198 POLEMONIACE^. 



bushes, may be so adjusted as to afford the necessary amount 

 of shade. Propagation may be effected by carefully dividing 

 the roots ; but it is one of those subjects which, when doing 

 well, should not lightly be disturbed. The plant grows about 

 I foot or 18 inches high, with numerous erect simple stems. 

 The leaves are very broadly lance -shaped or acutely oval. 

 The flowers are long, tubular, brilliant scarlet externally, and 

 yellow within ; but little of this is seen except on close exam- 

 ination, the external colour being that which is conspicuous ; 

 and the tube is divided at the mouth into five acute segments. 

 They are borne in small clusters in the axils of the upper part 

 of the stem, and appear in July and August. 



POLEMONIACE^. 



A small family, but an important one to flower-gardeners, 

 for we could ill do without our Phloxes. There are only three 

 genera of hardy Phloxworts represented in cultivation at pre- 

 sent, so far as I know. They are Cya7ianthus, Phlox, and 

 Pole7?to7iium. The first is represented by a rare and solitary 

 but very pretty species; the second is familiar to every one who 

 has to do with gardens in any way through the popular florists' 

 varieties; and the last is best known by its old-fashioned repre- 

 sentative Jacob's Ladder, Polemonium ccei'ideiun. The species 

 are mostly plants of some ornamental value; and some, along 

 with their varieties, are splendid or very showy free-flowering 

 subjects. 



Cyananthus lobatus (Lobed-leaved C.) — A native of lofty 

 elevations on the Himalayas, perfectly hardy, but very im- 

 patient of damp. It forms diffuse spreading tufts 6 to 9 inches 

 high, the stems branching freely, and clothed with small lobed 

 and much-toothed leaves, and both stems and leaves are thinly 

 covered with soft hairs. The flowers appear at the ends of 

 the branches, are not large, but Phlox-like, and divided deeply 

 into five broadish-bearded lobes, and beautiful soft blue. The 

 flowers begin to open in early summer, and continue, never 

 very profusely but continuously, to open throughout summer, 

 and often into autumn. The plant is only capable of enduring 

 our winters on warm dry rockwork, or it may be secured over 

 winter by putting a few cuttings early in autumn in pots, in 

 sandy soil, in a cold frame, to be kept dryish during winter. 

 It flourishes best in deep sandy loam and peat, and delights in 



