HEPATICA. 



15- 



HERBERTIA. 



beds wdtb lime or tobacco -water — 

 remedies which, unless very judi- 

 cioiisly practised, are in fact worse 

 than the disease. Many persons 

 place empty flower-pots in different 

 parts of a garden infested with 

 snails, at night ; and when this is 

 done, a great number of snails will 

 generally be found either in the 

 pots, or sticking to the outside in 

 the morning. Cabbage leaves and 

 slices of raw potatoes are also laid 

 as traps for snails. 



Helle'borus. — Eanunculdcece. 

 — The Christmas Rose, If. niger, 

 is one of the handsomest plants 

 belonging to this genus, on account 

 of its flowering in winter, or very 

 early spring, before almost every 

 other flower. It is a hardy peren- 

 nial, which will thrive in any 

 common garden-soil, and is in- 

 creased by dividing the roots. 

 There is a greenhouse species, H. 

 atroruhens, which is very orna- 

 mental. 



Helmet-flowePw — See Corya'n- 



THES. 



HEiiEROCALLis. — The Day Lily. 

 — Handsome perennial plants, with 

 yellow or copper-coloured flowers. 

 They are quite hardy, and only 

 require a moist soil and a shady 

 situation. They are propagated by 

 dividing the roots. For the white 

 and purplish-flowered kinds, see 

 Fu'nkia. 



Hen-axd-Chickens. — A kind of 

 Daisy. — See Be'llis. 



Henbane.— i/^/oscj/rtmws nlgeo: 



Henfre'ta. — Acanthdcece. — JI. 

 scdndens is a very handsome climb- 

 ing stove plant, a native of West 

 Africa, with v/hitish Petunia-like 

 flowers, and dark green leaves. 



Hepa'tica. — Ranunculdcece. — 

 Pretty little plants, which flower 

 very early in spring. They should 

 be grown in a light sandy soil, and 

 a shady situation ; and as they 



have a propensity to raise them- 

 selves out of the soU, they should 

 be taken up every two or three 

 years in autumn, and replanted. 

 If this be not done, the earth 

 should be raked up or hoed up 

 round them, so as to cover the 

 roots ; as, if these are left exposed, 

 they will wither, and the plants 

 will probably die. The flowers of 

 the Plepatica, unlike those of most 

 other plants, possess their full 

 colour fx'om the first formation of 

 the bud. 



Heracle'um. — UmhclUferce. — 

 The Cow-parsnep. — The gigantic 

 Siberian Cow-parsneps, H. dsperum 

 and H. giganteura, are probably 

 two of the most magnificent herba- 

 ceous plants in the world. They 

 are biennials, and are propagated 

 by seeds, which ripen in abundance. 

 The plants should be placed in a 

 shady, moist situation, near a pond, 

 if possible ; and, where this is not 

 practicable, they should have abun- 

 dance of water. Thus ti-eated, a 

 plant has been known to attain the 

 height of fourteen feet in a single 

 summer, with a fluted stem six or 

 eight inches in diameter ; and a 

 compound umbel of white flowers, 

 measuring twelve feet in circum- 

 ference. A plant of these dimen- 

 sions, with leaves equally enormous, 

 grew in the grounds of Bromley 

 Hill in the summer of 1839 ; and 

 another of nearly the same size 

 grew in our small garden at Bays- 

 water in the summer of 1840. 



Herbe'rtia. — Iridece. — A beau- 

 tiful bulbous plant named in honour 

 of the late Honourable and Pieverend 

 William Herbert, whose botanical 

 labours are so well known. It is a 

 native of Buenos Ayres, and it may 

 be grown either in a pot, or in the 

 open air, in a sandy loam, as it only 

 requires protection from severe frost 

 or long continued rains. 



