STENANTHIUM. 



Stenanthium. — These are large Liliaceous plants in some ways 

 ram, bur certainly more graceful, sending up in 

 summer their narrow and eword-like leaves, and then running up in 

 a noble b- _ plume with drooping branches, all 



heavy with countless flowers that open g ud then pass, in the 



course of their long life, to pure-white and pale-rose, making an effect 

 of amplitude and rich tenderness unparallelled in pictures. All this, 

 however, is rather an account of what they ought to do than of what 

 actually do. 8. robustum causes convulsions in catalogues ; they 

 foam with enthusiasm like the flowers they depict. But, plain it 

 never so well in damp rich soil in a warm and sheltered corner, the 

 Stfnardhidiu rarely d'>e- any such thing as dazzle, but produces mangy 

 draggled feathers at the best, of tassels that rarely emerge from their 

 dim and greenish tone. The race is American, and probably the 



1 sunshine of that continent is necessary to ripen the term 

 ment of its members. Other species of less value are S. august tfolium, 

 which does not get beyond being whitish, and 8. occidentale, which is of 

 dwarf er habit, not more than a foot high, with spikes of blackish -purple. 



Stenosolenium saxatile stands between Arnebia and Erit- 

 rachium. It is a Siberian species, very hispid and hairy and branchy, 

 with oblong narrow foliage and elongated sprays of blossom in summer 

 along the ends of the branches. The flowers are long in the tube, and 

 of rich violet -purple. 



Sternbergia. — These are well known — the lovely golden Autumn 

 Crocus of the South, with masses of glossy rich strap-shaped leaves, 

 and abundance of flowers in September, rich and solid in their texture as 

 in their pure golden colour, seeming as if Colchicum had been corrected 

 by Tulip, and the result were these gleaming goblets sitting close to the 

 ground through the saddest hours of weeping autumn. Sternbergias 

 d be planted in good deep rich soil in a warm sheltered place and 

 there left alone for ever. The amplest is 8. macrantha ; and other 

 species are S. colchiciflora and the old 8. lutea. 8. Fischeriana has the 

 unrivalled originality of blooming in early spring instead of late 

 autumn. 



Stobaea (or Berkheya). — These are large stalwart thistlish 

 thorny biennials, of handsome coarse effect for rough sunny banks, 

 growing a yard high and more, and blossoming in late summer. 

 8. membranifaiia has heads of straw-yellow, and S. purpurea proves 

 its name only a flattery, and not a lie. 



Stokesia cyanea is a beautiful American Composite, growing 



all, in deep and light soil, very well drained, and 



in a hot aspect. Its flowers are like a compromise between a China 



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