122 POPs-TULACE^. 



quadrangular winged stems, thinly clothed with stalkless lance- 

 shaped leaves, sharply toothed and fringed on the margin. 

 The flowers are rosy purple, in terminal and axillary panicles, 

 and are produced from June till August. Propagate by division 

 in spring, as soon as activity is observable in the plants. 



\ 



PORTULACE/E. 



There are some beautiful hardy and half-hardy annuals in- 

 cluded in this natural order ; but I am aware of only one per- 

 ennial herbaceous species that has any pretensions to be con- 

 sidered hardy. It is Calandrinia umbellata, and though classed 

 amongst hardy perennials in trade catalogues, it is only hardy 

 in very favoured situations. It is the hardiest of the genus 

 which, in all its species, is treated as an .annual group, though 

 all we have in cultivation are perennial, and even become 

 suffruticose under glass ; but it endures our winters only when 

 planted in dry light soil in warm sheltered aspects in the south 

 of England. I have seen it succumb to the frost of an ordinary 

 London winter, even when planted on the surface in the loam 

 of that district ; but on rockw^ork, or when extra precautions 

 are taken to keep it dry, it does survive there and in equally 

 mild localities. But though hardy only in the south, they are 

 perennials that blossom freely the first year from seed if treated 

 in the north as half-hardy annuals, and in the south as hardy 

 annuals ; and are therefore available at little cost and trouble 

 for the decoration of the mixed border and rockwork ; and suc- 

 ceeding as they do well in suburban gardens, they are in ever}'- 

 way desirable plants for amateurs, and consequently deserve a 

 place in these selections. As one species succeeds as well as 

 another in the way suggested above, and all are beautiful 

 sparkling plants, it will be best to describe several of the peren- 

 nial species that are known to gardens at present. Their cul- 

 ture is most simple. They prefer a good dry soil and a sunny 

 warm position, whether on rockwork, bed, or border. In the 

 north the seed should be sown in March, in small pots in a 

 slight hotbed, or in a cold frame set in a warm position. Small 

 pots are recommended, because the plants do not bear trans- 

 planting well, and the seeds should be sown thinly; and in the 

 case of the seedlings being too thick, they should be thinned 

 out freely, leaving two or three of the most vigorous plants in 

 each pot, and by this means they may be successfully trans- 



