious leaf colours, and small white or
violet-coloured flowers — which in some cases remind one of the lovely
amethyst blossoms of the Borage — attain to fullest development in an
average good summer. The species selected for the sub-tropical garden
are attractive principally on account of their distinctive leafage.
Solanum marginatum is of tree-like growth, upright and branching,
attaining in our stoves a height of six to nine feet. The leaves when
young are densely frosted on both sides, when older the upper surface
becomes greenish white, and margined with a glittering line of whitish
dusty pubescence. When planted out it grows freely, and produces
a striking effect if in a mass.
The following species of Solanum are the best among many for
employment as bedding plants in English gardens: —
S. marginatum. — Leaves very white; flowers purple and white.
S. violaceum. — Leaves purplish; stem thorny; flowers violet rose. One
of the best, but rather more tender than most others.
S. amazonicum. — A small woolly plant without spines; flowers large,
clear blue. One of the easiest to manage, and comparatively hardy.
S. rohustum. — A remarkably fine plant; the large leaves furnished with
formidable spines: requires good cultivation.
S. laciniatum. — A strong-growing plant, with smooth leaves and
beautiful pale blue flowers. Grows rapidly, and easily kept in winter.
S. pgracantha. — An elegant plant, with fiery red spines; flowers dull
white. Beautiful and tender.
S. giganteum. — A robust fast-growing plant; leaves and stems tomen-
tose and spiny; flowers small, pale lilac.
S. auriculatum. — A shrubby plant of large growth; leaves yellowish
downy on the under side; flowers insignificant.
S. acantliocarpum. — A tall-growing plant of majestic aspect; leaves
deejAy lobed, whitish underneath; stems whitish, and clothed with
yellowish spines; flowers small, succeeded by berries that look like
oranges, except that they are spiny.
TERM INftLIA E L E C A N S.
LI
TERMINALIA ELEGANS.
PLATE LI.
Terminalia elegans, Elegant Terminalia.
Natural Order — Terminauace/e.
Terminalia elegans belongs to an important group of tropical and
sub-tropical trees, known by their fruits as "myrobalans," and in
many instances characterized by the production of terminal leaves,
which are borne in clusters at the ends of the branches, hence the
generic name, which also supplies the name of the order. They are
widely distributed, the species being found in Asia, Africa, and
America, and wheresoever found they are valued for qualities which
render them useful in medicine and the arts. Upwards of twenty
species of Terminalia have been registered as having been grown in
British stoves, though probably not half so many could be found in
any one garden in the British Islands. The roots of T. alata are used
in India as a remedy for fevers; from T. argentea is obtained, in
Brazil, a resin resembling gamboge, and possessed of similar powerful
qualities when used medicinally. From the fruits of T. catappa, in
the Mauritius, a valuable oil, equal in purity to the best olive oil,
is expressed, and T. mauritiana furnishes a resin which takes the
place, as serving the same purposes, as benzoin. T. vernix and perhaps
T. catappa also are cultivated by the Chinese to supply materials for
the manufacture of black lacquer and Indian ink. From other species,
as well as from the closely-allied genera Bucida and Coniocarpus, are
obtained astringent medicines, dyes, and barks for tanning; and the
bark of C. racemosa is used as a substitute for cinchona bark.
All the members of the order Terminaliacece are worthy of cultivation,
on account of their majestic growth and beauty. T. catappa is a
favourite tree in the Mauritius for affording shade to dwelling houses
130
TERMINAL! A ELEGAKS.
and the public streets: it is one of the handsomest of the group. The
species here figured, T. elegans, is perhaps best of all the long list
entitled to the favourable consideration of British cultivators, on account
of the beauty of its leaves, and the noble appearance of a specimen
of moderate dimensions. It is a native of Madagascar, and therefore
strictly a stove tree, needing a humid atmosphere and high temperature
to bring it to perfection.
