GENISTA. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



GENTIANA. 481 



will be small and late. Short young 

 tops should be used for cuttings, and 

 may be inserted pretty thickly in the 

 cutting-pots. When established they 

 must be just protected from frost, and 

 kept in dry airy quarters. If kept 

 warm they grow too much, and in 

 spring are poor lanky plants that can 



Gazania nh'ea.. 



hardly be handled ; but cool airy 

 treatment keeps them short and 

 sturdy. G. rigens is the best known. 

 It has long deep-green leaves, silvery 

 beneath, and bears flowers 2 inches 

 across, which are of bright orange- 

 yellow, with a dark centre. G. splen- 

 dens is a fine variety, and there is 

 also one with variegated leaves. Some 

 kinds are offered in the seed catalogues 

 and may be raised in heat in spring. 



GENISTA (Rock Broom). Some of 

 these are good garden and rock garden 

 shrubs, thriving in almost any soil 

 which is not too wet, and readily raised 

 from seeds. 



G. ^TNENSIS. A native of Sicily, is one 

 of the best kinds. In a young state the 

 twigs are sparsely clothed with linear 

 silky leaves, but when old no leaves are 

 developed, and the green slender twigs 

 perform the functions of leaves. An old 

 tree for this species attains a height of 

 12 feet or more is a beautiful sight in 

 July or August when in full flower. 



G. ANGLICA (Needle Furze). A pros- 

 trate spiny shrub, sometimes growing to a 

 height of 2 feet, widely distributed 

 throughout W. Europe, and in Britain 

 occurring on moist moors from Ross south- 

 wards. The short leafy racemes of yellow 

 flowers appear in May and June. 



G. ASPALATHOIDES. A native of S.W. 

 Europe, makes a densely-branched, com- 

 pact, spiny bush from i to 2 feet in height. 

 It flowers in July and August, and is a 

 good shrub for the rock garden. 



G. GERMANICA. A species widely dis- 

 tributed throughout Europe, it makes a 

 bright rock garden shrub not more than 

 a couple of feet in height. It flowers very 

 freely during the summer and autumn 

 months, and the stems are inclined to arch 

 when i foot or more high. 



G. HISPANICA. Native of S.W. Europe, 

 and a compact under-shrub, evergreen 

 from the colour of its shoots. It scarcely 

 attains more than i foot or 18 inches in 

 height, and the crowded racemes of yellow 

 flowers are borne at the tips of the spiny 

 twigs from May onwards. 



G. PILOSA. A dense, prostrate bush 

 and a delightful rock garden plant. In 

 Britain it is rare and local, being confined 

 to gravelly heaths in the south and south- 

 west of England. It grows freely and 

 flowers abundantly in May and June. 



G. RADIATA. Native of C. and S. 

 Europe, 3 or 4 feet in height, evergreen 

 from the colour of its much-branched 

 spiny twigs. The terminal heads of bright 

 yellow flowers are throughout the summer 

 months. It is hardy in the south of 

 England. 



G. SAGITTALIS. A frequent plant on 

 the alpine meadows of Europe. In habit 

 it differs widely from any of the other 

 kinds, the leaves being replaced by a 

 winged stem. It scarcely grows a foot 

 high, and forms a mass of branches bearing 

 racemes of yellow flowers in May and June. 



G. TINCTORIA (Dyer's Greenweed). 

 Occurring in a wild state in Britain, it 

 rarely exceeds 18 inches in height, and is 

 a spineless shrub bearing a profusion of 

 bright yellow flowers from July until 

 September. 



GENTIANA (Gentian). Dwarf ever- 

 green alpine plants, some of them 

 difficult to cultivate, but others easily 

 grown (on the rock garden and in 

 borders). The most precious are the 

 perennial alpine kinds, which are such 

 a beautiful feature on the mountains 

 of Europe, and with care in our gardens 

 spread into healthy tufts and flower as 

 well as on the mountains. 



G. ACAULIS (Gentianella) . An old in- 

 habitant of English gardens, and among 

 the most beautiful of the Gentians. It is 

 easily cultivated, except on very dry soils. 

 In some soils edgings are made of it, which, 

 when the plant is in flower, are of great 

 beauty. It is at home on the rock garden, 

 where there are good masses of moist loam 

 in which it can root. With us the flowers 

 open in spring and in early summer, but 

 on its native hills they open according to 



2 H 



