HYPERICIXE.E. 85 



and loam. Propagate by division and seed. Native of 

 Buenos Ayres. 



M. moschata {Mnsk-sccnfed Mallow), — This is an indige- 

 nous species, occurring frequently in dry gravelly places. It 

 is rather a large-growing bushy plant, with erect stems, branch- 

 ing, if luxuriant, freely, with kidney-shaped lower leaves cut 

 into blunt broad lobes; the upper ones are more deeply divided 

 into narrower and sharper segments, which are again often 

 divided. The flowers are large, rose-coloured, in crowds at 

 the extremities of the stems and branches. There is a white- 

 flowered variety more common even in gardens than the rose 

 one. Although not a select plant, this will be found very useful 

 in larger collections, and would be valuable for introducing 

 colour where wanted in semi-wild places, about parks, on the 

 fringes of woods or shrubberies. The leaves, when pressed or 

 rubbed, emit a faint odour of musk. Flowers in the summer 

 months. Propagate by division and seeds, and if sown in pots 

 in a cold frame early in March, will blossom the first season. 

 Ordinary soil suits quite well. 



There are other fine species of Mallows which have been in 

 cultivation, but are at present lost, or very rare ; most of the 

 best, however, require some protection in winter, or are only 

 fitted to exist in the mildest parts of Britain. Some of the 

 finest of these are noted below : — M. campanulata, very distinct 

 and handsome, with stalkless, almost pinnate, leaves and lilac 

 bell-shaped flowers, produced continuously for months in sum- 

 mer. Native of Buenos Ayres. M. Afiinroana, the whole 

 plant downy, with roundish heart-shaped leaves, the flowers 

 scarlet, in crowded masses at the extremities of the stems and 

 branches. Native of Columbia, ^f. Paxtoni, a fine species, 

 with deeply-lobed leaves, and the flowers, red, crowded in leafy 

 masses at the extremities of the stems. Native of Texas. 



HYPERICINEyE. 



The typical genus of this natural order is the only one in 

 which we may find plants of an herbaceous character, and 

 ornamental. It is an extensive genus, abounding in highly 

 ornamental shrubs and under-shrubs, and a few herbaceous 

 perennial plants. The latter are, as just stated, few in number, 

 nor are they generally so showy as some of the dwarf shrubby 

 species ; and as these are in many cases, by reason of their 



