APPENDIX. 



MECONOPSIS. 



Newer Species and Further Notes. 



Meconopsis aculeata now divides into two definite forms, of which the com- 

 moner, M. a. normalis, has flowers on short pedicels, and the lobings of the foliage 

 blunt or rounded ; the other form, M. a. acutiloba, is very much rarer, with long 

 flower-pedicels and the leaf-segments triangular. M. Guglielmi Waldemari is 

 merely a variety corresponding to M. horridula's relation to M. racemosa — that 

 is, with no central spike, but the blooms all springing separately from the base, 

 each on its own stem ; it has not yet occurred in cultivation. Much more 

 interesting is M. a. nana, a most distinct and charming thing, which forms dense 

 cushions of foliage from a mass of fibrous roots instead of the typical carrot ; 

 the whole plant is on a much smaller scale than in the type, not more than 

 5 inches high. Like the type, though, it seems biennial. 



M. argemonantha makes a rare colour-break in the race. It stands close to 

 M. primulina, but the leaves are rather suggestive of a dandelion's, and the 

 flowers are pure white, with yellow anthers. But M. argemonantha is still but 

 scantily known, and not within grasp of the gardener at all. 



M. Baileyi is another collector's species, so far unknown to the cultivator, 

 and indeed but incomplete in the specimens. Nothing yet appears as to leaves 

 or roots, but the blue flowers are four-petalled and on solitary stems, with golden 

 anthers, several or many from each crown of the'tuffet. M. Baileyi comes in 

 the group of M. bella, and will therefore most probably prove perennial. 



M. concinna from Yunnan is also in the kindred of M. bella, but has quite 

 narrow foliage much less divided, and a capsule opening in deeper cleavages. 

 It is a very charming little plant, of stony limestone pastures and cliff-ledges, 

 with flowers of deep purple-blue, each on a stem of 3 to 6 inches from the tuft, 

 which, alas, has all the look of being biennial. This we may hope for, as Forrest 

 has collected it. 



M. decora already rejoices one lucky cultivator. It is a most interesting, 

 strange Poppy, having at once a look of the Aculeata Group and of the Robusta. 

 In other words, it is a tallish-growing species, with a spire of golden-anthered 

 blossoms of pure white, borne on graceful delicate footstalks. The style, how- 

 ever, is long, instead of short as in the Robustas, while it has soft hairs instead 



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