Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VII.djvu/526

 514: FUCHSIA FUCUS with scarlet calyx and violet-colored petals. In the long-flowered section the calyx tube is elongated to the length of two or three inches. F. fulgens, a brilliant Mexican spe- cies, belongs here, as does the corymbose fuch- sia (F. corymbiflora, Ruiz and Pavon), the Fuchsia fulgens. flowers of which are 2 in. long, scarlet, and hang down in beautiful corymbs; an elegant shrub about 6 ft. high, native of Peru about Chincao and Muna. As an example of those with panicled or clustered flowers, we may cite the tree-like fuchsia (F. arborescens), which not unfrequently attains a height of 15 ft. ; its branches are smooth, the leaves disposed in Fuchsia corymbiflora. whorls of threes, oval-oblong, acuminated at both ends, petiolate, quite entire; the panicle terminal, trichotomous, nearly naked; the calyx funnel-shaped, with the lobes ovate- acute, spreadingly reflexed, as are also the pe- tals ; a native of Mexico. It would be difficult, if not impossible, to determine at this time from what species the present highly reputed varieties have been obtained, as they have been hybridized and crossed to such an extent that the typical forms are obliterated. We have now both double and single varieties; indeed, in some the petals are multiplied to an extent that renders the flowers monstrous, and there is one variety in which not only is the number of petals increased, but the long stamens have become petaloid and give the flower a singular two-storied appearance. In a florist's classifi- cation we have : calyx red and corolla white, both single and double ; calyx red and corolla purple or bluish, single and double ; and calyx white and corolla red or other color, single and double. Besides these sections, under each of which there are many varieties, there are a few kinds with variegated foliage. The taller growing kinds are frequently trained to single stems, and form superb-looking objects for the conservatory. Mr. Downing thought the F. corallina, among many kinds, was the finest sort for this treatment. The flowers are seen at their best when viewed from below, and these "pillar" fuchsias, as they are called, lift their flowers well above the observer's head ; we have seen the same effect produced by training the plants to the rafters of a green- house. Fuchsias are admirable plants for sum- mer decoration ; the winter-blooming kinds are few, and disappointment often results from a want of knowledge of this. fact. They are used in England to some extent as bedding-out plants, but the heat of our summers is too se- vere for these natives of the Brazilian mountain forests. Their proper use is in the summer decoration of rooms, conservatories, and veran- das, though in a well shaded place they may be turned into the open border. When they have finished flowering the plants should be allowed to rest and be kept in the cellar until February or March, when they may be brought into growth. Fuchsias are propagated with the greatest ease from cuttings of the new shoots ; a cutting an inch or two long, if prop- erly treated, may be grown to a plant several feet high in a single season. Owing to the readiness with which shoots start from the stem, the plants are readily trained to a pyrami- dal, bush, or globular form. The wood of F. coccinea is used in Chili to make a black color- ing matter, and the leaves and branches are used for some kinds of medicine. The berries of F. micropJiylla are very sweet. Those of F. excorticata, a native of New Zealand, are greedily eaten by swine ; and so sweet are they when ripe, that attempts have been made to use the species as a sugar plant. FPCUS (Gr. (pvKoc, a seaweed), a genus of marine melanospermous algae. Of this genus, which is readily recognized by the inflated air vessels in the substance of the stem or branch- es, there are but two species upon the Atlantic coast of the United States, two on the Pacific coast, and two upon the coasts of Greenland