western provinces of Persia, but its fruit again distinguishes 

 it clearly, as DeCandolle has correctly stated. 



In the accompanying figure the more beautiful features of 

 this species are hardly visible, nor indeed in plates executed 

 cheaply like those of the present work could they be repre- 

 sented. They consist in the very clear bright blue of the 

 radial florets, contrasted with the crimson of the centre, and 

 in the silvery glittering appearance of the lacerated scales of 

 the involucre, which are a delicate green in the centre, with 

 a brown border and a delicate dry membranous pectinated 

 fringe. 



It is a hardy annual, growing about a foot high in any 

 good garden soil, and requiring the same treatment as the 

 old Centaurea americana. 



It flowers nearly all the summer and autumn. 



