THE FLOEAL WORLD . AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



73 



early spring, or by cuttings taken off at a joint, and stuck in white 

 sand under a hand-glass. From their succulent nature, some care is 

 necessary to prevent the cuttings from damping off, and to avoid 

 this the glass must be wiped every day, and removed at the earliest 

 period after they have emitted roots. 



The plant will occasionally produce seeds, which may be sown as 

 soon as ripe ; in which case, it will be advisable to protect the young 

 plants during the first winter, or the sowing may be deferred until 

 the following spring, when the plants would, if raised early in the 

 year, acquire sufficient strength to bear exposure in the open air in 

 the ensuing wiuter. 



The genus Dielytra (Gr. Bis, two, and elytron, a pouch or purse) 

 is so named, in allusion to the inflation of the two outer petals at 

 their base. Four other species are known in addition to that now 

 figured — B. formosa, previously referred to ; cucullaria ; eximia, a 

 handsome species still rather rare ; and canadensis — all natives of 

 North America. 



Few gardens are without some species of Fumaria or Corydalis, 

 two genera closely allied to that to which our subject belongs ; and 

 it may, therefore, not be altogether uninteresting if we notice the 

 principal points of difference between them and the present genus. 

 Both differ from Dielytra in having but one petal spurred ; and the 

 three genera are further distinguished from each other by the seed 

 vessel ; this in Fumaria is a one-seeded indehiscent nut, and in 

 Corydalis and Dielytra, a many-seeded pod opening by two valves, 

 which in Corydalis is more compressed than in the last-mentioned 

 genus. 



Our plant appears to have been known to Linnseus under the 

 name of Fumaria spectabilis, but it is only since its reintroduction 

 into England in 1846, from the North of China, by the London 

 Horticultural Society, through the medium of their collector, Mr, 

 Fortune, that it has come into general cultivation in this country. 



THE CULTIVATION OF ALPINES. 



[HE term " Alpine," taken in its widest sense, as applied 

 to a class of plants, implies not only those small inter- 

 esting objects which are found in elevated situations, 

 but all the diminutive perennial plants found in any 

 situation whatever, not being actually aquatic. This 

 tribe of plants has of recent years been very much neglected, owing, 

 I apprehend, to their habits in general, and the materials most con- 

 genial to their growth, not being properly understood by gardeners : 

 indeed there are but few persons who seem disposed to make a 

 sufficient encpairy into their habits or character, to enable them to 

 grow them successfully. It is a very general, though certainly a 

 most mistaken notion, that because many of them grow on the 

 summit of mountains, and in other very exposed situations, they are 

 capable of enduring an intense degree of cold, and are therefore 



March. 



