BORAGINACE^. 20/ 



is about May or June, and continue for some time. Succeeds 

 best in light sandy loam in moderate shade, and is most easily 

 managed on rockv/ork, or when a few stones are put about its 

 roots in the borders. A rare native of Britain, and more com- 

 mon on the mountains of the Continent. An attentive eye 

 should be kept on its condition after flowering ; and a little 

 stock should be raised annually from seed or by division, but 

 seedlings are always most vigorous. 



M. azorica {Azorean Forget- ?ne-?iot). — For general border 

 decoration this is perhaps the best Forget-me-not in cultivation. 

 It is very distinct in habit and colour of flowers from all others, 

 and is perfectly hardy in well-drained soil, though there is a 

 general impression that it is not so. The plant grows from 6 

 to 9 inches high, erect and compact, not throwing out creeping 

 stems, as some species do. The stems are clothed with oval 

 lance-shaped leaves, which, along with the stems, are roughly 

 hairy. The flowers are borne in compact terminal trusses, are 

 at first reddish purple, aftenvards changing to deep blue. They 

 begin to appear in May, and continue in moist situations, or if 

 well attended to with water in dry weather, the greater part of 

 the summer. It is easily increased by division, cuttings, or 

 seed; and well-established plants are benefited by being annually 

 transplanted in early spring. 



M. dissitiflora (Loose-flowering Forget-me-not). — This plant 

 is better known under the name montana than that applied to 

 it recently by Mr Baker. It is distinct from both montana and 

 sylvatica, at least for garden or decorative use, although in 

 many points they closely resemble each other. This flowers or 

 begins to flower in the earliest spring months. In most respects 

 it closely resembles sylvatica, and like it is a perennial of short 

 duration or biennial tendency, and is best treated as a biennial 

 by being raised annually from seed. It is invaluable as a spring 

 bedding plant, or wherever spring flowers are much valued ; 

 and in the latter case it should be naturalised on all desirable 

 spots, which will be an easy matter if the soil is tolerably good 

 and moist, for it will then sow itself freely, but not easily in 

 dry gravelly ground in exposed places. 



M. palustris {Common Forget-me-not). — A plant so beautiful 

 and so abundant in moist places all over the country as this 

 requires no description and as little remark, unless it be to 

 express astonishment that a subject so much admired in nature 

 should be so much neglected in cultivation. Too little of it is 

 seen about most gardens. It grows very freely in any good 

 loam ; but of course in dry soils, as might be expected in a 

 plant inhabiting the wet positions in which it is most frequently 



