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EVERLASTING, or IMMORTELLE

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Originally appearing in Volume V10, Page 10 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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EVERLASTING, or IMMORTELLE , a plant belonging to the See also:division Tubuliflorae of the natural See also:order See also:Compositae, known botanically as Helichrysum orientale. It is a native of See also:North See also:Africa, See also:Crete, and the parts of See also:Asia bordering on the Mediterranean; and it is cultivated in many parts of See also:Europe. It first became known in Europe about the See also:year 1629, and has been cultivated since 1815. In See also:common with several other See also:plants of the same See also:group, known as " everlastings," the immortelle plant possesses a large involucre of dry See also:scale-like or scarious bracts, which preserve their See also:appearance when dried, provided the plant be gathered in proper See also:condition. The See also:chief supplies of Helichrysum orientale come from See also:lower See also:Provence, where it is cultivated in large quantities on the ground sloping to the Mediterranean, in positions well exposed to the See also:sun, and usually in plots surrounded by dry See also:stone walls. The finest See also:flowers are grown on the elopes of Bandols and Ciotat, where the plant begins to See also:flower in See also:June. It requires a See also:light sandy or stony See also:soil, and is very readily injured by See also:rain or heavy dews. It can be propagated in quantity by means of offsets from the older stems. The flowering stems are gathered in June, when the bracts are fully See also:developed, all the fully-See also:expanded and immature flowers being pulled off and rejected. A well-managed See also:plantation is productive for eight or ten years. The plant is tufted in its growth, each plant producing 6o or 70 stems, while each See also:stem produces an See also:average of 20 flowers. About 400 such stems weigh a kilogramme.

A hectare of ground will produce 40,000 plants, bearing from 2,400,000 to 2,800,000 stems, and weighing from 51 to 61 tons, or from 2 to 3 tons per See also:

acre. The See also:colour of the bracts is a deep yellow. The natural flowers are commonly used for garlands for the dead, or plants dyed See also:black are mixed with the yellow ones. The plant is also dyed See also:green or See also:orange-red, and thus employed for bouquets or other ornamental purposes. Other See also:species of Helichrysum and species of allied genera with scarious heads of flowers are also known as " everlastings." One of the best known is the Australian species H. bracteatum, with Several varieties, including See also:double forms, of different See also:colours; H. vestitum (Cape of See also:Good See also:Hope) has See also:white satiny heads. Others are species of Helipterum (See also:West See also:Australia and See also:South Africa), Ammobium and Waitzia (Australia) and Xeranthemum (south Europe). Several members of the natural order Amarantaceae have also " everlasting " flowers; such are Gomphrena globosa, with rounded or See also:oval heads of white, orange, See also:rose or See also:violet, scarious bracts, and Celosia pyramidalis, with its elegant, loose, pyramidal inflorescences. Frequently these everlastings are mixed with bleached See also:grasses, as Lagurus ovatus, Briza See also:maxima, Bromus brizaeformis, or with the leaves of the Cape See also:silver See also:tree (Leucadendron argenteum), to See also:form bouquets or ornamental See also:groups.

End of Article: EVERLASTING, or IMMORTELLE

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