Centropogon
(from kentron, a spur, and pogon, a beard; in reference to the fringe which envelops the stigma). ORD. Campanulaceoe. Ornamental greenhouse or stove herbaceous perennials. The most popular member of this genus is a hybrid between C. fastuosus and Siphocampylos betuloefolius, and known as C. Lucyanus. From its flowering naturally during the dead of the winter, it is a most desirable plant; and it is more particulary this to which the cultural remarks refer. The ready way this plant admits of increase is much in its favour, as amateurs will find no difficulty in propagating it. Any young shoots, about 3in. or 4in. long, form good cuttings, and, if taken off with a heel, root with more certainty, although others rarely fail if placed in sharp sandy soil, close around the edge of the pot, and then kept close under a bell glass or propagating box, in a temperature ranging between 60deg. and 70deg. They delight in a light, loose, rich vegetable soil, such as fibry peat, or leaf mould and loam in equal proportions. Being rather moisture-loving subjects when growing freely, it is necessary to afford them a fair amount of drainage, and to add sufficient sand when potting to keep the soil open and porous. During the early spring months, a cool stove is the best situation for them, but with the advent of summer a pit or frame is the most suitable. Here they should be plunged in a bed of gently fermenting leaves, or other material answering the same purpose, and receive a slight shade for an hour or two during the hottest part of the day. So favoured, and by shutting up immediately after giving a good syringing early in the afternoon, their growth will be rapid and clean. To insure maturation by the winter, it is a good plan to withdraw the lights in the forenoon during the early parts of September, at the end of which month they should be transferred to their winter quarters in an intermediate house or cool stove, till they begin to show blossom, when any warm greenhouse or conservatory will suit them, if the temperature does not recede below 50deg. In either of these places, it is always advisable to keep them as dry at the roots as possible, without allowing them to flag; for these, like many other plants, will endure much more cold when in this state than with the soil wet, in which condition they soon look miserable, and often die outright. Old plants, cut down, shaken out, and repotted, make grand specimens; but for general decorative purposes those struck in spring are the best, being a nice handy size. Owing to its semi-procumbent habit, it is not only good for pot culture, but likewise forms a capital basket plant for suspending, in which position it shows off its beauties to great advantage. When grown in this way, it is best to allow it to droop naturally over the sides; but in pots it requires support, which may be afforded it by using any small neat sticks, touched over with pale green paint, so as to render them as inconspicuous as possible.
C. cordifolius (heart-shaped-leaved). fl. rose. November. h. 2ft. Guatemala, 1839. Stove species. (F. d. S. 4, 362.) C. fastuosus (prickly).* fl. rose. November. l. broadly lanceolate, crenately serrated. h. 2ft. Greenhouse species.
C. Lucyanus (M. Lucy's).* fl. pretty rosy carmine, tubular, freely produced at the ends of short lateral spurs. Winter. l. oblong-lanceolate. Stove species. This most desirable garden hybrid was raised by M. Desponds, of Marseilles, in 1856. (R. H. 1868, 291.) C. surinamensis (Surinam). fl. rose. November. h. 2ft. Surinam, 1786. Stove species. (P. M. B. 13, 149.)