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ACIPHYLLA. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



ACTINIDIA. 



ground it is less silvery and flowers less 

 freely. Four to 6 inches high. Servia. 



A. TOMENTOSA. Of carpeting habit, and 

 one of the best known, forms dense patches 

 of woolly-green foliage, from which spring 

 numerous corymbs of golden-yellow 

 flower-heads about 9 inches high. Suc- 

 ceeds well in loamy soils, while growing 

 most freely in those of a sandy nature. 

 It flowers in May and June, and frequently 

 later on in the season. Europe and N. 

 Asia. 



A. UMBELLATA. A Grecian species, and 

 quite one of the prettiest and most dis- 

 tinct. It dislikes strong loamy soils or 

 anything approaching wetness, and is 

 happiest in a hot, dry, or poor, stony soil. 

 In such it ranks with the best of the silver- 

 leaved sorts. Admirably suited to a 

 dryish wall with sunny aspect. Height 

 6 inches to 9 inches, or even more occasion- 

 ally. Flowers white. 



ACIPHYLLA (Bayonet Plant). Sin- 

 gular New Zealand plants. A . Colen- 

 soi, forming a spiny bush. A. Lyalli 

 is similar in habit, but is smoother in 

 all its parts, the leaves being divided 

 into sharp spines. A. squarrosa is the 

 best-known species, thriving in free 

 soil and sunny parts of the rock garden ; 

 they are more curious than attractive. 



ACONITUM (Monkshood). Tall and 

 handsome herbaceous plants, of the 

 Buttercup order, dangerous from their 

 poisonous roots. There are many 

 names, but not so many species of value 

 for our gardens. They should not be 

 planted where the roots could be by 

 any chance dug up by mistake for 

 edible roots, as they are deadly poison ; 

 almost all the kinds may be easily 

 naturalised in shrubberies away from 

 the garden, or in openings in rich 

 bottoms. 



The best kinds are A . Napellus and 

 its forms, versicolor, and others ; chin- 

 ense, autumnale, japonicum, and tauri- 

 cum ; Fischeri, Wilsoni, Vilmorinia- 

 num, volubile. They are from 3 feet 

 to 5 feet high, and flower from July 

 to September. A. Fortunei, the old 

 chinense of gardens, is the best for late 

 blooming. It is best to keep them all 

 out of the flower or kitchen garden. 



ACORUS (Sweet Flag) .Waterside 

 plants of the arum order, easily culti- 

 vated. A . Calamus is now naturalised 

 in most parts of Europe. A . gramineus 

 has a slender creeping rhizome covered 

 with numerous grass-like leaves, from 

 4 to 6 inches in length. This plant is 

 often seen in the little bronze trays of 



water-plants in Japanese gardens. 

 China. 



ACROCLINIUM. A. roseum is a 

 pretty half-hardy annual from Western 

 Australia, growing over i foot high 

 with rosy-pink flowers, used as " ever- 

 lasting " flowers. Seeds should be 

 sown in frames in March, and the seed- 

 lings planted at the end of April or 

 early in May in a warm border ; or the 

 seeds may be sown in the open ground 

 in fine rich soil at the end of April. 

 If the flowers are to be dried, it is best 

 to gather them when fresh and young 

 some in the bud state. 



A C T 2E A ( Baneberry). Vigorous 

 perennials of the Buttercup order, 3 feet 

 to 6 feet high, thriving in free soil ; 

 flower spikes, white and long, with 

 showy berries. The white Baneberry 

 has white berries with red footstalks. 

 The var. r ubra of A . spicata has showy 

 fruit. The plants are best suited for 

 rich bottoms in the wild garden, as 

 though the foliage and habit are good, 

 the flowers are short-lived in the 

 ordinary border, and somewhat coarse 

 in habit. A. spicata (common Bane- 

 berry or Herb Christopher), A. race- 

 mosa (black Snakeroot), A. alba (white 

 Baneberry), having white berries with 

 red stalks, and one or two American 

 forms of the common Baneberry are 

 in cultivation. The flowers have often 

 a very unpleasant smell, which lessens 

 their value as garden plants. 



ACTINELLA. North American 

 composites of which there are three 

 kinds in gardens, dwarf-growing plants 

 with yellow flowers. The finest is A. 

 grandiflora (Pigmy Sunflower), a native 

 of Colorado, an alpine plant with 

 flower-heads 3 inches in diameter, grow- 

 ing from 6 inches to 9 inches high. The 

 other species, A . acaulis, A. Brandegei, 

 and A. scaposa, are somewhat similar. 

 They are all perennial, and thrive in a 

 light soil. 



ACTINIDIA. Climbing summer- 

 leafing shrubs of the Camellia order 

 from Japan and China, thriving in 

 warm soil. They all have climbing 

 or. twining stems, and bear waxy white 

 flowers. Some grow freely in cold, 

 poor soil, and are excellent on pergolas 

 or climbing up old tree stems and bold 

 fences. A. argenta is a very vigorous 

 climber in its own country, and grows 

 freely here. A native of Japan and 

 the Amur region and quite hardy. A . 



