NOVEMBER. 



321 



AQUILEGIA GLANDULOSA. 



(Plate 106.) 



Respecting this very beautiful liardy plant we have received the 

 following particulars from the Messrs. Grigor and Co., Nursery- 

 men, Forres, whose success in cultivating it has been rewarded 

 by the striiving variety (among many others) we have figured on 

 the opposite page. 



It was about the beginning of the present century that the 

 Aquilegia glandulosa was known in the North of Scotland, and 

 first in the collection of the late — Brodie, of Brodie, near Forres. 

 It is believed that that gentleman obtained it from his friend 

 Mr. Milne, a celebrated botanist, and partner in the well-known 

 firm of Whitley, Brames, and Milne, of the Fulham Nurseries. 

 This plant was understood to be a native of some of the mountains 

 of Chmese Tartary, growing in the very diminutive form in which 

 it first a})peired in North Britain, seldom exceeding a foot in 

 height, blooming sparingly, and although possessed of elegance 

 and beauty, the blossoms were seldom much more than an inch 

 in diameter. 



The experiments made on the plant at the Forres Nurseries 

 failed in producing any valuable hybrid varieties with colours 

 superior to those of the normal plant; but while the colours 

 generally remained unchanged, the size and vigour of some of the 

 seedling plants were very much increased — properties which have 

 continued during the last ten years throughout repeated crops of 

 seedling plants. In ordinary favourable seasons plants from three 

 to seven years old generally rise from a foot and a half to two 

 feet high, and furnished with from forty to a hundred blossoms 

 each, many of the blooms being upwards of four inches in 

 diameter, and of a form and substance far superior to that of 

 the original plant. This improved plant is not apt to sport or 

 change its colours, and seldom runs in any direction, except to 

 a degenerate or diminutive size. 



Messrs. Grigor further inform us that this Columbine is quite 

 hardy and adapted for tlower beds in the open ground, where it 

 requires no protection in winter. During the months of May 

 and June, when well grown, it is by far the most gay and attractive 

 flower ot the season. It is also adapted for being forced into 

 bloom early in spring, when it forms a rich embellishment in the 

 greenhouse. Plants from seed sometimes flower during the second, 

 but more commonly the third, summer of their growth. On first 

 flowering, the plants generally yield from six to ten blooms, but 

 for several years after the number increases greatly, and, when 



NEW SERIES, VOL. V., NO. LVIX. Y 