For this beautiful species we are indebted to Mr. William Bull, of
King's Road, Chelsea, who obtained it only three or four years since,
and soon afterwards was enabled to present it in beautiful condition
as to health and colour at the metroj^olitan exhibitions. In general
appearance it. has been likened to Pavctta horbonica, but the trifoliate
leafage supplies a bold distinction, irrespective of distinctions of structure
and affinities. The leaves are elegantly reticulated with dark lines on
a bright green ground, the midrib is bright red, and the whole of
the leaf is highly varnished. It is in every sense a noble plant, which
will not only maintain its value, but if skilfully treated increase in
value with every increase of size for many years to come.
137
VARIEGATED PELARGONIUMS.
PLATE LI I.
Pelargonium zonale variegata, Variegated Zone-leaved Pelargonium;
garden varieties.
Natural Order — Gebaniace^e.
If we cannot claim for the varieties of Pelargoniums here figured a
degree of importance equal to that of many other subjects in this work,
it may at least be said in their vindication that without a question
they are the most popular of ornamental plants in cultivation, not only
in this country, but- throughout Europe, in the colonies, in North
America, and, in fact, wherever ornamental gardening is practised with
any degree of enthusiasm. We have but little space left to discourse
upon them, we must therefore be very brief.
The "tricolor-leaved Geraniums," of which three out of the four
varieties figured are examples, are of quite recent introduction to our
gardens; and they afford the most conclusive and startling evidence
obtainable of the power of art to alter the course of nature. The
first decisive step towards the establishment of variegated Pelargoniums
was taken in 1848, when Mr. Ki.ngh.orn raised from Lee's Variegated
Geranium the well-known Flower of the Day. About 1850 the same
raiser obtained Attraction and Countess of Warwick, both of them true
silver tricolors, (though not then so regarded,) and forerunners of the
now famous Italia Unita. Ambition was aroused, and many cross
breeders entered the field: amongst these especial mention must be
made of Mr. Hally, raiser of Burning Bush, a small-growing silvery-
leaved variety. In 1853 Mr. Peter Grieve, the most successful cultivator
T
138 VARIEGATED PELARGONIUMS.
of this branch of horticulture, and the raiser of Mrs. Pollock, began
to experiment. By crossing Flower of the Day with the pollen of Tom
Thumb he raised a fine variegated variety (now discarded) called
Culford Beauty. Again he obtained Rainbow, a true silver tricolor.
Pursuing his course in this enchanting enterprise, he succeeded in
raising, by systematic cross-breeding, the varieties known as Empress
of the French, Emperor of the French, and others. In 1855 he
began to consider the possibility of obtaining new varieties with golden
variegation; and, accordingly, he applied the pollen of the fine old
bedding geranium, Golden Chain, to the blossoms of Cottage Maid,
and obtained Golden Tom Thumb and Golden Cerise Unique. The
next year blooms of the Emperor of the French were fertilized with
pollen of Golden Tom Thumb, and one of the results was Gold
Pheasant. In the two following years, that is in 1857-58, the pollen
of Gold Pheasant was applied to the blooms of Emperor of the French,
and the result was those two most celebrated of all the golden tricolors,
Mrs. Pollock and Sunset. Subsequently, Mr. Grieve has raised Lucy
Grieve, Mrs. Benyon, Lady Cullum, Victoria regina, and a host of
others equally celebrated. Here our story must end : those who would
know more of the subject will find abundant information in the little
" History of Variegated Zonal Pelargoniums," written by Mr. Grieve,
and published by Messrs. Blackwood.
We have selected for the plate a group of varieties which may be
regarded as representing the highest standard yet obtained in the two
classes of gold and silver tricolors, with the addition of one represent-
ing the new reticulated-leaved class, the name of which, Aurora borealis,
appropriately typifies its peculiar style of colouring, — lurid red in lines
and suffusing the margin of an otherwise bright green leaf. Peter
Grieve is a golden tricolor, most perfect in form and tinting, satisfying
more nearly than any other the requirements of the critical florist.
Howarth Ash ton and Miss Burdett Coutts are amongst the most
beautiful and vigorous-habited of their respective classes.
t fi AC ft N A
R E C I N A.
DKACiENA HEGINA.
PLATE LIII.
Draceena regina, The Queenly Dracfena.
