956 



POTERIUM. 



SUPPLEMENT. 



SYNTHYRIS. 



this, but it is far from easy to get it true, 

 other trees such as Zelkowas and forms 

 of the Common Ehn being substituted 

 for it even bv nurserymen. 



POTERIUM.— A small group of herbs 

 or shrubby plants of the Rose order, 

 confined to north temperate regions, and 

 worthy of some attention for the rougher 

 parts of pleasure grounds and for the 

 wild garden, their dense spikes of flower 

 being attractive and useful for cutting. 

 P. cajjadense is a good back-row plant 

 for the border, 4 to 5 ft. high, with 

 deeply-cut grey-green foliage and long 

 spikes of creamy-white flowers from the 

 tip of every shoot during autumn. 

 Several plants should be grouped to 

 make a good bush-like mass. P. sitchense 

 is much shorter, rarely exceeding 2 ft., 

 and bearing purplish flowers ; this grows 

 best in damp ground. P. te7iiiifoliuin, 

 with spikes of white flowers, is also worth 

 growing, while P. Sanguisorba or Salad 

 Burnet, is a pretty native plant with 

 green or purple flowers, growing in dry 

 places. 



QUINCE. See Cydonia. 



Serratula atriplicifolia. — To gar- 

 deners the plants of this genus were 

 previously without interest, but in this 

 new plant from Central China we seem 

 to have a hardy perennial of some value. 

 It is a bold plant, standing rigidly erect 

 to a height of 5 or 6 ft., with large 

 heart-shaped leaves and purple thistle- 

 like flower heads, wrapped in overlapping 

 bracts. They expand in early autumn 

 but are formed long before they open, 

 and a pretty feature of the buds is a fine 



network of silky-white threads similar to 

 that seen in the Cobweb Houseleek, 

 running from point to point of the bract- 

 covered calyx as an exquisite protective 

 curtain. 



SIMPLOCUS.— A group of shrubs or 

 low trees allied to Styrax, only one of 

 which is of any importance in our 

 gardens. This is S. cratcegoides, a com- 

 pact hardy shrub of 10 or 12 ft. found in 

 Asia from the Himalaya to Japan — 

 j whence all our plants have come. The 

 ! leaves vary much in form and size, but 

 are mostly ovate, scantily covered with 

 down on the under side, and finely 

 toothed. The small white flowers, com- 

 ing in dense clusters during May, are of 

 no great beauty, but give place to brilliant 

 blue berries of fine appearance ; so far, 

 however, these do not seem to have been 

 produced in this country. 

 i SYNTHYEIS.— A group of hardy 

 little herbs from the Rocky Mountains, 

 allied to Wulfenia, and forming neat tufts 

 of elegant foliage with dense spikes ot 

 blue, purple, or white flowers. The best 

 is S. reniforjnis, with tough, prettily-cut 

 leaves, and spikes of bluish-purple flowers 

 a foot high. These come in early spring 

 or sometimes even in autumn, and the 

 plant does best in a cool, shady place 

 with free soil. There is a good variety 

 with white flowers. S. rotundifolia^ from 

 shady pine woods of Oregon, is a much 

 smaller plant, with broad, leathery leaves 

 and few flowers. 5. plantaghiea is a 

 dwarf kind like the last, with bright blue 

 flowers. S. pinnatifida is not so pretty 

 as reniformis and is a weaker plant, with 

 purple or white spikes of flower 9 in. 

 high. Seed. 



