2l8 SCROPHULARIACE/E. 



to be considered very ornamental ; but for the sake of its 

 delicious odour it should be abundant in every garden, large or 

 small, and it grows freely in every good garden-soil, but loves a 

 little shade. Native of Columbia. 



Ourisia coccinea {Scarlet O.) — A very handsome dwarf plant, 

 forming tufts of dark-green, smooth, egg-shaped leaves, slightly 

 cordate at the base, on hairy stalks a few inches long, and 

 coarsely and bluntly toothed. The flowers are bright scarlet, 

 appearing in the early summer months. Succeeds best in deep, 

 rich, sandy loam, moist but well drained, and likes a little 

 shade. 



Pentstemon. — The merits of this genus for decorative pur- 

 poses are of the highest order. Their flowers, fine in form and 

 colour, combined with the characteristic elegance of their habit 

 and inflorescence, mark them as especially attractive and 

 beautiful. Few of the plants cultivated in our borders require 

 less trouble and attention to insure an almost matchlessly 

 lengthened succession of bloom, and none withstand battering 

 rains and winds and early frost with less injury. A proper 

 selection of species and varieties may be made that will secure 

 a close succession of bloom during the greater part of summer 

 and the whole autumn. They are too rarely seen in the gar- 

 dens of the rich, but are yearly growing in favour with amateurs 

 and cottagers, and the hardier kinds are undoubtedly most 

 proper objects for them to lavish their care upon. Most of 

 the hardier species are much inclined to sport and run into 

 variation, a valuable peculiarity that is being turned to account, 

 and results in the annual introduction of new sorts more or 

 less distinguished from each other. " Choice hybrids " they 

 are called in the catalogues ; but except that the races are the 

 product of crossing by accident or design years ago, some two 

 or three nearly allied species, themselves perhaps hybrids of 

 nature, they have the least possible claimi to be regarded as 

 hybrids. They are mere seminal varieties, procured by selec- 

 tion conducted on careful principles, having a definite object 

 in view. But this does not detract from the value of Pentste- 

 mons as garden ornaments ; it should rather add to it in the 

 eyes of the lovers of flowers whose ways and means are simple 

 and limited, because it presents an easy way of introducing as 

 much novelty and variety as the nature of the process will 

 admit, for by carefully saving seed from the best varieties in 

 their own collections, they may procure a good deal of variation 

 annually. But the improvement of the Pentstemon in this 

 manner will be very limited, because only the existing popular 

 races are operated upon. If we would have new races or 



