638 POHLIA PLATENSIS. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. POLYGALA. 



to nearly 2 feet in height, with large 

 drooping bunches of purple flowers and 

 heavy grey-green fruits turning purple 

 when fully ripe. 



POHLIA PLATENSIS. A pretty 

 little bulbous plant from S. America, 

 allied to Iris, and with several other 

 names, but mostly known under 

 this one. The flowers appear in sum- 

 mer, and are shaped like those of a 

 Tigridia, of a rich blue colour blotched 

 with white and yellow towards the 

 centre. The plant needs the same 

 treatment as Tigridias, and is so 

 beautiful that when better known it 

 will be much grown in light warm 

 soils. 



POINCIANA. P. Gilliesii is a beau- 

 tiful sub-tropical tree which thrives 

 against walls in the Isle of Wight. The 

 late Rev. H. Ewbank wrote of it in The 

 Garden as follows : " The foliage gives 

 it very much the look of an Acacia at 

 a little distance, and it is often mistaken 

 for one of them. But no Acacia that 

 I have ever seen has such splendid 

 blossoms. My great surprise has been 

 in its well doing to such an extent in 

 the open ground that I have now no 

 fear for it at all, and during the worst 

 frost we have had here during the last 

 twenty or thirty years it was entirely 

 uninjured. A very great recommen- 

 dation for it in my eyes is the time of 

 year when it is accustomed to blossom. 

 All spring things have gone by, and the 

 wealth of flowering shrubs and trees 

 has become exhausted when this very 

 beautiful object makes full compen- 

 sation for any loss that has been sus- 

 tained." 



POLEMONIUM (Greek Valerian). 

 A small family of Phloxworts, mostly 

 from N. America. A few of them 

 are familiar in gardens, and among the 

 best are the following : 



P. CCERULEUM (Jacob's Ladder). Be- 

 sides the original blue-flowered species, 

 there is a variety with white blossoms, a 

 second, acutiflorum, in which the petals 

 are narrow and pointed. 



P. CONFERTUM. This is one of the finest 

 of all, with slender deeply-cut leaves and 

 dense clusters of deep blue flowers on 

 stoutish stems about 6 inches high. It 

 requires a warm spot in the rock garden 

 and a well-drained, deep, loamy soil. 

 Though it requires plenty of moisture in 

 summer, excessive dampness about the 

 roots in winter is hurtful. Rocky Moun- 

 tains. 



P. HUMILE. A truly alpine plant with 

 pale blue flowers on stems a few inches 



high. In a dry situation and a lighl 

 sandy soil it is hardy, but on a damj 

 subsoil not so. P. mexicanum is similai 

 but larger, and being only of biennia 

 duration is scarcely worth cultivating 

 There is a garden form, Richardsonii, o: 

 much stronger growth and with far large] 

 flowers, as many as a score of deep blue 

 bells with a yellow eye sometimes coming 

 in one cluster. N. America. 



P. REPTANS. An American alpine 

 plant, and, though far inferior in beaut} 

 to P. confertum, is worth growing. It< 

 stems are creeping, and its slate-blue 

 flowers form a loose drooping panicle 6 01 

 8 inches high. Snails devour it raven- 

 ously, especially the scaly root-stocks 

 during winter. P. sibiricum, grandiflorum 

 and foliosissimum much resemble P. cceru- 

 leum, but are more vigorous, with largei 

 flowers. 



POLIANTHES (Tuberose] .P '. tube- 

 rosa is a native of the East Indies, 

 but strong imported bulbs of this deli- 

 ciously fragrant plant, if inserted in 

 warm soil, will flower well in the open 

 air during August. In the neighbour- 

 hood of London we have seen the 

 Tuberose flowering freely in the open 

 border, the bulbs in a light, sandy, 

 well-drained soil, in which they had 

 remained all the winter, slightly pro- 

 tected during severe weather by ashes 

 or other dry material. 



POLYGALA (Milkwort).The hardy 

 Milkworts are neat dwarf plants, with 

 flowers much resembling those of the 

 Pea family. P. Chamcebuxus (Box- 

 leaved Milkwort) is a little creeping 

 shrub from the Alps of Austria and 

 Switzerland, where it often remains 

 quite tiny. In gardens, on peaty 

 soil and fine sandy loams, it spreads 

 out into compact tufts covered with 

 cream-coloured and yellow flowers. 

 The variety pur pure a is prettier ; 

 the flowers are a lovely bright magenta- 

 purple, with a clear yellow centre. 

 It succeeds in any sandy, well-drained 

 soil. P. paucifolia is a handsome N. 

 American trailer, 3 to 4 inches high, 

 with slender prostrate shoots and 

 concealed flowers. From these shoots 

 spring stems, bearing in summer one 

 to three handsome flowers about three- 

 quarters of an inch long, generally 

 rosy-purple, but sometimes white. 

 It> is suited for the rock garden, in 

 moist leaf -mould and sand. The finest 

 of the American kinds is lute a, with 

 bright yellow flowers, but this is 

 still very scarce with us. Some of 

 the British Milkworts, especially P. 

 calcarea and vulgaris, are interesting 



