BACCHARIS. 



SUPPLEMENT. 



BIGELOVIA. 



941 



flowers 2 in. across, from July to Septem- 

 ber. A. nio/ifana (Mountain Tobacco) 

 is a European plant about 12 in. high, 

 with smooth lance-shaped leaves and 

 yellow flowers 2 in. across in summer, 

 the blooms gathered into threes and fours 

 on hairy stems. This pretty rock-plant 

 is of slow growth, and should have a 

 place in sandy peat and partial shade. 

 A. foliosa, from the Rocky Mountains, is 

 not unlike the last, but taller, "with 

 smaller flowers, and needs a damp place. 



A. sachalineitsishom the Far East, grows 

 18 in. high with abundant yellow flowers. 



BACCHARIS. — Curious evergreen 

 shrubs mostly from South America and 

 not always hardy with us inland, though 

 excellent for sea-side places where they 

 thrive down to the water's edge regardless 

 of wind and spray. They do best in 

 rather poor soils and upon dry stony 

 banks, growing rapidly and giving 

 distinct eff'ect both of leaf and flower. 

 The various kinds differ widely from one 

 another, /?. halvnifolia (Sea Purslane) 

 the best known, attaining a height of 

 6 to 12 ft., with rough coarsely-toothed 

 leaves of a bluish-green colour and small 

 yellow flowers succeeded by snowy seed- 

 clusters. B. patagonica (Groundsell 

 Tree) is handsome in foliage, and the 

 white flower-heads, borne in great pro- 

 fusion, show prettily against the dark 

 green leaves. This makes an effective 

 hedge-plant. B. salicina., a shrub of 

 about 6 ft. from Colorado, comes near 

 halimifolia, but is hardier, with narrow 

 grey-green leaves. B. Xalapefisis and 



B. triinera are seldom seen, but well worth 

 a place in coast gardens, the first with 

 pretty pale green foliage, and the second, 

 from the Pampas plains of La Plata, a 

 singular little shrub with flattened winged 

 branches growing erect to a height of 

 several feet and studded over with small 

 whitish flower-heads when in bloom. An 

 interesting little shrub for the rock- 

 garden, it will thrive in the hottest nook 

 that can be found for it. Other beautiful 

 species have never yet been introduced. 



BERCHEMIA.— A small group of 

 shrubby climbing plants or low trees, of 

 the Buckthorn order, found in parts of 

 Asia, Africa, and North America, and for 

 the most part too tender for our gardens, 

 though the following are worth growing — 



B. volubilis {Supple Jack) from Carolina, 

 is a vigorous and graceful summer- 

 leafing climber of 10 to 20 ft., with bright 

 glossy green oval leaves, sharply pointed 

 and slightly waved. Inconspicuous green 

 and white flowers appear from the leaf- 



axils and the tips of the shoots, in June, 

 and these are followed by oval fleshy 

 fruits of a bluish-black colour. This 

 species is hardy almost anywhere in 

 Britain. 



A nearly allied plant, B. racemosa., from 

 Japan, is less freely climbing in habit, 

 with more rounded leaves, greenish 

 flowers, and showy fruits turning from 

 bright red to black. There is a form of this 

 kind in which the leaves are heavily 

 variegated, but this is tender and needs 

 partial shade. 



The Berchemias grow in any good 

 garden soil, and may be used to cover 

 tree-stumps and roots, arbours, trellis, 

 and the like. Increase by seeds, root- 

 cuttings, layers, or cuttings of the 

 ripened shoots, rooted under glass in the 

 autumn. 



BESCHORNERIA.— Mexican plants 

 allied to the Agaves, but hardier and more 

 easily grown and handled. They perish 

 inland, but in warm shore-gardens several 

 kinds thrive in the open air, their fine 

 bluish-green leaves, like those of a Yucca 

 but more fleshy, without spines, and often 

 a yard long and several inches wide, create 

 an eff'ect unlike any other hardy plant. 

 When well established they bloom freely, 

 and though the flowers are only small and 

 mostly green in colour, the large leafy 

 bracts, the flower-stalks, and the great 

 arching stems themselves, are of so vivid 

 a crimson as to make a striking picture. 

 The plants do not die after flowering, but 

 increase by side-shoots, making strong 

 and picturesque groups when undisturbed 

 and well treated. They need all the sun 

 they can have, a light rich soil, and a dry 

 place such as the crest of a sheltered 

 bank or the foot of a warm wall. Several 

 kinds have been tried successfully, such 

 as B. yuccoides, B. dracteata, and B. 

 tojielii, Taut all are similar in effect, and 

 though seldom seen except in the shore- 

 gardens of Devon and Cornwall, the fact 

 that two kinds grow well and flower 

 against the cliffs at Scarborough, proves 

 that the beauty of these quaintly effective 

 plants might be far more widely enjoyed. 



BIGELOVIA {Plumed Golden Rod).— 

 Shrubby or half-shrubby perennials of the 

 Golden Rod order, coming from the dry 

 plains and mountain slopes of the Western 

 States of America, as yet little tried in 

 Britain. They thrive in dry soils and 

 sunny places, where they are not over- 

 grown by stronger plants. They are 

 fairly hardy at the root, but not always 

 free in flower save under the best con- 

 ditions. Increase by cuttings or seeds, 

 which germinate readily. 



