AUGUST. 205 



Catananche caerulea and C. bicolor, the first blue, and the second 

 blue and white, are showy things, their scaly flowers bearing some 

 resemblance to those of the Everlastings. These should be raised 

 from seeds every spring, and treated as biennials. 



The common Everlasting Pea {Lathyrits latifoUus), as well as its 

 white variety, are very ornamental towards the end of summer, when 

 carelessly trained upon a few rough sticks ; so likewise is L. grandi- 

 ilorus. 



Ononis rotundifolia is an exceedingly pretty thing, with its pale 

 rose-coloured flowers and low bushy habit ; and yet it is seldom seen, 

 probably because it is short-lived, and therefore requires to be fre- 

 quently renewed from seed. 



Liatris spicata, scariosa, and elegans produce their spikes of 

 bluish flowers towards the end of summer and beginning of autumn, 

 and are singular as well as pretty. 



Dictamnus fraxinella is a good old plant now neglected, perhaps 

 because its flowers are not gaudy; and yet there is sufficient character 

 about the plant to make it very interesting. This species is red ; and 

 there is another with white flowers, which appears to differ from it in 

 little but colour. 



Of the perennial Lupins, polyphyllus is undoubtedly the hand- 

 somest, including, however, its white variety. Grandifolius has 

 flowers of a singular dark dull blue, and ornatus is pale blue. By 

 preventing the growth of seed-pods, the flowering season of these 

 plants may be much prolonged. 



The Aster, in some form or other, is seen in most gardens, es- 

 pecially the tall late-flowering kinds commonly called Michaelmas 

 Daisies ; there are, however, several species of lower growth, which 

 ought never to be excluded from herbaceous beds ; and of these 

 amelius, spectabilis, sibiricus, and alpinus, have large showy blue 

 flowers ; while the smaller blossoms of hyssopifolius and elegans are 

 produced in such profusion that they equal the best in eff'ect. 



Numberless others, equally fine, might be added to the above list, 

 if space permitted ; these, however, will serve to form the nucleus of 

 a good selection. 



J. B. Whiting. 



ON FLORAL TASTES, AND THEIR RESULTS. 



NO. V. 



Having noticed some of the minor, though interesting and import- 

 ant benefits resulting from the culture and love of flowers, we may 

 pass on to the higher aspects of the subject. As a branch of the 

 great field of nature, the vegetable kingdom has always yielded im- 

 portant contributions to natural theology, on account of the obvious- 

 ness of its bearing on many of the divine attributes. A more curious 

 piece of mechanism than a flower it is diflicult to conceive of, when 

 viewed in connexion with the secret laws of life which develop its 

 parts, paint its petals with such various hues, enable it to difluse 



