FIG. 326. CALLA PALUSTRIS, showing Habit and detached Inflorescence.
CALLA (from kallos, beauty). SYN. Provenzalia. ORD. Aroideæ (Araceæ). A monotypic genus. The species is a native of Central and Northern Europe and North America, has creeping or floating stems, and cordate entire leaves. C. palustris is sometimes grown in collections of aquatics or bog plants; and, although, perhaps, hardly worth cultivating as a pot plant, is well worth a place in open ornamental waters. Richardia æthiopica is frequently erroneously called Calla æthiopica.
C. palustris (marsh). fl., spadix protected by a flat white spathe, upper ones female, lower hermaphrodite, with numerous thread-like stamens. l. stalked, emerging from a sheath. h. 6in. Hardy aquatic, naturalised here and there in Britain. See Fig. 326.
CALLI. Small callosities, or little protuberances.
CALLIANDRA (from kallos, beauty, and andros, a stamen; referring to the elegant long, silky, purple or white stamens). ORD. Leguminosæ. A genus of beautiful stove evergreen shrubs. Flowers usually borne on stalked globose heads; corollas small, hidden by the numerous filaments of the stamens. Leaves bipinnate; leaflets varying in size and number. They thrive in a compost of peat and loam. Propagated by cuttings of rather firm young wood, inserted in sand, under a hand glass, in heat.
C. Harrisii (Harris's). fl. pink; peduncles axillary, fascicled, glandularly downy. February. l. bipinnate; leaflets obovate, falcate, downy; stipules small, falcate. Branches puberulous. h. 10ft. Mexico, 1838. (B. M. 4238.)
C. Tweediei (Tweedie's).* fl. red; peduncles longer than the petioles; bracts linear. March and April. l. with three or four pairs of pinnæ; leaflets numerous, oblong-linear, acutish, ciliated, pilose beneath; stipules ovate, acuminate. Branches and petioles pilose. h. 6ft. Brazil, 1840. (B. M. 4188.)
CALLICARPA (from kallos, beauty, and karpos, fruit; referring to the beautiful berries). SYN. Porphyra. ORD. Verbenaceæ. A genus of stove, greenhouse, or nearly hardy evergreen shrubs, closely allied to Petræa. Flowers inconspicuous, disposed in axillary cymes; corolla-tube short, with the limb four-lobed. Fruit a very ornamental small juicy berry or drupe. The following mode of culture has been recommended: "After the old plants have been cut back in the spring, and started into growth, the young shoots will strike as readily as a Fuchsia, and with exactly the same treatment. In order to make good plants, short-jointed cuttings should be selected; and, as soon as these are struck, they should be potted into 2½in. pots, using a compost of equal parts loam and peat, with a little charcoal and river sand. When they commence to grow, after being potted, remove to a pit or house with a temperature ranging from 60deg. to 75deg. Pinch out the tops of the plants as soon as they have three pairs of leaves, and whenever each of the laterals has made two pairs of leaves, pinch out their points, and continue this operation with all the rest of the shoots till the beginning of August, at the same time keeping off all the flower-buds. The next shift will be into 4in. or 5in. pots. They should always have plenty of light and air, but more especially after they come into flower."
C. americana (American). fl. red, small, in axillary cymes. Berries violet-coloured. l. ovate-oblong, toothed, silvery beneath, with a scurf of tomentum. h. 6ft. South America, 1724. Greenhouse.
C. japonica (Japanese). fl. pink. August. l. stalked, ovate, oblong, acuminate, serrate. h. 3ft. Japan, 1850. Stove. (L. & P. F. G. ii., p. 165.)
C. lanata (woolly). fl. purplish. June. Berries purple. l. sessile, ovate, acuminate, serrate, hairy beneath. h. 3ft. India, 1788. Stove. (S. F. d. J. 1861, p. 96.)
C. purpurea (purple). fl. insignificant, borne in cymose clusters, upon axillary footstalks. Berries very numerous, bright glossy deep violet coloured. l. opposite, ovate, acuminate; edges serrated; profusely clothed, as well as the stem, with hairs. h. 3ft. India, 1822. Stove. (Garden, June, 1833.)
C. rubella (reddish). fl. red. May. l. sessile, obovate, acuminate, cordate at the base, hairy on both surfaces. h. 2ft. China, 1822. Half-hardy. (B. R. 883.)
CALLICHROA (from kallos, beauty, and chroa, colour; referring to the bright yellow colour of the flowers). ORD. Compositæ. This genus is now usually included under Layia. Hardy annual, of easy culture in common garden soil. Seeds may be sown in March, on a slight hotbed, and transplanted to the open border early in May; or if sown out of doors in April, it will flower in the autumn.
C. platyglossa (broad-tongued). fl.-heads yellow, solitary, pedunculate; ray florets large, cuneate. Autumn. l. alternate, sessile, ciliated. h. 1ft. California, 1836. SYN. Layia platyglossa. (B. M. 3719.)