ARISTOLOCHIA. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



ARNICA. 



351 



a bunch of yellow stamens in the centre. 

 They require a warm loam, and go 

 with the choicest annual flowers. 

 Mostly grown are A. mexicana, A. 

 grandi flora, and A. hispida ; so much 

 alike in habit as not to need separate 

 description. Seed end of April in 

 open. 



ARISTOLOCHIA (Dutchman's Pipe}. 

 Climbing Birthworts of curious form 

 of flower, and effective in foliage. A. 

 Sipho is generally used as a wall-plant, 

 but is finer for covering bowers, or for 

 clambering up trees or over stumps. 

 A. tomentosa is smaller, distinct in its 

 tone of green, and useful in like ways ; 

 both plants are N. American, growing 

 with freedom in ordinary garden soil. 

 The family is a large one, mainly 

 tropical, but some of the forms go into 

 northern countries. Cuttings. 



ARISTOTELIA. A. macqui is a 

 hardy Chilian shrub of the Lime Tree 

 family, chiefly esteemed for its hand- 

 some evergreen foliage. The pea-like 

 berries are at first dark purple, but 

 eventually black. There is a varie- 

 gated form, but not quite so hardy as 

 the species. Commoner in southern 

 Ireland than in England. 



ARMERIA ( Thrift] .Rock and 

 shore plants of the Statice order, of 

 which the best known is the common 

 A . vulgar is (Thrift) . This native of 

 our shores, and of the tops of the 



The Tufted Thrift {Armenia ccespitosci). 



Scottish mountains, is very pretty, 

 with its flowers of soft lilac or white 

 springing from cushions of grass-like 

 leaves ; but the deep rosy form, rarely 



seen wild, best deserves cultivation. 

 It is useful for the spring garden, for 

 banks or borders in shrubberies, for 

 edgings, and for the rock garden, and 

 is easily increased by division. As old 

 plants do not bloom so long as young 

 ones, occasional replanting is desirable. 

 In addition to the white variety and 

 the old dark red one, there are Crimson 

 Gem and Laucheana, the flowers intense 

 pink. A. ccespitosa is a rose-coloured 

 kind from the south of Europe, 5000 to 

 8000 feet above sea-level. Its flower- 

 heads, each from f inch to i inch in 

 diameter, are borne on slender stems 

 i to 2 inches high from June to Sep- 

 tember. A. cephalotes (Great Thrift) 

 is one of the best hardy flowers from 

 S. Europe, and should be in every 

 collection. A. setacea is an alpine 

 species, with little globose heads of 

 pink flowers so numerous as almost to 

 conceal the plant on flower-stems from 

 i to 3 inches high. This and A . juncea 

 are found in the south of France on 

 barren stony mounds. 



A R N E B I A (Prophet-flower] .A 

 handsome and distinct perennial, i 

 foot to 1 8 inches high. A. echioides 

 has flowers of a bright primrose-yellow, 

 with five black spots on the corolla, 

 which gradually fade and finally dis- 

 appear. It is hardy either on the 

 rock garden or in a well-drained border, 

 and prefers partial shade. A native of 

 the Caucasus and Northern Persia, and 

 though long introduced is still among 

 the rarest of hardy flowers. Young 

 plants bloom long, which adds to their 

 charms. Increased by seeds and by 

 root cuttings in winter. 



ARNICA (Lamb's-skin).A small 

 group of perennial herbs of the Daisy 

 order, with clustered leaves and neat 

 yellow flowers on long stems. They do 

 well in the ropk garden or border, in 

 open sandy soils. Increase by divi- 

 sion, or seed when obtainable. A. 

 Chamissonis from N. America is a 

 pretty plant of i to 2 feet, with woolly 

 leaves and yellow flowers 2 inches 

 across, from July to September. A. 

 montana (Mountain Tobacco) is a 

 European plant about 12 inches high, 

 with smooth, lance-shaped leaves and 

 yellow flowers 2 inches across in sum- 

 mer, the blooms gathered into threes 

 and fours on hairy stems. This pretty 

 rock plant is of slow growth, and 

 should have a place in sandy peat and 

 partial shade. A. foliosa, from the 

 Rocky Mountains, is not unlike the 



