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Herbaceous plants. 



FIG- 131— CANDYTUFT (IBERIS 

 UMBELLATA). 



Candytuft, Iberis. — Some of the candytufts are of a 

 shrubby nature but of a very dwarf habit. A few are 

 pretty garden annuals popular for bedding purposes. 



I. saxatills is a spreading shrub a 

 few inches high only, with ever- 

 green leaves and white corymbose 

 flowers in spring and summer. I. 

 sempervirens, a considerably taller 

 plant with bright green foliage and 

 large racemes of pure white flowers 

 in spring and summer. These are 

 exceedingly fine rock-plants and 

 very floriferous. Among the best 

 annual forms are : I. urribellata, a 

 fine plant, with linear- lanceolate 

 leaves, and flat corymbs of white or lilac-purple flowers ; 

 about eight inches high. I. amara has pure white flowers. 

 I. coronaria, the rocket candytuft of gardens, grows about 

 a foot hio-h with leafy stems and lanceolate leaves ; flowers 

 white, in several close terminal spikes. All the annuals 

 may be raised with the greatest of ease from seeds sown 

 early in spring. The shrubby species may be increased 

 by means of herbaceous cuttings. All grow best in a 

 moderately rich aud light garden soil. 



Madwort, Alyssum. — Small, charming rock-or maritime- 

 plants with white or yellow blossoms. A. saxatile is a 

 tufted perennial, with lanceolate leaves and much branched, 

 flowering stems, with close terminal heads of bright yellow 

 flowers in the very earliest spring. There is a fine form of 

 this with white variegated foliage. A. alpestris is an equally 



