^94 TRICUSl'lDARIA. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



TRIKOLIUM. 



Europe, which makes floating tufts of tri- 

 angular bronzed leaves buoyed up in the 

 water by their inflated stems. The sub- 

 merged leaves are of a different shape, 

 finely divided, and serving partly as roots. 

 The pretty white and purple flowers float 

 about among the leaves, and are followed 

 by peculiar fruits, with a hard shell and 

 sweet white kernels, which have the 

 flavour of a Spanish chestnut, and are 

 good to eat either raw or cooked. Though 

 it will grow out of doors in summer, the 

 plant seldom comes to perfection with us, 

 unless in water artificially warmed by 

 overflow from a hothouse tank or other 

 means. A depth of about 2 ft. is sufficient, 

 and as they ripen in October the fruits 

 reserved for seed sink to the bottom, 

 whence they rise of themselves on start- 

 ing into growth in spring. The seed is 

 difficult to preserve in any other way, and 

 unless quite fresh is seldom good. 



Trichonema. See Romulea. 



TRICUSPID ARIA.— T. lanceolata is 

 a lovely flowering shrub from Chili, 

 which has flowered in the open air at 

 Castlewellan and in other sheltered sea- 



Tricuspid 



at:i. From a photogr.iph sent 

 by Lord Annesley. 



side gardens for several years past. At 

 Castlewellan it is planted in a shady bor- 

 der near a large Yew hedge, in peat, leaf 

 soil, and loam in equal proportions. It 

 flowers twice a year, in the spring and in 

 autunm, the colour of the flowers being 

 a rich crimson. Being near the sea there 



is very little frost m ordinary winters, and 

 the plant requires no protection, but in a 

 less favoured place it would be well to 

 pot it and winter it in a cool greenhouse. 

 Syn. Crinodendron Hookerianum. 



There has recently come into cultiva- 

 tion a second species named T. dependens, 

 and the fact that this name has for many 

 years been used for the older plant has 

 given rise to much confusion. T. dependens 

 bears white bell-shaped flowers fringed 

 around the mouth, drooping gracefully 

 from the under side of the branches of an 

 elegant evergreen shrub, which thrives in 

 the open air in our warmest coast gardens. 

 Like the older kind it comes from Chili, 

 and has already reached a height of 7 or 

 8 ft. at Carclew in Cornwall. 



TRICYRTIS.— r. kirfa is an interest- 

 ing Japanese perennial, about 3 ft. high, 

 with slender erect stems terminated by a 

 few curiously-shaped pinkish blossoms, 

 spotted with purplish-black. It is per- 

 fectly hardy, but flowers so late that it is 

 invariably damaged by frosts. The 

 variety nigra flowers three weeks earlier, 

 and is therefore better, whilst the flowers 

 are more attractive. Other garden forms 

 of this species are gra?idi/Iora, its white 

 flowers spotted with purple ; and varie- 

 gtita with finely marked foliage of charm- 

 ing effect in a moist shady spot. T.pilosa 

 is dwarfer and rarer than T. /lirta, but is 

 otherwise a similar plant. T. macropoduni 

 bears yellow and black flowers, and 

 blooms much earlier than the other 

 species. They all thrive in a moist peat 

 border, partially shaded, and if somewhat 

 protected, so much the better. 



TRIENTALIS {Star-flower).— T. euro- 

 paea is a delicate and graceful plant found 

 over Europe, Asia, and America, in shady, 

 woody, and mossy places. It has erect, 

 slender stems, rarely more than 6 in. high, 

 bearing one to four flower-stems, each 

 with a white or pink-tipped star-shaped 

 flower. Healthy well-rooted plants are 

 not difficult to establish among bog-shrubs 

 in somehalf-shady partof the rock-garden, 

 in the shade of Rhododendrons, in peat 

 soil, or with Linnsea, Pyrolas, and Pin- 

 guiculas, among mossy rocks. Flowers 

 in early summer. Division. 



TRIFOLIUM (7r^>//).— Among the 

 few garden varieties are some dwarf 

 and desirable creeping alpines, the best 

 being T. iinifloruDi from Syria, a neat 

 trailing plant with pink and white flowers, 

 larger than those of any other Trefoil, 

 borne singly, and studded profusely over 

 the plant. It delights in an exposed posi- 

 tion on the rock-garden, with an open space 

 on which to creep. T. alpiniiiii is a stout 



