284 The Canadian Horticulturist. 



taller, from two to five feet high ; the heads more closely crowded on the long 

 spike ; and frequenting moist instead of dry soils. It has not been found by 

 the writer, in the vicinity of Toronto. Mr. J. A. Morton mentions it among the 

 attractive wild flowers growing in the vicinity of Wingham, and Macoun says it 

 is found in marshy meadows, from Sarnia to Point Edward. 



The flowers of both varieties retain their rosy-purple color when dried, thus 

 making an excellent winter boquet. They can be grown from seed as well as 

 by transplanting the corms, and make, in a short time, an attractive feature of 

 the flower garden. There is another Canadian species found in our prairie lands 

 the flower heads of which contain from thirty to forty flowers. It grows in dry 

 England Westward to Minnesota, and southward. It is known as Liatris scariosa, 

 Willdenoiv. The Rudbeckias and Liatris belongs to the compostic family, 

 soil, from two to five feet high, and, according to Gray, is to be found from New 

 The Butterfly-flower, Asclepias tuberosa^ Linn^ grows in any dry soil 

 in the open sunshine ; sometimes to be found in open woods, or among trees of 

 small growth. The roots are thick and in young plants carrot-like in shape, but 

 lose this form with age, becoming more woody and extending to a considerable 

 depth. They do not bear transplanting well, on which account it is better to 

 raise them from seed sown where the plants are to remain. The stalk is erect, 

 clothed throughout with broadly linear leaves, and fine hairs ; branching at the 

 top, the branches terminating in a corymb of brilliant orange-red flowers, varying 

 in intensity of color with the age of the flowers. The plant continues in bloom for 

 a considerable while, and the cut flowers keep a long time in water, thus adding 

 to the variety of such as are desireable for table boquets ; while the cut stems 

 do not exude a viscid milky juice so abundant in some of the other species of 

 this genus. 



The peculiar form of the individual flowers of all of the plants of this genus 

 is a very interesting study, a careful examination of which is earnestly com- 

 mended, noting particularly the hooded nectaries on the tube of stamens which 

 encloses the pistil, and the attachment of the anthers to the stigma, with their 

 hanging pairs of pear-shaped pollen-masses. 



The Cardinal Flower, Lobelia cardinalis, Linn, is widely distributed 

 throughout Ontario, frequenting low grounds, yet easily grown in any good 

 garden soil, especially from seed. The flowers are very showy, deep red, borne 

 on stems two to four feet high, in elongated, somewhat one-sided racemes. 

 The flame color of these flowers renders them a very conspicuous garden orna- 

 ment. The plants will thrive in partial shade, or in the open air, but do not 

 endure well a protracted drouth. 



The Great Lobelia, Lobelia syphilitica, Linn, is a blue flowered species, 

 the flowers nearly an inch long, borne on a leafy stem varying from one to five 

 feet high. This also is to be found in low grounds throughout Ontario. The 

 writer has had no experience with it in cultivation, yet has no doubt but that 



