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Mutisia (Named after J C Mutis a South)

(named after J. C. Mutis, 1732-1808, a South American botanist). ORD. Compositae. A genus of about thirty-six species of stove, greenhouse, or hardy, erect or climbing shrubs, natives of the Andes or extra-tropical South America, with a few Brazilian. Flower-heads purple, rose, or yellow, large, solitary, terminal, pedunculate; involucre usually cylindrical, with broad imbricated scales; receptacle naked; pappus of long feathery bristles. Leaves alternate, entire or pinnate, often terminating in a tendril. The stove and greenhouse species, which are not often seen in cultivation, thrive best in a rich, stiff, loamy soil; and may be propagated, in May, by cuttings of half-ripened shoots, placed in sand, under a bell glass, in gentle bottom heat. The hardy sorts do well grown against a sunny wall, in the open air, and in a moderately good soil; they are also increased, during spring, by cuttings, treated as above mentioned, but without bottom heat. The species best known to cultivation are described below.

M. arachnoidea (cobweb-like). fl.-heads red, solitary. July. l. pinnate; leaflets six or seven, ovate-lanceolate, very acute, sessile, cobwebbed beneath, terminated by a large branching tendril. Brazil, 1824. Stove climber. SYN. M. speciosa. (B. M. 2703.) M. Clematis (Clematis). fl.-heads rich red, large. l. compound, with from seven to nine pairs of leaflets, ending in a branched tendril. Stems somewhat angular and slender, 20ft. to 30ft. in height. New Grenada, 1859. A distinct species, probably hardy in the Southern Counties of England. (B. H. 1864, 5.) M. decurrens (decurrent).* fl.-heads deep orange, 4in. to 6in. across, on stalks 6in. to 12in. long; outer florets from twelve to twenty, rather long, narrow, reflexed. June to August. l. lanceolate, glaucous, with a tendril. Stems few, slender, twining. Chilian Andes. A handsome hardy perennial, thriving best when grown in partial shade, and against a wall. (B. M. 5273; F. d. S. 2408.) M. ilicifolia (Holly-leaved). fl.-heads varying in colour from white to deep rose, rather small. Summer. l. dark green, Holly-like. Stems slender. South America, 1832. A very handsome stove or greenhouse climber. (B. M. 6009.) M. latifolia (broad-leaved). fl.-heads pink and yellow. Autumn. l. cordate-oblong, dentate-spinose, woolly beneath, with a petiole. Stems with broad leafy wings. Valparaiso, 1832. A handsome and singular, hardy or half-hardy, evergreen, climbing shrub, thriving best in a dry soil, and against a wall. (S. B. F. G. ser. ii. 288.) M. speciosa (showy). A synonym of M. arachnoidea.