830 



SAGITTARIA. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



plant begins to perish in flakes, it should 

 be taken up and replanted. Corsica. 

 S)'n., Spcixiila pilifera. 



SAGITTARIA {Arrowhead).— i:\i^%^ 

 graceful water-plants are not only charm- 

 ing at the waterside, but are from their 

 structure among the most interesting of 

 hardy perennials. Their parts are 

 strangely variable in appearance and 

 structure — the roots being tuberous, 

 fibrous, and stoloniferous (runnmg) ; the 

 leaves submerged and ribbon-like, float- 

 ing, or erect, and exceedingly variable in 

 shape ; while the flowers are fertile or 

 sterile, single or double. This variety of 

 form is so confusing that uncertainty 

 prevails as to the entire group, some 

 botanists making a hundred species, which 

 others reduce to about ten ; there seems 

 indeed to be little fixity of character, the 

 same plant being unlike itself under 

 changed conditions. Several kinds are 

 now in cultivation, and no plants are more 

 easily grown in shallow water, where 

 they spread fast, the only care being to 

 keep them from over-running other things. 

 Their tubers should be planted in mud 

 ^vith water from 6 inches to a foot in 

 depth, though some kinds will make their 

 way in deeper water. The plants are 

 quite happy in partial shade, where the 

 flowers last longer. The following are 

 in cultivation. 



S. JAPONICA PLENA. — Quite one of our 

 best hardy water-plants, with large full flowers 

 2 to "Zh inches across and like a white Stock, 

 gathered into whorls all the way up a stem of 

 nearly 2 feet. The roots spread fast and will 

 grow in water 2 feet deep, though 6 inches is 

 deep enough for planting. The single kind 

 is scarce, though the snowy flowers with golden 

 anthers are very attractive, and the foliage 

 lasts much longer than in our native kind. 



S. LANCIKOLIA is a plant of uncertain origin, 

 with several other names. It is of robust 

 growth, with stems 5 feet high and leaves 

 prolonged into a narrow lance shape. The 

 flowers are in whorls of three, the outer petals 

 greenish flushed with rose, and the inner ones 

 pure white, with a cluster of golden stamens. 

 Syns. , S. ^gantea and S. sinensis. 



S. MACROPHYLLAisa good kind, with large 

 leaves and loose spikes of white flowers, 

 standing about 3 feet high. Not only are the 

 flowers larger than in any other kind, but the 

 plant is worth growing for its fine leaves alone, 

 which take a rich autumn colour. 



S. MONTEViDENSis is a noblc plant from 

 S. America, too tender for the open before the 

 end of May, though it will thrive in the M'ater- 

 garden all summer. The growths stand boldly 

 4 or 5 feet out of the water, with large creamy- 

 white flowers 2 inches across, marked with a 

 deep purplish blotch at the base of each petal. 

 One good spike will carry lOO flowers. Seeds 



sown in February germinate freely, and the 

 young plants flower by July, so that it is often 

 treated as an annual. 



S. NATANS. — A very distinct kind from 

 North America, with floating heart-shaped 

 leaves and scanty single white flowers. 



S. SAGiTTiFOLiA is the wild Arrowhead of 

 our ponds and rivers, familiar in its graceful 

 arrow-headed leaves and the pretty white 

 flowers half an inch across, with purple claws 

 and anthers. It spreads fast and is tenacious 

 of life, having been the last wild flowering 

 plant to flourish on the banks of the Thames 

 in the heart of London. The double-flowered 

 form is that mostly seen in gardens, with very 

 full flowers about an inch across, and pure 

 white like a little Banksian rose. They stand 

 well when cut, lasting longer than the single 

 forms. The plant is most effective in masses, 

 and best in a hot summer. S. sinensis, 

 cultivated by the Chinese for its fleshy roots, is 

 probably only a form of this. 



S. SIMPLEX is a scarce and neat species, 

 well adapted for growing in tubs or small 

 ornamental basins. Though hardy, it is less 

 vigorous than most kinds, with small leaves of 

 a less decided arrow shape, and delicate flowers 

 of soft pale yellow. 



S. VARIABILIS. — The common Arrowhead 

 of North America, and a very variable plant, 

 with a number of distinct forms. It comes 

 near our own kind, but the flowers differ in 

 their greenish centre, free from the purple 

 shading of sagittifolia. Among the many 

 varieties are hastata, latifolia, obtitsa, gracilis 

 — a dwarf form rarely exceeding 12 inches in 

 height, and one with double flowers. J. B. 



SALISBURIA {Maide7i-hair Tree).— 

 S. adiantifolia is a beautiful tree in all 

 stages and at all seasons, perhaps most 

 attractive during the autumn, just before 

 the leaves drop, since the foliage assumes 

 then a bright yellow hue. Although it dif- 

 fers much from the Conifers, it belongs to 

 that order, and is one of the few deciduous 

 members of it. Probably its scarcity is 

 accounted for by its not being readily pro- 

 pagated, and by its making slow progress 

 during its earlier stages, since on this 

 account it is not popular in nurseries. A 

 rather deep, fairly moist soil of a loamy 

 nature seems to meet its requirements, but 

 it is not very particular as to soil, for 

 a fine specimen grows on the shallow 

 gravelly subsoil of Kew. Its fruits are 

 said to be eaten in China and Japan, but 

 they are rarely produced here. There 

 are two or three varieties of the species, 

 and when raised from seed, as it always 

 should be, there are individual differences. 

 Syn., Ginkgo biloba. 



SALIX \ Willow). — Large and medium 

 sized trees, shrubs, and even alpine trailers 

 of northern and temperate countries, 

 mostly hardy and of singular beauty and 



