ACTINELLA. 
pure above the lush green of the beautiful expanded leatage. The 
flowers appear in June, and the ensuing fruit is a bitterly poisonous 
berry of shining black—the Baneberry of the Actaea’s second popular 
name. The colour of this, however, varies, and catalogues, according 
to the white or scarlet berry, send out as species A. rubra, A. erythros- 
ticta, A. leucocarpa, all being little if anything more than local varia- 
tions on our own A. spicata, a rarity of real beauty and interest for any 
cool shady corner of the garden, where on a miniature scale of 18 inches 
or so it will imitate the grace and charm of Spiraea Aruncus, with the 
bonus of a handsome perilous fruit thrown in. 
Actinella form a little race of not very interesting American 
Composites with golden flowers. They do not ask for special treat- 
ment, but lie under suspicion of biennial habits. Among those in 
cultivation are A. acaulis, A. grandiflora, and A. scaposa. 
Actinoméris is yet another of the same kin and country. A 
3-foot herbaceous plant is A. sqguarrosa, with the needs and manner 
of Helianthus, and golden fiowers in radiating clusters in autumn. 
Adenophora, on the other hand, is a very important race, coming 
so close under the shadow of Campanula as only by minute botanical 
differences in the customs of the seed-capsule to be distinguished. 
Perhaps on account of this cousinship, too close and too august, 
Adenophora is strangely neglected in gardens, the idea being, it seems, 
that the large Campanulas have spoken the last word in their kind, 
and that nothing further remains to be said. None the less, the 
Adenophoras are, many of them, most exquisite and graceful beauties, 
often adding a delicacy of habit that the great Campanulas lack. 
They are, too, of quite easy culture in light well-drained soil, and can 
be raised profusely from seed. New species in this race are now 
coming yearly in from China, which makes it premature as yet to 
canvass the culture and the merits of A. Baileyana and A. Bulleyana. 
But among the best of older species are : 
A. coronopifolia, which is in habit almost exactly suggestive of 
C. rhomboidalis, growing to about a foot, with very narrow toothed 
leaves and loose spires of pendent purple harebells. 
A. coronata, on the other hand, has root-leaves and stem-leaves 
after the fashion of C. rotundifolia. Its stems rise up to the same 
height as the last, and its flowers are large and bulging bells, con- 
stricted at the mouth. 
A. denticulata is larger and coarser, with more bells. 
A. Gmelinii, from Siberia, has narrow foliage, with the flowers in 
clusters at the top of the 12-inch stem. 
A. Lamarckii is a species from Transylvania, and in all its parts 
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