LEGUMINOS.^. 99 



of considerable beauty. The genus is chiefly European. Two 

 species, C. cretica with scarlet flowers, and C. securidaca — now 

 known as Seciirigera coro?iiI/a — with yellow flowers, are old- 

 fashioned but pretty hardy annuals ; seven or eight are dwarf, 

 handsome, hardy, or half-hardy shrubs, and the remainder are 

 ornamental herbaceous plants with somewhat woody stems 

 and very generally procumbent or trailing habit of growth ; in 

 some species also evergreen. As a rule they object to being 

 moved about : when well established they should be left undis- 

 turbed, unless necessity steps in and orders it otherwise. They 

 prefer a light, dry, rather sandy loam. They may be increased 

 by division, cuttings, and seed — the former method is best done 

 early in spring, before growth commences ; the cuttings should 

 be taken before the shoots harden too much or run too much 

 to flower, and be inserted in sand and loam on a spent hotbed 

 or in a cold frame ; the seed is best sown in slight heat in 

 March, transplanting and hardening off as early as possible. 



C. iberica {Iberian C.) — This species grows 6 or 8 inches 

 high, with procumbent almost trailing stems, woody below^, but 

 herbaceous above. The leaves are pinnate, with nine bluntly- 

 obcordate leaflets. The flowers are yellow, produced in small 

 but numerous compact heads, and appear in July and August. 

 Native of Iberia. Best adapted for culture on rockwork. 



C. minima (f/^e smallest C.) — This is a very diminutive but 

 ornamental species. The stems are prostrate and evergreen ; 

 the leaves are pinnate, with nine milky-green egg-shaped leaflets. 

 The flowers are yellow, in small but numerous heads, and 

 appear in June, lasting for about two months. It is a choice 

 little plant, beautiful for either rockwork or border where the 

 soil is light, dry, and moderately rich. Native of various 

 countries of Europe, chiefly the south, where it inhabits upland 

 pastures and dry rocky places on the mountains. 



C. montana {Moimtain C.) — This is more distinctly herba- 

 ceous than the two foregoing species, and a contrast to both in 

 its style of growth. It rises rather erect, with unbranching 

 stems. The leaves are composed of about seven egg-shaped 

 milky-green leaflets. The flowers are yellow^, in close umbellate 

 heads, appearing in June, and lasting a few weeks. Best 

 adapted, from its luxuriant growth, to culture in the mixed 

 border, and accommodates itself to any kind of soil, if not very 

 wet. Height about i}^ foot. Native of eastern Germany, Jura 

 Mountains. 



C. varia ( Variable C.) — This is the finest of the hardy her- 

 baceous sorts, and is a charming plant, of prostrate, almost 

 creeping, habit of growth. It reaches the height of about a 



