214 SCROPHULARIACEtE. 



gardens as some of the species and their varieties of that popu- 

 lar genus. They are, however, handsome border-plants of neat 

 habit — not so showy as the hardy Pentstemons generally grow^n, 

 but well deserving a place in mixed collections of ornamental 

 plants. 



C. Lyoni {Lyon's C.) — A plant of erect branching habit. The 

 stems are thinly clothed with narrow^, egg-shaped, sharply-toothed 

 leaves on short stalks. The flowers are purplish red, in closely- 

 packed terminal and axillary spikes. Height about 2 feet. 

 Flowers in summer, and lasting till autumn. Flourishes best in 

 rich, deep, sandy loam, and is fond of peat or well-decomposed 

 leaf-mould. Propagate by division, cuttings, or seed. 



C. obliqua {Obliqiie-flowe7'ed C.) — This species grows about 

 the height of the last, with usually simple stems clothed thinly 

 with short-stalked, lance-shaped, sharply-toothed leaves, arranged 

 in opposite pairs or threes. The flowxrs are produced in close, 

 short, temiinal spikes, and are red or pale purple. The same 

 treatment and propagation as the last. 



Digitalis {Foxglove). — Not any of the perennial species of 

 Foxglove that are in cultivation equal the common biennial 

 one with which everybody is familiar. In passing it may be 

 pointed out that it is a valuable plant for introducing in semi- 

 wild places, and about ruins and stony places, where the seed 

 may be scattered and left to the protection of nature. There 

 are a good many perennials, good handsome border-plants, 

 which, if they are not so sho\vy, are also not so Aveedy as the 

 biennial species, which, when introduced into dressed beds and 

 borders, becomes quite troublesome by the freedom of its seed- 

 ing and seedlings, which spring up in all directions. The 

 perennials succeed best in very well drained yet tolerably moist 

 loam, with a few roughish stones buried beneath them a little 

 way. Propagate by division and seed. 



D. femiginea [Rusty-flowei-cd Foxglove). — A tall plant, but 

 variable in that respect, growing, however, in ordinarily good 

 soil about 3 feet high. The leaves are oblong or lance-shaped, 

 quite smooth, and dark green. The flowers are open, bell- 

 shaped, bronze-coloured, and closely packed in long terminal 

 racemes. They appear in July and August. Native of warm 

 valleys in stony places on the lower mountains of Italy. It is 

 not a very durable perennial, and is apt to die off after flower- 

 ing, a thing that should be anticipated by saving and sowing a 

 few seeds annually; and it ripens seed very freely, so that there 

 need be no difficulty in keeping it up. 



D. grandiflora {Large-flowered Foxglove). — This is a tall plant, 

 having the leaves oblong or lance-shaped, slightly toothed, and 



