560 



LYTHRUM. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



MAGNOLIA. 



LYTHRUM (Purple Loosestrife). 

 The common waterside L. Salicaria is 

 the most familiar plant of this genus, 

 and one of the showiest. It is well 

 worthy of culture where it is not 

 plentiful. The beauty of the ordinary 

 wild kind is surpassed by the varieties 

 originated in gardens, of which super- 

 bum and roseum are the finest. The 

 colour of these is a much clearer rose 

 than that of the wild kind, and the 

 spikes are larger, particularly those of 

 superbum, which, under good cultiva- 

 tion, are 5 or 6 feet high. These plants 

 are well worth growing by lakes or 

 in boggy ground, and are easily in- 

 creased by cuttings, which soon make 

 good flowering specimens. Isolated 

 plants in good soil make well-shaped 

 bushes, 3 or 4 feet high and as much 

 through, and look better than when 

 planted closely in rows. 



L. virgatum, alatum, Gr&ffffi, flexuo- 

 sum, and diffusum, smaller plants, and 

 not so showy, are not without beauty. 



MAACHIA AMURENSIS. A sum- 

 mer-leafing tree, from Manchuria and 

 Japan. Syn. Cladastris. 



MACLURA (Osage Orange}. A tree 

 of great use in its own country, and 

 occasionally grown with us in the 

 south and near the sea, but of slight 

 value for its beauty, and as a fence 

 not nearly as good as our native 

 Whitethorn or some of the American 

 Thorns. 



MACROTIMIA (ARNEBIA) ECHI- 

 OIDES (Prophet Flower}. A handsome 

 and distinct perennial herb, i foot to 

 1 8 inches high. M. echioides has 

 flowers of a bright primrose-yellow, 

 marked by five black spots on the 

 corolla, which gradually fade and 

 finally disappear. It is quite hardy 

 and suited either to the border or rock 

 garden. Quite happy in rich light 

 loamy soils. It is a native of the 

 Caucasus and N. Persia, and though 

 long introduced is still among the 

 rarest of hardy flowers. It is a most 

 profuse bloomer, which adds to its 

 value. Seeds are but sparsely pro- 

 duced and rarely, and should be care- 

 fully sought after. The best method 

 of increase is by root cuttings, which 

 may be inserted from October to 

 March. 



MAGNOLIA ( Lily Tree] . Most 

 beautiful of flowering trees and shrubs, 

 there are about twenty species of 

 Magnolia known, and all but some 

 half-dozen or so are in cultivation in 



this country. The headquarters of 

 these trees are in China and Japan, a 

 few are peculiar to the Himalayan 

 region, and a few more to N. America. 

 It is true that frosts sometimes injure 

 the flowers and change their snowy 

 whiteness into an unsightly brown. 

 The reason that this Magnolia and its 

 allies are not more often met with in 

 gardens is, perhaps, owing to the fact 

 of their not transplanting readily. A 

 little care in transplanting in spring, 

 in sheltering with mats from dry winds 

 or hot sun, and in syringing the wood 

 to prevent shrivelling, until the plants 

 are established, would do much to 

 prove that the Magnolias can be 

 planted with every prospect of suc- 

 cess. Some species occasionally ripen 

 seed freely in this country, but if dried 

 and kept like other seeds until the 

 following season, all chance of ger- 

 mination will have passed. All have 

 seeds which retain their vitality for 

 but a short time. 



M. ACUMINATA (Cucumber Tree). Is a 

 noble tree planted singly in a park. It is 

 deciduous, the leaves varying from 5 inches 

 to i foot in length, and glaucous green, the 

 flowers yellow - tinged, bell-shaped, and 

 slightly fragrant. There are fine examples 

 of this tree at Kew, in the gardens of Syon 

 House, and Claremont. In its native 

 country it attains a height of from 60 to 

 90 feet, with a trunk from 2 to 4 feet in 

 diameter. The yellow Cucumber Tree 

 (M. cordata) is regarded by Professor C. S. 

 Sargent as a variety of M, acuminata. 



M. CAMPBELLI (Indian Magnolia). One 

 of the most gorgeous of Indian forest 

 trees, has not fulfilled the expectations of 

 those who took so much trouble in intro- 

 ducing the species to British gardens. In 

 a wild state it attains a height of 150 feet, 

 and the fragrant flowers, varying from 

 deep rose to crimson, come before the 

 leaves. Probably the finest specimen in 

 the British Islands is the one at Lakelands, 

 near Cork. In 1884 it flowered for the 

 first time, and it has also flowered well at 

 Fota. 



M. CONSPICUA (Lily Tree). In its 

 typical form this has snowy-white flowers, 

 which are borne in the greatest profusion 

 in the latter part of April and beginning 

 of May. Splendid specimens of this beau- 

 tiful Cninese and Japanese tree are to be 

 seen at Gunnersbury House, Syon House, 

 and Kew. Several hybrid forms between 

 this species and M. obovata occur in gar- 

 dens. M. Soulangeana has flowers similar 

 in shape and size to those of typical M. 

 conspicua, but they are deeply tinged with 

 red ; M. Soulangeana nigra has dark 

 plum-coloured flowers. Both these bloom 

 a week or ten days later than the type. 



