GENTIANACE.E. 1 9/ 



Linnanthemum nymphaeoides, syn. Villarsia nymphaeoides. 



— An elegant aquatic plant, found in many parts of Britain and 

 Ireland, but supposed to have been introduced, and not native. 

 It forms widely-extending immersed stems, rooting freely be- 

 low, and branching at the extremities ; the branches ascending 

 to the surface of the water, and terminating in a tuft of leaves, 

 deeply heart-shaped, on long stalks, and floating on the surface. 

 The flowers are large, bright yellow, on long stalks ; appearing 

 above water in June, July, and August. It may easily be in- 

 troduced into pieces of water, natural or artificial, by procuring 

 divisions and immersing them, and otherwise treating them as 

 described already for Water- Lilies ; and seed, if more handy, 

 may be treated in precisely the same way, taking care to sow 

 them as soon as ripe. 



Menyanthes trifoliata {Biickbea?i, or Marsh Trefoil). — This 

 is a beautiful and fragrant plant, and a common native of 

 Britain — in shallow streams or pools, and very wet marshy 

 ground or bogs. The plant forms strong, creeping, rooting 

 stems, in deeper water often floating. The leaves are trifoliate, 

 on long stout stalks ; the leaflets large, oval, or oblong. The 

 flowers are borne on stout stalks, varying in length with the 

 depth of the water from 6 inches to i foot or more. They are 

 arranged in handsome racemes, and the corolla is deeply cleft 

 into five lobes, and beautifully fringed; on the inside it is 

 white, suffused with pink outside. It will be found easy to 

 establish wherever the necessary conditions of its existence — 

 shallow water or bog — are available, by introducing pieces of 

 the stems, and securing them till, by the emission of roots, they 

 have secured themselves. 



Spigelia marilandica {Ferejuiial IVormgrass). — This is a lovely 

 plant, very rare in cultivation, and difficult to keep unless the 

 circumstances are most favourable. It is a native of moist 

 warm woods in North America, ranging over a considerable 

 extent of the country, and luxuriates in the rich, deep, vegetable 

 mould formed by the decomposed annual clothing of many 

 generations of trees. The nearest approach to this that we 

 can make in cultivation is a mixture of peat and loam, with 

 abundance of sand. Considerable depth of soil is required -, 

 and it should be well drained, but well supplied with water 

 during the hot months of summer. The plant likes a warm 

 position, and also a little shade ; but if so placed on rockwork 

 as to enjoy a screen for an hour or two during the hottest part 

 of the day, it will be quite sufficient. Shelter also is required 

 from cutting winds ; and the means adopted to secure this, 

 whether by planting in hollows protected by either ledges or 



