(ENOTHERA SPECIOSA. 99 



winter, seed should be saved each season, and the plant treated as a half-hardy 

 annual. 



The CE. glauca is a species undeservedly neglected. It is of moderate height, 

 and, as its name implies, of a peculiar milky green tint. The flowers are large, of 

 a pale yellow, succeeded in autumn by a four-winged fruit, of a fine red colour. 

 This species is not often kept by Florists, but may be had of Messrs. Henderson of 

 the Pine Apple Nursery, Edgeware Eoad. 



The CE. tetraptera (four winged) is generally treated as an annual, but is really 

 a perennial, though it rarely outlives our winters. It grows about one-and-a-half 

 feet high, and has lanceolate foliage, deeply cut near the base ; flowers white, of 

 some size, changing as they fade to pink, and rosy purple, and followed by a four- 

 winged fruit. It should be sown early, and being a Mexican species, it will even 

 be advantageous to raise it on a little heat, planting it out in May. 



The CE. rosea is another half-hardy perennial species, usually cultivated as an 

 annual. It does not much exceed a foot in height; the leaves are oval-pointed, and 

 the lower ones are eared at the base. Flowers pink, produced in spikes throughout 

 the summer. It generally ripens abundance of seed, some of which may be sown 

 in autumn, with the other hardy annuals, and if sheltered with a few evergreens, 

 the seedlings may perhaps survive in mild winters, and will be stronger than 

 spring-sown plants ; seeds should, however, be reserved, as a precaution against 

 loss. There are some other fine species which we hope to notice or figure in the 

 course of the summer ; but our experience of them is at present too limited to 

 authorize us to speak with confidence of their merits. 



It is pretty generally known that some of the (Enotheras furnish edible roots, 

 but the precise details will probably be new to most of our readers. The CE. 

 biennis, termed by the French Jambon des jardiniers, though for what reason we 

 are entirely ignorant, is often cultivated for this purpose in Germany. The 

 seedlings are planted in spring in manured soil, in quincunx, and the young plants 

 are carefully hoed and watered during summer. In autumn the roots are either dug 

 up and preserved for use in a cellar, all the outer leaves being removed, or they 

 are allowed to remain in the ground, and dug up as wanted. They are eaten 

 cither boiled, or as a salad ; sometimes they are added to soup, and occasionally 

 served with white sauce. The roots are said to be very digestible, and are 

 recommended by the German physicians ; we have, however, but little inclination 

 to substitute them for our English legumes, and accordingly hand them over to our 

 friends the Vegetarians, to whom, seeing that their cuisine is not overstocked, 

 they may prove an acceptable novelty. 



