313 



THERMOPSIS. 



I — Meadow Rue. — Perennial plants, 

 j natives of Europe and North Ame- 

 rica, wliich are quite hardy in British 

 gardens. T. aqidlegifbliuni_aM(\. its 

 , varieties are very showy border- 

 i flowers ; and T. alphmm, and 

 some other dwarf species, are ele- 

 gant plants for rockwork. They 

 all grow freely in any common gar- 

 den soil. 



Thatching is sometimes applied , 

 as a protection to half-hardy trees in 

 the open ground. Many half-hardy I 

 trees and shrubs may be protected 

 from any danger from frost by laying I 



i 



FIG. 00. — PROTECTIKG HALF-HARDY 1 

 TREES BY THATCHING. 



straw over the roots and collar of the ; 

 stem, and then thatching it, as shown j 

 in fig. oQ. I 



The^a. — Ternstrcer/iidcece. — Ever- 

 green half-hardy shrubs, natives of ^ 

 China, and nearly allied to the Ca- 

 mellia, from which indeed they diifer | 

 only slightly in the capsule. They 

 are only half-hardy in British gar- j 

 dens. Thea Bohea, indeed, requires i 

 protection every winter ; but T. viri- \ 

 dis will live in the open air with ! 

 very slight protection (such as laying j 

 straw, &c., over the roots) in severe i 



frosts. The flowers of both kinds 

 resemble those of small single white 

 Camellias ; and they are cultivated 

 more from the curiosity which most 

 persons feel to see the plants pro- 

 ducing tea, than from any real 

 beauty they possess. 



Theobro'ma. — Byttneriacece. — 

 The Cacao-Nut Tree. — The tree from 

 the nuts of which Cocoa and Choco- 

 late are prepared comes very appro- 

 priately after the Tea Tree. There 

 are three species, all natives of South 

 America, with brownish flowers ; all 

 of which require a stove in England, 

 and should be grown in light rich 

 soil. 



Theophba'sta. — Apocynece. — 

 Stove -plants with very handsome 

 leaves and white flowers. They are 

 grown in loam and peat, and they 

 are propagated by cuttings. 



Theemometer. — No amateur 

 should attempt to grow plants in a 

 greenhouse or stove, or even in a 

 hotbed, without being provided with 

 a thermometer, to regulate the de- 

 gree of heat. A very ingenious one, 

 with a long tube for plunging into 

 the ground, has been contrived for 

 ascertaining the heat of a hotbed or 

 tan -pit. 



Thermo'psis. — Leguminbsce. — 

 Herbaceous plants, generally with 

 yellow flowers, natives of Eiu'ope 

 and North America, which should 

 be grown in very rich soil, but which 

 are quite hardy in the open air in 

 Britain. There is one kind, T. hor- 

 lortus, a native of the Himalaya, 

 introduced in 1855, which has large 

 dark-purple flowers, mixed with 

 bright-red and streaked with green. 

 It is a perennial, and appears quite 

 hardy in British gardens. There is 

 one ligneous species, Thermdpsis 

 laburnifdlia D. Don. {Anagyris 

 Indica Wal.), but it is now gene- 

 rally called Piptdnthus nepaUnsis. 

 (See Pipta'nthus.) None of the 



