The HYDRANGEA is a hardy plant requiring a good deal of moisture, being by nature an inhabitant of the marshes.
The Changeable Hydrangea, H. hortensis, is of Chinese origin and a pretty growing plant that deserves to be a favorite; it blossoms in bunches of flowers at the extremities of the branches which are naturally pink, but in old peat earth, or having a mixture of alum, or iron filings, the color changes to blue. It blooms in March and April.
Propagation may be effected by cuttings, which root freely, or by layers.
Soil, &c.--Loam and old leaf mould, or peat with a very small admixture of sand suits this plant. Their growth is much promoted by being turned out, for a month or two in the rains, into the open ground, and then re-potted with new soil, the old being entirely removed from the roots: and to make it flower well it must not be encumbered with too many branches.
The HOYA is properly a trailing plant, rooting at the joints, but have been generally cultivated here as a twiner.
The Fleshy-leaved Hoya, H. carnosa, is vulgarly called the wax flower from its singular star shaped-whitish pink blossoms, with a deep colored varnished centre, having more the appearance of a wax model than a production of nature. The flowers appear in globular groups and have a very handsome appearance from the beginning of April to the close of the rains.
The Green flowered Hoya, H. viridiflora, Nukchukoree, teel kunga, with its green flowers in numerous groups, is also an interesting plant, it is esteemed also for its medicinal properties.
Propagation.--Every morsel of these plants, even a piece of the leaf, will form roots if put in the ground, cuttings therefore strike very freely, as do layers, the joints naturally throwing out root-fibres although not in the earth.
Soil, &c.--A light loam moderately dry is the best for these plants, which look well if trained round a circular trellis in the open border.
The STAPELIA is an extensive genus of low succulent plants without leaves, but yielding singularly handsome star-shaped flowers; they are of African origin growing in the sandy deserts, but in a natural state very diminutive being increased to their present condition and numerous varieties by cultivation, they mostly have an offensive smell whence some people call them the carrion plant. They deserve more attention than has hitherto been shown to them in India.