PLUMBAGO LARPENTAE. 



oval leaves like those of G or like some colossal Plantain, 



ribbed and vested in silk, with prominent nerves ; then from this 

 goes mounting a still spire all set with en iolet daisies or 



Senecios, close on the stem in a mace of magnificence, each with a 

 central eye of purple darkness. There : d Pkuro- 



phyllum, but this one wipes out every other, and is most ardently to 

 be longed for. 



Plumbago Larpenta.e. See Ceratostigma plumbaginc- 

 eides — by way of a pleasant change of ni 



Podanthum. — There are a large number of these plants, and some 

 occasionally stray into the pages of catalogues, where they should, 

 however, as a rule, be allowed to remain undisturbed. For the race 

 is not one of garden value — a sub-group of Cam: preaching 



Phyteuma, with clustered small heads of pinched flowers on stems 

 that are often leggy, produced from clumps that are n. bien- 



nial. P. cordatum is sometimes offered as Campanula michauxioe 

 and P. virgatum as G. virgata ; not even under the auguster name 

 are they anything but feeble and spindly biennials. There is no need 

 to go through a string of names unworthy of note ; rather more grace- 

 ful in their fine stalks and spider-heads of blue are P. limoniifblium, 

 P. anthcricoeide-s, and P. kio.ut.hum ; interesting, though monocarpous. 

 is P. giganteum, 4 or 5 feet high, carrying its small flowers in a rather 

 dense spike of enormous length — .some 2 or 3 feet long, so that the • 

 is that of a dark-blue snake turned into a plant. P. kmceolatum and 

 P. tenuifolium. P. Otite-s. P. scoparium all have the comparative merit 

 of not being more than a foot high mailer, and therefore even 



more hopeful, are P. Idbelioeides and P. UnifdUum — this last a rare 

 species from the rocks of Taurus and Lycia ; while P. trichostegiwn, 

 from the high-alpine cliffs of Argaeus, in Cappadocia, soars to such a 

 point of ambition as to produce a quite creditable imitation of Phyteuma 

 Jiemisphaericum, alike in flower and stature. All these bloom in early 

 summer and onwards ; all may be raised from seed, and cultivated 

 in any open limy loam in a sunny place. 



Podophyllum. — The May-Apple* are plants of lush opulent 

 beauty, all for easy culture in deep rich soil in a rather cool place. 

 P. Emodi is a stately species of 2 feet high or so, unfurling in the spring 

 large glossy umbrella -shaped n tall stems, marbled and 



blotched with mahogany and green and pallors, most beautifully ; 

 then, among these, little pearly cups like narrower-petalkd blooms of 

 each of which is followed in autumn by a huge 

 dent fruit like an oblong Persimmon, of brilliant scarlet and orange, 

 beloved by birds, but of rich effect if t.,e- r - can be induced to permit. 



78 



