Book II. 



FLOWERS FOR PARTICULAR PURPOSES. 



886 



Subsect. 7. Flowers for Edgings to Beds or Borders 



6528. The principal plants for edgings, next to the dwarf-box, are the statice armeria, bellis perennis, 

 gentiana acaulis, saxifraga umbrosa, oppositifolia, hypnoides, festuca ovina, and other low-growing 

 evergreens ; but all the following sorts may be used in extensive concerns requiring edgings of flowers. 

 The common and other heaths make very beautiful edgings in parterres of peat soil. 



Perennials. Achillea millefolium, m. 

 flo. rubro, Alchemilla alpina, penta- 

 phylla vulgaris, v. pubescens Anthemis 

 nobilis, n. flo. pleno, Bellis perennis, 

 hortensis, h. variegata, h. alba, h. ris- 

 tulosa, h. prolifera, Campanula pumi- 

 la3*, Dianthus barbat.,b.atro-rubens, 

 hortensis, Festuca glauca, Gentiana 

 acaulis 3, verna 3, Gnaphalium dioi- 

 cum 3, Lychnis flos cuculi, f. flo. pleno, 

 f. flo. albo, viscaria, v. flo. pleno, v. flo. 

 albo, Melissa officinalis, Melittis me- 



lissophyllum, Primula acaulis, auricula, 

 veris, v. elatior, v. polyanthos, v. flo. 

 pleno, Saxifraga csespitosa, cuneifolia, 

 geranoides, geum, hypnoides, mutata, 

 nivalis, oppositifolia, petrrea, um- 

 brosa, Silene acaulis 3, Statice armeria, 

 a. flo. albo, Stipa pennata, Teucri- 

 um, chama^drys montanum, Thymus 

 montanus3s, serpyllum 3 *. citriodore', 

 vulgaris, zygis s, Veronica hybrida, 

 Viola grandiflora 3, g.flo. luteo 3, g. flo. 

 macuiato 3, odorata ccer. 3, o. flo. ple- 



no ccer. 3, o. flo. albo 3, o. flo. pleno 

 albo 3, o. flo. pi. purj). 3. 

 Annuals. Briza maxima, Calendula of- 

 ficinalis, o. flo. pleno, Cheiranthus an- 

 nuus rub maritimus, m. flo. alb., Del- 

 phinium ajacis, Dianthus, prolifer, 3, 

 Iberis amara, a. major, urobellata alba, 

 u. purpurea, u. rubra, Reseda odorata, 

 Silene armeria rub. a. flo. alb. rubella, 

 Viola tricolor, t. mac. major, t. mac. 

 minor. 



Subsect. 8. Highly odoriferous Flowers. 



6529. Flowers with sweet smells are no less desirable than those with fine forms or colors. So little has 

 hitherto been done in the nomenclature and classification of vegetable odors, whether fixed or volatile, 

 that we can hardly submit any thing satisfactory on the subject. No small part, however, of the pleasure 

 derived from flowers depends on their odors ; and that these are very different, every one must have re- 

 marked who has walked in a wood or a garden after a wann shower, or in a dewy summer's evening. 

 Perhaps the best mode to arrange the odors of plants in our present imperfect state of knowledge on the 

 subject, would be to fix on some generally known smells, as those of the rose, lily, thyme, &c. and 

 group the others under these in the way of natural orders ; and thus we should have rosodoreaa, liliodoreee, 

 thymodoreae, &c ; but in default of some such, or any system, we shall here bring together a few names 

 under commonly received distinctions. 



The entire plant aromatic. Agrimonia 

 eupatoria, Hyssopus officinalis, Salvia, 

 numerous species, Thymus vulgaris, 

 Acorus calamus. 



The Mower mellifluous. Symphytum 

 officinale, orientale, tuberosum, Iris 

 persica, Lilium candidum, Hottonia 

 palustris, Cerinthe minor 



The flower aromatic and mellifluous. 

