LEGUMINOSiE. I05 



comparison with many farther - fetched things. The dwarf 

 diffuse sort is the one here recommended— it is the most 

 beautiful both in habit and flowers ; and there is a double- 

 flowered variety, which, inasmuch as it is more continuous and 

 sustained in bloom, is more desirable than the type. It is a 

 very variable plant in nature : in many districts of very limited 

 extent, much variation of clTaracter may be observed ; and so- 

 called species not a few, both in Britain and on the Continent, 

 have been created out of the more marked variations that 

 have received the attention of botanists from time to time. 

 The plant is prostrate and diffuse, rarely reaching more than 9 

 inches high, but extending a foot or more wide. The stems 

 are abundantly clothed with dark-green trifoliate leaves, the 

 leaflets egg-shaped, but somewhat variable in size. The flowers 

 are borne in small compact umbels, of from six to twelve blos- 

 soms, bright yellow, and the standard or broad upper petal 

 tinged with bright orange-red externally. The more distinct of 

 the varieties above alluded to, and which pass as species, are 

 L. major, which grows taller and more erect than the type, 

 and is more luxuriant every way, but not so floriferous ; L. 

 hirsutus is in all respects like the type, but is rather densely 

 hairy, and is inferior as regards flowering qualities; and L. tenuis^ 

 more weak in all its parts, and quite unworthy of cultivation. 

 There are some half-hardy species, such as the old-fashioned 

 and once favourite L. jacobceus, which would be found very 

 useful for introducing variety and contrast into mixed borders ; 

 and they are so easily kept up in stock by cuttings where 

 ordinary facilities for that purpose exist, that they give no 

 more trouble than Verbenas and other bedding plants, and 

 they yield quite as uninterrupted a succession of bloom. The 

 Bird's-foot Trefoil succeeds in any common garden-soil, and 

 blooms throughout the greater part of summer early and late. 



Lupinus {Lupine). — This is a noble genus, comprising many 

 species, annual, biennial, and perennial in duration, which are 

 represented in a very limited way in private gardens by a few 

 varieties of Z. polyphyllus, a perennial species, and by the com- 

 mon dwarf annual Lupine, Z. nanus. Other perennial species 

 are rarely seen out of botanic gardens, which, considering the 

 fine handsome character of the leaves, and the bold, striking, and 

 gaily-coloured plume-like racemes of flowers that many of them 

 produce, is somewhat wonderful. They are most easy to culti- 

 vate, succeeding well in any ordinary garden-soil, but delighting 

 most in that which is deep, rich, and moist. The taller growers 

 are beautiful background plants for wide borders and for the 

 centres of large beds, and they are very useful for introducing 



