C 131 j 



ANTIRRHINUM MAJUS. 



Greater Snapdragon, var. Hendersonii. 

 Limiean Class — Didynajiia. Order — Angiospehma. Natural Order— Scrophulaiuace.t.. 



The Antirrhinum is one of the very few of our indigenous plants which time, and 

 the fostering hand of the Horticulturist, have elevated to the rank of Florists' 

 flowers. Although some improvement has been affected, yet, of late, but little 

 advance has been made in this subject, and it has with some fallen into disfavour ; 

 though, with tbat portion of the public whose early associations are not affected by 

 the caprice of fashion, the Antirrhinum will always continue a favourite, whatever 

 may be its deficiencies in the eyes of those Florists who subject every plant to a 

 sort of Procrustean bed. 



The great ease with which they are cultivated, their adaptability to almost every 

 description of soil, with their prolonged season of flowering, and the varied hues of 

 their blossoms, fully compensate for any deficiency of form in some of the varieties. 

 By judicious management, the Antirrhinum may be had in flower from June to 

 November ; and there are but few hardy plants of which the same can be said. 

 When the flowers have not been artificially impregnated, the plants raised from seed 

 are very frequently like their parent ; for the peculiar form of the corolla opposes 

 an obstacle to the ready entrance of the insects, by which, as well as by the agency of 

 the atmosphere, so many other plants become naturally hybridized. Still, as the 

 perpetuation of any particular variety by seed cannot be implicitly depended on, it 

 is usual to increase them by slips taken off in September, which should be inserted 

 in a sheltered border, under a handglass, though this is not indispensable ; a few 

 evergreen branches placed round them will be sufficient. If the slips are not too 

 thickly planted, they may remain all the winter where they are struck, and in 

 March may be removed to the borders where they are intended to bloom. To keep 

 up a good succession of flowers, the spikes of seed vessels should be invariably 

 removed the moment the blossoms have fallen. In moderate winters, the Antir- 

 rhinum has an advantage over many of our hardy plants, in retaining its foliage, so 

 t hut it may, without much impropriety, be termed an evergreen. Seedlings raised in 

 spring under a handglass, will form nice flowering plants the following autumn; 

 they usually attain a much larger size than those raised from cuttings. 



The Antirrhinum Hendersonii is one of the handsomest varieties of this plant 



