PHLOX. 



unless the name were used to cover Ph. sibirica. which differs finally 

 from this in having its I ind hair}* all over instead of 



only at the edge, where they also tend to wither in a rim. unlike those 

 of Ph. sub". 1 '': -. Yet other forms of this species are Hentzii, and the 

 lovtl bite jewel called Ph. subulita nivalis," which also in 



gardens usurps the name of the inferior species.. Ph. Ndaom. This is 

 neater than many, and incredibly profuse and pure in flower., blooming 

 a few days earlier than the others, which then come on in a roar of 

 beauty with the opening of June, so brimming the garden over with 

 colour that one wonders how it can ever have room for anything else. 

 Of these precious garden varieties there is no need here to speak : as 

 every catalogue amply states their charms. But the best of all at 

 present are the wild form P : -." the no less free and 



beautiful elect ric-blue-flowered G. F . Wilson or lilacina. and the unsur- 

 passa V which unfortunately has some of the caprices that its 

 beauty allows, and does not show the heartiness or the invariable 

 hearty indestructibility of the species in all its other forms, until one 

 almost suspects some other blood in this much smaller plant, much 

 tighter and more condensed in the smaller and shorter shoots, much 

 slower and more concise in growth, perhaps less hardy, and especially 

 avid of sun and light soil ; but. when all is said and done, above the 

 price of rubies in its display of rather small flowers in the most piercing 

 tone of hot flesh-pink — the one member of the race rightfully to wear 

 the name of Flame, unless we are to suppose that the Greeks had fore- 

 of electricity, so that we may think of the race-name as meaning 

 the cold electric fire of Ph. divaricate or Ph. sub. lilacina. 



Ph. svffntticoaa is a variety of Ph. glaberrima, q.v. ; and, though 

 mixed up., with all its hybrids and garden-forms, by even- catalogue 

 with Ph. panicukda. has nothing whatever to do with that perfectly 

 distinct sp- 

 uds erect, and has a stature between 2 inches and 12, 

 the lower part of the growth being smooth, but the upper vested in white 

 wool. The leaves are quite narrow, and Ph. superba magnificently 

 justifies the challenge of its name when the neat mass of shoots breaks 

 forth into as many loose clusters of two or three very large and long- 

 tube*; it an inch and a half in length, with rounded 

 rous outline, so that their face is about two-thirds as 

 as their tl i It is in far Nevada that the mystic word 

 oopah ;; gj rely tiling in the bare gravelly 

 Bhingb t up in those mount 



Ph. !■ - out a ric:. ggyand up- 



standing, to a height of 2 feet r,r so. bearing funnel-shaped blossoms 



68 



