A GEOUP OF HAEDY COMPOSITE PLANTS. I 39 



stem but becoming smaller upwards. The flowers owe their ornamental character 

 to tne bright orange-scarlet tint of the scales of the involucre, and from the 

 number of°heads which the plant produces, the effect, when in bloom, is very 

 ■biking It is easily raised from seed upon a hotbed, and the young plants 

 should° be subsequently planted out where they are to bloom; in very hard 

 winters it will be advisable to place a hand-light, or a few evergreen branches, 

 over the plants, and being only a biennial, seeds should be sown every season. 



We may next name the genus Rudbeckia, which comprises several fane plants 

 of easy culture. There is first the R. Drummondii, growing about two and a-half 

 to three feet high, with leaves deeply divided into lanceolate segments, and large 

 flower heads, with six broad, oval, reflexed, strap-shaped florets at the circum- 

 ference, of a yeUow tint, but marked at the base with rich brown.^ It "readily 

 increased by seeds or division of the roots, and succeeds in any good soil. The 

 R fulffida is rather dwarfer, and is quite as ornamental; the rays of the flower 

 are bright yellow, and the central portion or disk a purple-brown; this species 

 is a very free bloomer, and seeds sown early will produce flowering plants the 

 same season. The old R. pinnata, now termed Obeliscaria pinnata, is one of the 

 most robust of the species, and is remarkable for the conical disk of its large 

 yellow flowers, which are fragrant; its usual height in good soil is from four 

 to five feet, and it blossoms for many weeks in summer. The R. hirta, R. speaosa, 

 and R. Newmannii, are all showy plants, the two last are somewhat dwarf 



The Eudbeckias, with purple and lilac flowers, are now included m the genus 

 Echinacea. The E. intermedia is a beautiful hardy perennial, producing in summer 

 and autumn large flowers of a dark purple colour, from four to five inches in 

 diameter; it is of easy cultivation, requiring only common soil and an open 

 situation; readily increased by division, and sometimes ripens seeds. The 

 E. purpurea resembles the preceding, and with tbe species heterophjlla and 

 serotina may be added to any collection with advantage. All are kept by the 



London Florists. 



The Globe Thistles, Echinops, have a picturesque effect in the niixt border or 

 shrubbery. Five or six species are commonly kept by the trade, of which the 

 E Ritro or pauciflorus and E. Ruthenius are perhaps the best. The leaves are 

 much divided, very spiny, and white beneath, with flowers produced in a 

 globular head, surrounded by a curious spinous involucre; the florets are all 

 tubular, and of a beautiful blue-colour. Of E. Ritro there is, we believe, a pretty 

 white-flowered variety, and the blossoms of E. spinosus are also white. They are 

 increased by division, and also by seeds, which are, however, rarely kept by 



the Seedsmen. 



The TeleJcia speciosa is less grown than it deserves to be ; its stems are from four 

 to five feet high and produce through the summer numerous large bright yellow 