Natural Order — Liliacejs.
Though we are bound to represent Draceena regina in this series,
it must be admitted it makes but a dull picture, the variegation and
the ground-colour of the leaf being characterized by dullness and
indecision; yet the plant is so distinct, and so quickly forms a noble
140
DRACJENA REGINA.
specimen, that it is fully entitled to a place here, and happily we
have succeeded in rendering it faithfully.
For this fine plant, distinct from all others of the genus in cultivation,
we are indebted to the enterprise of Messrs. Veitch and Son, by whom
it has been but recently introduced. Wherever it has been exhibited
cultivators have regarded it as an acquisition of great value, more
especially as in its own particular family it stands alone in style of
growth and colouring. It appears to be constantly and uniformly
variegated, the broad leaves being striped with bold lines and divisions
of a creamy white or amber colour, with two or three shades of dull
green between.
The following list of Dracaenas in cultivation may be useful to
many readers. The most desirable amongst them are marked with
an asterisk.
STOVE DRACAENAS WITH COLOURED LEAVES.
Chelsoni, *Cooperi, Ferrea, Macleayi, * Magnified, Nigricans, Nigro-
ruba, Nobilis, *Regina, Rubra, *Stricta, Terminalis.
STOVE DRACAENAS WITH GREEN LEAVES.
Arborea, Canneefolia, Cernua, Congcsta, *Draco, Ensifolia, Excelsa,
Fontainseana, * Gracilis, *Heliconifolia, Limbata, *Marginata, Robusta,
*Siamensis, Tasselata, Umbraculifera.
GREENHOUSE DR AC-EN AS.
*Ai(stralis, Banksi, Fragrantissima, *Indivisa, Nutans, *Vcitchi.
ARALIA VEITCHIL
PLATE L1V.
Aralia Veitchii, Yeitch's Aralia.
Natural Order — Akaliace.e.
There does not appear in the half-ghostly, somewhat fairy-like, and
decidedly weird-looking leaf here figured, any close relationship to the
"ivy green;" but it is next to impossible to think of an Aralia or a
Panax without reverting to Hedera, and thence to the social and
14^ A R ALIA VEITCHII.
literary and scientific memorabilia, into the midst of which the ivies
will inevitably induct the reflective mind. The Aralias are undoubtedly
the most important plants, all points considered, in this very character-
istic order; yet most of us would willingly lose the best examples our
stoves and conservatories would furnish, rather than the sheet of green
ivy that hugs the ruin and sustains it for centuries unhurt by weather,
or the towering Lliana-like festoons that have surmounted the tallest
trees in the wood, and are fast destroying them with fatal embraces.
The Aralias have a place in history, but it is a poor place as compared
with the fame of their more humble congeners, a spray of ivy being
as a "key to golden palaces" to the mind well stored with poetic
lore, for its associations range far away from the allusions of the
Greek dramatists, who weave it in Bacchic wreaths and triumphal
coronals, to the "female ivy" of Shakespeare that so lovingly "entwines
the barky fingers of the elm." Endymion Keats must have had the
Ivy in mind when he wrote his glorious hymn to the god Pan: —
" O Hearkener to the loud-clapping shears,
While ever and anon to his shorn peers
A ram goes bleating: Winder of the horn,
When snouted wild-boars, routing tender corn,
Anger our huntsmen : Breather round our farms,
To keep off mildews, and all weather harms :
Strange ministrant of undescribed sounds,
That come a-swooning over hollow grounds,
And wither drearily on barren moors :
Dread opener of the mysterious doors
Leading to universal knowledge — see,
Great son of Dryope,
The many that are come to pay their vows,
With leaves about their brows ! "
Unfortunately for the poetical side of the question we have nothing
to do with the Ivy here, and the foregoing flight with the poets is
simply unpardonable. Let us look then at the Aralias as subjects for
cultivation. They are all trees or shrubs, natives for the most part
of the northern hemisphere, being distributed pretty freely in China,
Japan, and other northern parts of Asia, and again in the United States
and Canada.
The cultivator may classify them as to forms and characters, grouping
the narrow-leaved species, such as A. Veitchi, A. trifoliata, A. reticulata,
together; and the broad-leaved kinds, such as A. Sieboldi, A. macro-
phyUa and A. papyri/era, in another group. But a more convenient
classification for us will be one having reference to their climatal
ARALIA VEITCHII.
143
requirements; and it will doubtless be useful to the reader if we here
enumerate a few of the most distinct and handsome under the several
heads of Stove, Greenhouse, and Hardy species.
STOVE ARALIAS.
A. Duncani has small, thick, hard-textured leaves, averaging six
inches in length, by one inch and a half broad. In habit bushy,
graceful; colour pleasing: one of the best for small houses.
A. leptophylla. — A strong-growing species, requiring plenty of room;
leaves large, compound, remotely resembling those of the horse-chestnut,
of a fine dark glossy green; each leaf about a foot in diameter.
A. reticulata. — Leaves fifteen to eighteen inches long, and about two
inches wide, dark green, with yellowish midrib, all the leaves standing
horizontally. A very graceful tree, and one of the best for the stove,
its appearance amongst palms and ferns being particularly attractive.
A. nymphicefolia. — Leaves cordate, about nine inches long, and six
inches wide at the base, dark green. Habit bushy, a desirable species.
GREENHOUSE ARALIAS.
A. crassifolia into yr if alia. — Peculiar and distinct in habit. The
leaves arc about twelve inches long, and about three quarters of an
inch wide, very hard in texture like those of an Agave, with blunt spines
at intervals of two or three inches apart along the margin. An elegant
and desirable species, which may be regarded as a curiosity.
A. palmata. — The finest of the genus. The leaves are bright glossy
green, and in form resemble those of a horse-chestnut, but stand out
rigidly on long horizontal leaf-stalks. A full-grown leaf will measure
two feet across, and the leaf-stalk is about half an inch in diameter.
It is a companion plant to A. leptophylla, which may be placed with
it in the conservatory during the summer.
A. trifoliata. — A distinct plant, somewhat resembling in general
aspects Terminal ia elega ns, but stronger in habit. The leaves are in
threes, that is to say, each leaf consists of three equal-sized leaflets.
v
144
ARAL1A VE1TCHII.
A. Veitchii. — An extremely elegant plant, with slender purplish stems
and leaf-stalks; the leaves distinctly pinnate, the leaflets linear, averaging
from seven to nine on each slender leaf-stalk; the colours comprising
curious shades of olive green, greyish brown, and dull cinnamon. A
curious and beautiful species, introduced by Messrs. Veitch and Son,
of the Exotic Nurseries, Chelsea.
HARDY ARALIAS.
A. jxipyrifera. — The well-known "rice-paper" plant of China. Leaves
dark brownish green, palmate, broad, and peculiarly striking in
character. A grand plant for cool conservatories, and for planting out
in the garden during the summer. We have known it survive an
ordinary winter in several places near London.
A. Sieboldi. — A grand large-leaved species, well adapted for planting
out as a companion to the last-named. Our right to class it with the
hardy kinds is based upon the fact that specimens have stood out
several winters in succession in Battersea and Victoria Parks, near
London. A fine specimen at Battersea was much injured by the
winter of 1866-7, being cut down to the ground, but in the summer
of 1868 it quickly recovered, and formed a fine bushy plant.
A. Sieboldi variegata. — A splendid variegated variety of the foregoing,
a trifle more tender in constitution, therefore the word "hardy" must
be accepted with an emphatic cum grano.
On the subject of cultivation but little need be said, for there is
nothing easier to grow than an Aralia. The species will require a
temperature suited to their constitution, and, as a rule, all will bear
cooler temperature than they usually receive. Fine specimens are the
result of constant care and watchfulness, not of any mysterious or
peculiar treatment. The stove species, as a rule, require a lighter soil
than the greenhouse and hardy kinds; the addition of peat and leaf-
mould to good turfy loam will improve the staple for them. Cuttings
of the ripe wood of any of the species may be quickly struck in
bottom-heat.
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