GARDEN FLOWERS. 55 



south of Europe; 1823. A. purpurea (purple); hardy peren- 

 nial ; 3 inches ; flowers lilac-purple, in May ; Levant ; 1820. 



There are varieties with variegated foliage. 



AcuBA. [Cornaceae.] A fine evergreen shrub, conspicu- 

 ous for its variegated foliage ; hardy south of Philadelphia. 

 Common soil. Propagated by cuttings and layers. 



A. Japonica (Japan) ; hardy shrub ; 8 feet ; flowers chocolate, 

 in May ; Japan; 1783. 



The plant is dioecious. 



Auricula. See Primula. 



AvENS. See Geum. 



AvENA. [Gramineae.] Oat. Too well known to need 

 description. A. sterilis is the common animated oats of the 

 garden. All the species are ornamental in a collection of 

 grasses. 



Azalea. [Ericaceae.] Handsome, low, hardy, and 

 greenhouse shrubs. 



The x\merican or hardy Azaleas (A. pontica, calendulacea, 

 nudiflora^ and viscosa, with hosts of garden varieties bred 

 from them) are inhabitants of all our best shrubberies, and 

 have been so wonderfully improved by seedling culture as 

 to throw into the shade the original species : there are 

 now to be selected t^venty or thirty varieties better than 

 the very best of the original species. Ever}- year, too, adds 

 to the diversity of sorts, and to the size of the flowers, 

 which is one of the characteristics of the improved kinds. 

 In many places they thrive in the common soil of the gar- 

 den, but, in general, they require peat earth to be dug in 

 with the natural soil ; and where there is to be any quantity 

 grown, or a nursery of them made, beds of peat earth, or 

 compounds of the greatest part of turfy-peat earth, must be 

 made up. They are raised from seed sown in beds in the 

 open air ; but, from its extreme diminutiveness, many prefer 



