SILPHIUM. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. SIMPLOCUS. 725 



patches, with clusters of six or eight 

 purplish-rose flowers, about I inch across, 

 and standing 4 to 7 inches high from 

 April to June. It thrives in light sandy 

 soil, and is not fastidious, coming from 

 sandy, gravelly places. It will often 

 flower the first year from seed, but mostly 

 not till the second season. 



S. PUMILIO. Like our Cushion Pink in 

 its dwarf, firm tufts of shining green leaves, 

 though these are a little more fleshy and 

 not so spiny. The rose-coloured flowers 

 are also much larger, handsomer, and 

 taller, though scarcely more than i inch 

 above the flat mass of leaves, so that the 

 whole plant is seldom more than 3 inches 

 high. It thrives in rock gardens as well 

 as the Cushion Pink, and should be planted 

 in deep sandy loam on a well-drained and 

 exposed spot, moist in summer, facing the 

 south. Place a few stones round the neck 

 of the young plant to keep it firm and to 

 hold moisture. Tyrol. 



S. LACINIATA PURPUSI. No member of 

 the race can vie with this in brilliant 

 colouring ; 6 to 8 inches high, with nearly 

 lance-shaped and woolly leaves, the 

 dazzling cardinal scarlet flowers, i inches 

 across, surpass all else by reason of their 

 intensity. It is valuable, too, for its late 

 summer and autumn flowering. Grows 

 well in rich sandy loam, and prefers a 

 high, dry, and sunny position. 



S. SCHAFTA. A spreading hardy plant 

 from the Caucasus forming very neat 

 tufts, 4 to 6 inches high, covered with 

 large purplish-rose flowers. As it flowers 

 late in summer, it should not be used 

 where early bloom is sought, but is useful 

 for edgings. Seed or division. 



S. VIRGINICA (Fire Pink). A brilliant 

 perennial, with flowers bright scarlet, 

 2 inches across. The somewhat slender 

 stalks lie flat on the soil, and the flowers 

 are borne a few inches above it. The Fire 

 Pink succeeds in a well-drained rock 

 garden. It comes from open woods in 

 America, from New York southwards, 

 flowering from June to August. The best 

 plants are obtained from seed, as it does 

 not bear division well. S. rupestris, a 

 sparkling-looking white species, little more 

 than 3 inches high when in bloom, is 

 rather like a dwarf 5. alpestris, but better 

 worthy of a place. It is, however, a little 

 particular as to soil, thriving best in rocky 

 ddbris, and refusing to grow where there 

 is much lime. 5. stellata is a graceful 

 plant from American woods, with starry 

 white flowers deeply fringed at the edges, 

 on stems of 18 inches high. S. Zawadski, 

 a neat Austrian species with white flowers 

 in spring. 



SILPHIUM (Rosin Plant) .Stout 

 N. American Sunflower-like perennials, 



of stately habit, and among those 

 which suggested the idea of the " wild 

 garden " to me. There they are at 

 home among the most vigorous 

 growers, as they thrive and flower 

 freely on the worst clay soils. 5. 

 laciniatum is a vigorous perennial with 

 a stout stem, often 8 feet in height, 

 and fine yellow-coloured flowers, on 

 drooping heads, which have the pecu- 

 liarity of facing the east. 5. per- 

 foliatum (Cup Plant) is 4 to 8 feet in 

 height, and has broad yellow leaves 

 6 to 15 inches long and flower-heads 

 about 2 inches across. 5. terebin- 

 thinaceum (Prairie Dock) has stems 



4 to 10 feet high, panicled at the 

 summit, and bearing many small heads 

 of light yellow flowers. A variety 

 (pinnatifidum) has leaves deeply cut 

 or pinnatifid. 5. terebinthinaceum 

 has a strong turpentine odour. Other 

 species are S. trifoliatum, S. integri- 

 folium, S. ternatum, and S. albiflorum, 

 in which the flowers are creamy-white 

 and nearly 4 inches across. If planted 

 in numbers in bold masses, these plants 

 produce a stately effect in the wild 

 garden, especially in autumn, but to do 

 well they need an open and sunny 

 space. 



SILYBUM (Milk Thistle}. S. mari- 

 anum is a vigorous naturalised plant, 



5 feet or more in height. Its large 

 leaves are cut and undulated, and 

 tipped and margined with scattered 

 spines ; they are bright glistening 

 green, with broad white veins. The 

 Milk Thistle is easily raised from seed, 

 and thrives in almost any well-drained 

 soil. A few plants raised in the 

 garden and planted out in rough and 

 somewhat bare places or banks will 

 soon establish themselves. 



SIMPLOCUS. A group of shrubs or 

 low trees allied to Styrax, only one of 

 which is of any importance in our 

 gardens. This is 5. cratcegoides, a 

 compact hardy shrub of 10 or 12 feet, 

 found in Asia from the Himalayas to 

 Japan whence all our plants have 

 come. The leaves vary much in form 

 and size, but are mostly ovate, scantily 

 covered with down on the under side, 

 and finely toothed. The small white 

 flowers, coming in dense clusters 

 during May, are of no great beauty, 

 but give place to brilliant blue berries 

 of fine appearance ; so far, however, 

 these do not seem to have been pro- 

 duced in this country. 



