THE ABUTILON

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22435, 23 June 1938, Page 6 (Supplement)

THE ABUTILON

This shrub, the abutilon, which comes from the country of Chile, is not exactly hardy, and is therefore rather uncommon growing outside in our part of the world, we always find it the warmest and most sheltered corner in' the garden, when it will survive any but the severest frost. As this winter so far has been comparatively mild, the abutilon may be. seen in flower even yet, but the blooms seem to have shrunk and are much, smaller. The plant is often seen in large glasshouses where it thrives wonderfully, the flowers acquiring a large size, when they possess an elegance and great beauty.. The abutilon is a deciduous shrub, and as a general rule loses its leaves in the winter. The flowers, especially those of the orange colour, resemble small lanterns hanging from the branches. This resemblance has given the shrub its popular name, lantern flower. Each flower Is borne on its own short stem which may be several inches long, and always droops downwards. It is when the flowers are picked and turned upwards as in a bouquet or floating bowl that the delicacy of the form and the faint veinlng of the interior is displayed to advantage. This makes the abutilon a very useful florist’s flower. There are several different varieties, the orange, orange-red, yellow, and pure white. Some have dark-coloured stems, which give distinction, while the foliage can be very handsome. A young friend of mine showed me a fine abutilon which she struck from a small cutting. “I just put

(By Winifred Chapman)

it in, and it grew,” she said. The plant is quite beautiful, and is covered with flowers for weeks on end. She was lucky, for as a rule to strike abutilon cuttings successfully, it is necessary to Keep them under a glass cover, until the roots begin to form. This cover may have the imposing name of belljar, or cloche, but It may be only a cracked jam jar. or preserving jar which has come to grief and is of no further use in the house. These make splendid bell-jars. (If you do experimental work at school with rusty filings or phosphorus you will be familiar with the large belljars.) We say that cuttings must be kept close under a jar so that there will be no loss by transpiration. The cutting will try to live if it can and the tissues are better able to form what is called a callus at the bottom of the shoot. From this in time a root will emerge. This happens the. more quickly if air is kept out, and the little shoot in its struggle to survive is prevented from wasting Its energy. We often find that if the cutting is put into sand, or if sand is mixed in the soil. Instead of being put just into the garden anywhere, there will be a better chance of a root forming. It Is rather as if- the sand tickled the shoot and made, it feel uncomfortable, like sand in your shoes, so that something has to be done about it. Very often there are people who seem to be able to strike cuttings by just "putting them in,” like my young friend, and then we say they nave "green fingers.”