 Balsamita vulgaris, Artemisia abro- 

 tanum 



Liliaceous smells. Convallaria majalis, 

 Viola odorata, Hyacinthus orientalis, 

 Narcissus, various species, Reseda 

 odorata 



Sweet aromatic smells. Melissa offici- 

 nalis, Monarda didyma, Origanum 

 basilicum, Thymus citri odore, Cheir- 

 anthus cheiri, Calendula officinalis 



The flower smelling like hay. Asperula 

 odorata, taurina, Gallium boreale, 

 Stellaria graminea, Tussilago fra- 

 grans, Anthoxanthum verrum, Helio- 

 tropium indicum 



Anise smelts. Primula veris, elatior, 

 acaulis, Scandix odorata, Anethum 

 graveolens, Angelica archangelica 



Sternutatory smells. Achillea ptarmi- 

 ca, vulgaris, Dictamnus albus 



Soporific smells. Humulus lupulus, 



Atropa belladonna, Nicotiana Ta- 

 bacum 



Night-smelling flowers. Hesperis ma- 

 tronalis, Oenothera fruticosa, pumila, 

 Cheiranthus cheiri, annuus, Tropseo- 

 lum majns, Reseda odorata 



Volatile smells which perfume the sur- 

 rounding atmosphere. Lilium candi- 

 dum, Cheiranthus cheiri, Hesperis ma- 

 tronalis, Reseda odorata 



Stinks. Astrantia major, Cimicifuga 

 foetida, Ferula asafoetida, Heleborus 

 fcetidus, Allium, various species, Scro- 

 phulariaaquatica, Anthemis cotula. 



Subsect. 9. Other selections of Flowers. 



6530. Other selections will readily occur to the florist who is conversant with the ample store of plants at 

 his command ; such as double flowers, flowers that continue in bloom the greater part of the year, flowers 

 for peat soils, &c. all which he may select from the indications in the tables already given. He may also 

 select, according to the Linneean or natural orders, by referring to the tables (588. and 589.) in which the 

 genera are so arranged ; or according to the native habitation, native country, year of introduction, or 

 rarity, which circumstances he will find noted in the excellent catalogues of Sweet and Page. 



Subsect. 10. Botanical and other Assemblages of Plants. — Dial-Plants, Parasites, Ferns 

 and Mosses, Alpines, and a selection for a small garden. 



6531. Botanical collections, as well as cabinets of shells and minerals, have been in vogue by the curious 

 since Solomon's time. In many private families there is a taste for scientific botany ; in which case all 

 the hardy plants of the vegetable kingdom, as far as they are introduced into this country, are arranged 

 in their order according to some system ; and either in narrow beds, in which one species follows another; 

 or in groups, on lawn or gravel, in which the species most nearly allied according to the system adopted, 

 are placed together, each group containing an order (Jig.553.), and all the orders of a class forming a 

 constellation of groups, connected at one point with the preceding order, and at another with that which 

 follows. Sometimes a different arrangement is adopted, and all the plants that can be considered as orna- 

 mental are assembled in beds or borders, and all those that are merely curious, as the ferns, mosses, fungi, 

 &c, or useful in agriculture or the arts, as the grasses, garden-plants, plants used in dyeing, tanning, &c. 

 are arranged in beds or groups in compartments by themselves. This is in general the most suitable mode 

 for a private garden. With respect to the species to be introduced in these groups, the gardener will have 

 recourse to the tables already referred to, in which, in the Jussieuean table (589.), under Graminea?, C> - 

 peraceae, Junceee, Rostiaceee, he will find all the grasses ; under Filices, all the ferns ; under Lycopodinse, 

 the plant-mosses; under Equisetaceaa, the equisetums, &c. The economical plants he will find under 

 general heads in our view of the distribution of the British Flora (973.), and the species he will find enu- 

 merated, and classed, in our Encyclopedia; of Agriculture. 



6532. Dial-plants. Among curious collections, it may sometimes be desired to assemble the dial-plants, 

 or such as indicate the hours of the day. An ample list of these has been given by Linnseus, in the Phi- 

 losophica Botanica ; but the following, being plants generally known and easily procured, may be deemed 

 sufficient to complete a botanist's dial in Britain : — * 



Tragopogon luteum 

 Leontodon serotinum 

 Picris echioides 

 Crepis alpina 

 Cichorium intyhus 

 Papaver nudicaule 

 Hemerocallis fulva 

 Sonchus laevis 



alpinus 



Convolvulus arvensis 

 Lapsana communis 

 Leontodon taraxacum 



3L 3 



