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MECONOPSIS. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. MELANTHIVM. 



ing best in the light, dry soils of California. 

 It is an annual, and succeeds in this 

 country both as a pot-plant under glass, 

 or in the border during summer, where it 

 flowers and ripens seed freely. It is a 

 variable plant, but mostly reaches 12 to 

 1 8 inches in height, with pale green leaves, 

 deeply cut, and hairy. The flowers, upon 

 long slender stems, are red copper-coloured 

 or orange, with a deep maroon blotch in 

 the centre, and a scent of Lily-of-the- 

 Valley. 



M. HORRIDULA. A little plant found at 

 a great height in the Himalayas, growing 

 as almost stemless tufts of lanceolate 

 leaves, covered densely with prickles ; 

 the short stems bear bluish-purple flowers 

 about an inch and a half wide. 



M. INTEGRIFOLIA. A new kind, its pale 

 yellow flowers being much admired. The 

 plant grows at a height of 11,000 feet to 

 15,500 feet in the mountains of Thibet 

 and S.W. China, where myriads of plants 

 are to be seen bearing flowers which some- 

 times measure 10 inches across. It is a 

 biennial, hardy, and with oval uncut leaves 

 of pale green, about i foot long when fully 

 grown, and more or less covered with soft, 

 silky hairs. The stems vary in height, 

 but the plants flowered in this country 

 were from 12 to 18 inches high, flowering 

 until the first keen frosts. It is a mois- 

 ture-loving plant, thriving in peat or leafy 

 soil in a half -shady place. 



M. NEPALENSIS has flower-stems 3 to 



5 feet high, which are not much branched,, 

 the nodding blossoms, borne freely, are 

 2 to 3^ inches across, and of a pale yellow. 



M. "PANICULATA. A beautiful Hima- 

 layan plant with much-cut foliage and 

 panicles of bright yellow flowers, which 

 come true from the seed ripened sparingly 

 in fine seasons. 



M. PRINCIPIS. A plant first found by 

 Franchet in Thibet ; it comes near M. 

 punicea, but is not so large a plant, and its 

 smaller crimson flowers are held erect 

 instead of nodding. 



M. PUNICEA. A fine kind, growing at 

 a great height in the mountains of Thibet. 

 The leaves are entire, tapering at both 

 ends, and covered with long coarse hairs 

 of a shining yellow colour. The massive 

 flowers are borne singly upon slender stems 

 of 1} to 2 feet, reaching at their best 



6 inches wide, and composed of large 

 drooping petals of carmine-red or reddish- 

 purple. 



M. QUINTUPLINERVIA. A perennial kind 

 from Manchuria, of dwarf growth as a 

 rosette of long-stemmed uncut leaves, 

 covered with reddish hairs and traversed 

 by five prominent veins. The nodding 

 flowers come during summer upon hairy 

 stems of 6 to 12 inches, and are cup- 

 shaped, 1 1 inches wide, and pale violet or 

 purple with a large cluster of golden 

 stamens. 



M. RACEMOSA. A rare plant but lately 

 introduced to this country. Its flowers 

 range in colour from pale lilac to deep 

 purple, and have given good seed in the 

 past autumn. China. 



M. SIMPLICIFOLIA has a tuft of lance- 

 shaped leaves, 3 to 5 inches long, slightly 

 toothed, and covered with a short, dense, 

 brownish pubescence. The unbranched 

 flower-stalk is about i foot high, and bears 

 at its apex a single violet-purple blossom, 

 2 to 3 inches in diameter. 



M. SINUATA LOBATA. This handsome 

 Meconopsis was very fine in a Scottish 

 garden I visited this year. It was raised 

 in quantity from seeds, and a good group 

 in a partially-shaded place was very effec- 

 tive. The plants were about 3 feet high 

 and bore many flowers of a wonderfully 

 burnished purple. It is one of the best of 

 the many Meconopsis which have been 

 recently introduced. Like most of the 

 others, it evidently prefers a moist and 

 partially-shaded place. S. ARNOTT. 



M. WALLICHI. A very handsome plant, 

 between 4 and 5 feet high. It forms an 

 erect pyramid, the upper half of which is 

 covered with pretty pale blue blossoms, 

 drooping gracefully from slender branch- 

 lets. It is a most conspicuous plant in the 

 rock garden, where it withstands the 

 winter without the least injury. Well- 

 grown specimens have leaves 12 to 15 

 inches long, and a great number of pale 

 blue flowers, opening terminally. Separ- 

 ate flowers do not last long, but a few 

 expand at a time, and it is fully a month 

 before they are all expanded at the base, 

 by which time the seeds of those which 

 opened first are nearly ripe. 



MEDICAGO (Medick). This is a 

 large genus, but it contains few, if any, 

 good garden plants. One or two aie 

 useful for planting on banks or slopes. 

 For this purpose the most suitable are 

 M. falcata and elegans, both vigorous 

 herbs with yellow flowers, thiiving in 

 almost any kind of soil. 



MEGARRHIZA CALIFORNIA 



(Calif ornian Big Root). A twining 

 Bryony-like plant, having an enor- 

 mous root. Only suitable for botani- 

 cal gardens. 



MELANOSELINUM DECIPIENS.- 



An umbelliferous shrub from Madeira, 

 with a round simple stem, bare below, 

 and large, spreading compound leaves. 

 The flowers are white, and borne in 

 umbels. Young plants are to be pre- 

 ferred for placing out. Seed. 



MELANTHIUM TRIQUETRUM. 



A bulbous-rooted plant little known to 

 cultivation. It has long, round leaves, 

 like those of some of the Alliums, and 

 its flowers, which are small and have 



