THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



LEl'TOSYNE. 



647 



rounded by star-like heads of leaves clothed 

 with a dense white woolly substance. 

 Some people are so pleased at seeing this 

 plant in cultivation that they send letters to 

 the Times to announce the fact ; but its cul- 

 ture is not difficult on sandy soils, or even 

 as a border-plant, and it grows, too, luxuri- 

 antly in moist rich soils. To keep a good 

 stock of flowering plants, the old ones 

 should be divided annually or young ones 

 raised from seeds, which in some seasons 

 ripen plentifully. It succeeds either on 

 exposed spots of the rock-garden or in an 

 ordinary border, if not placed too near 

 rank-growing things. Syn., Gnaphalium 

 alpinum. Composite. 



LEONURUS {Lio7is-tail).—L. Leoniiis 

 is a distinct and handsome plant of the 

 Sah la (~)i(ler, allied to Phlomis, about 2 ft. 



The Lion's-tail (Lconurus Leonitis). Engraved from 

 a photograph by Miss Willmott. 



high, and bearing in summer whorls of 

 very showy bright scarlet flowers. It is a 

 Cape plant, and is not hardy enough for 

 our climate during the winter, even when 

 protected by a cold frame, though in warm 

 light soils, in the southern parts of the 

 country, it thrives out-of-doors in summer, 

 and where it will not bloom out-of-doors, 

 it is worthy of a place as a cool green- 

 house plant. Near Paris, established 



plants placed out for the summer flower 

 well. Wherever it can be grown in the 

 open air, it would be valuable for associa- 

 tion with the finer bedding and sub- 

 tropical plants. Cuttings strike freely in 

 spring — more freely than in autumn — in a 

 slight bottom-heat. 



LEPTOSIPHON.— Pretty Californian 

 annuals. To produce the best results 

 these charming plants must be strongly 

 grown, and robust specimens can only be 

 obtained by thin sowing. In light dry 

 soils early autumn sowing is recom- 

 mended, sufficiently early to permit the 

 young plants to attain some size before 

 the setting-in of winter. Fair success 

 however may be looked for, especially in 

 good soils, where spring-sowing will 

 often yield excellent results ; while the 

 advantages of autumn-sowing are best 

 seen in light sandy soils. Of the numer- 

 ous kinds in cultivation the best is L. 

 roseus, which is one of the most charming 

 of hardy annuals, forming dense tufts, 

 studded with rosy-carmine flowers. The 

 very pretty L. luteus and its deeper- 

 coloured variety aureus are scarcely 

 inferior to L. roseus, which they resemble 

 in habit, though with smaller flowers. 

 The hybrid varieties of these are inter- 

 esting for the singular variety of shades 

 occurring among them. The larger- 

 flowered species, L. densiflorus and L. 

 androsaceus, should be too well known to 

 need description ; both have lilac-purple 

 flowers, and are most attractive annuals, 

 and of both species there^re good white 

 varieties deserving of espltial recommen- 

 dation. All natives of California. Pole- 

 moniacea;. 



LEPTOSPERMUM {South Sea Myrtle). 

 — One of the few Australian shrubs which 

 thrive in our country, often attaining 

 much beauty in seashore gardens, not 

 only in the south but in the west. 

 Among the prettiest effects in flowering 

 shrubs I have seen were from this in the 

 garden of the late W. O. Stanley at 

 Penross. It should have shelter and as 

 warm a soil as we can give it, although 

 it grows well near the sea and sea gales 

 have power to injure it. It would have 

 less chance in cold and inland places, 

 and valleys where the frost is more severe. 

 It may be increased by cuttings, but best 

 by seed. 



LEPTOSYNE.— Californian plants of 

 the Composite family, resembling some of 

 the Coreopsis. L. Douglasi is a pretty half- 

 hardy annual, about i ft. high, and having 

 large yellow flowers. L. Stillmanni re- 

 sembles it, but is smaller. L. maritima, a 

 perennial, is somewhat tender, and should 



