Iberbaceous plants, 335 



and open sandy ground. The best are: $. Tartarica, 

 leaves all radical, more or less spade-like, six inches long; 

 flowers crimson, in small spikes collected in ample panicles a 

 foot or more wide. 8. elata, leaves radical obovate, blunt, in 

 crowded tufts ; flowers blue in spikelets forming oblique 

 panicles. Flowering stems many, forming a dense mass of 

 flowers in summer. &.. Limonium, common sea-lavender, 

 American species with lavender-colored flowers all summer. 

 Leadwort, Plumbago Larpentce (Ceratostigma). A very 

 showy trailing or procumbent plant, with obovate leaves, 

 and heads of violet or bright blue flowers late in summer. 

 Exceptionally fine for rockeries; will grow on high and 

 dry ground almost anywhere. May be planted to cover 

 barren slopes or in similar positions. 



THE PRIMROSE FAMILY. 



Common Primrose, Primula vulgaris. A small but 

 handsome European plant common in open grassy woods 

 and on moist hillsides, chiefly in the Northern countries. 

 Leaves wrinkled and veiny, spade-like ; flowers on short 

 axillary peduncles, very numerous in early spring^ pale sul- 

 phur-yellow or in cultivated varieties white or more or less 

 deep yellow, single or double. Fine for naturalizing in moist, 

 grassy woods or for rockeries. Thrives best in a moist, 

 sandy loam. 



Cowslip (P. veris). This is another very attractive 

 spring flower growing abundantly in meadows and moist, 

 open woodlands ; the yellow flowers are borne in many- 

 flowered umbels on scapes six or eight inches tall; leaves 

 similar to those of the primrose. Fine for planting in sim- 

 jlar positions in parks or gardens. 



