224 LABIATE. 



difficult to keep ; but such is not my experience of it, having 

 grown it successfully in the front line of mixed borders in vari- 

 ous aspects and soils. It is, however, best grown on rock- 

 work, and delights in good rich loam, and peat or leaf mould 

 well sharpened up with grit, in a partially-shady position, well 

 drained, but not allowed to want for water in drought. The 

 beauty of the plant claims for it a good position and some at- 

 tention to its requirements. The plant forms handsome tufts 

 of obovate, lance-shaped, bright-green, almost shining leaves, 

 coarsely toothed on the margin, and wrinkled somewhat. The 

 flowers are produced in one-sided spikes, about 6 or 9 inches 

 high, and are beautiful purplish blue, appearing in July and 

 August. Easily propagated by division. Should it be attempted 

 in the mixed border, a few stones should be let into the ground ; 

 but there must be no mounding or raising up, as is sometimes 

 done with this plant : it dislikes elevation, unless at the same 

 time it is shaded. Native of the mountains of Carinthia. 



LABIATE. 



A very extensive, and, like the last, a natural order, in which 

 the family likeness is pervading and strong in all its members. 

 By far the largest number of the genera are of herbaceous char- 

 acter, and very many are distinguished by more or less fragrant 

 foliage, or fragrance in nearly every part. Many are splendidly 

 beautiful in their flowers ] some are more remarkable in point 

 of habit and foliage ; and altogether the order is rich in plants 

 that may be turned to excellent account in ornamenting bor- 

 ders and beds, and in naturalising in many ways ; and although 

 it contains a very considerable number of alpine or mountain 

 plants, they are, as a whole, more easily cultivated than those of 

 many other orders from the same regions. 



Ajuga (Bugle).— This is a small family of dwarf plants, flow- 

 ering mostly in spring and early summer, and all are blue-flow- 

 ered, with the exception of one or two species unworthy of 

 culture for ornament. They are all inhabitants of pastures, 

 either mountain or lowland, and are easily cultivated in any 

 position in tolerably good soil, and are easily increased by 

 division, 



A. genevensis {Geneva Bugle., syn. A. py 7- amid alls). — This is 

 distinguished from the better-known A. repiaiis., or Common 

 Bugle, by its sending out no creeping shoots. It forms rounded 



