1870.] HARDY HERBACEOUS PLANTS. 23 



kept in pots for handiness for winter protection. Rich peat and loam 

 forms the best compost for them in pots, and it should be well sharpened 

 up with rough gritty sand. They are easily increased by division, 

 which is best done in spring as growth commences, and attention to 

 watering will be necessary for some time afterwards till the plants are 

 fairly established. 



G. corch : folia is of somewhat creeping habit, rooting at the joints as 

 it extends. The root-leaves are wedge-shaped on longish stalks, blunt 

 and toothed at the points. The flower-stems are about 6 or 8 inches 

 high, clothed at the base with leaves, similar in form to, but smaller 

 than, those of the roots. The flowers are blue, and appear in June 

 and July ; suitable for the mixed border as well as for the rockwork, 

 but a somewhat shady situation should be chosen for it. Native of 

 Germany. 



G. nudicaulis. — This is rather a stronger-growing species than the 

 last named. The root-leaves are lanceolate, on short footstalks, and 

 the flower-stems are nearly naked, having only a small lanceolate 

 bract or two under the flower-heads. The flower-heads are large, 

 dark blue, and appear in June and July. Native of Germany, and 

 adapted alike well to the rockwork or mixed border, in partial 

 shade. 



G. nana is a very diminutive species, forming dwarf carpet-like 

 patches of small, bright-green leaves. The flow T er-heads rise only an 

 inch or two above the foliage, are not large, but profuse, are pale-blue 

 or lilac, and appear in June and July. Native of the mountains of 

 France, and suitable only for cultivation on rockwork, or in pots in 

 gritty peat and loam. 



G. vulgaris grows about 6 or 8 inches high. The lower leaves are 

 stalked and lanceolate, the upper ones stalkless and smaller, but of 

 the same form. The flower-heads are dense and bright-blue, appear- 

 ing in May, June, and July. Common on the mountains of Europe 

 generally. Adapted for cultivation on rockwork or in the open 

 border where a little shade can be secured. 



Vinca. — This is the only British representative of one of the most 

 beautiful natural orders in the vegetable kingdom, Apocynacea?, 

 which comprises many splendid and justly -favoured shrubs and 

 climbers, well known in our stoves and greenhouses. Like most of 

 the other genera of the family, Vinca is more ligneous than herbaceous ; 

 indeed, only one species of the group may be properly classed with 

 herbaceous plants, according to scientific rule, but their dwarf habit 

 and natural adaptability to similar purposes bring them nearer to that 

 class of plants than to shrubs of any kind. They are most accommodat- 

 ing in their nature, growing freely in nearly all kinds of soils and 



