750 TowfcsENbiA. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. TRAPA. 



increasing number of hybrid Limes, some 

 of which promise to be of value. 



TOWNSENDIA (Rocky Mountain 

 Daisy) . A group of low - stemmed 

 annual or perennial herbs with large 

 Aster-like flowers, from the mountains 

 of N.W. America. In some kinds 

 the flowers are large and handsome, but 

 only three are as yet in cultivation. 

 T. grandiflora is a dwarf plant with 

 grey foliage and large white flowers ; 

 T. sericea makes stemless rosettes of 

 silvery leaves with a stemless flower 

 i to 2 inches across in the centre of 

 each, the rays of which are pure white 

 or tipped with purple. This plant 

 flowers so early as to have earned the 

 name of Easter Daisy with the 

 colonists. T. Wilcoxiana is a pretty 

 little alpine plant of creeping habit, 

 with rosy Aster-like flowers in May 

 and June. All the kinds need a shel- 

 tered sunny place in light dry soil, 

 and their degree of hardiness is not 

 fully known. 



TRACHELIUM (Blue Throatwort). 

 T. cceruleum is a much-branched peren- 

 nial, i to 2 feet high, bearing in summer 

 broad clusters of small blossoms, blue 

 in the type and white and lilac in the 

 varieties. It can be grown only in 

 the warmest situations in dry borders, 

 rocky banks, and old ruins or walls. 

 It is an elegant plant for vases, etc. 

 Mediterranean. Seed or cuttings. T. 

 rumelianum is a much dwarfer plant 

 from Greece, requiring similar treat- 

 ment and bearing pale violet flowers. 



TR A CHELO SPERMUM ( Chinese 

 Jasmine) . Climbing shrubs with ever- 

 green leaves and fragrant white 

 flowers, hardy upon warm walls in 

 favoured places. T. jasminoides (once 

 known as Rhynchospermum) was for- 

 merly much grown under glass, but 

 has done well in the open air in the 

 south and south-west of England and 

 Ireland. Even in the north of Wales 

 there is a sheltered house-front near 

 the sea completely covered with it. 

 The plant flowers well at Gravetye 

 against a west wall without protection. 

 T. crocostemon is even hardier, growing 

 and flowering on a wall at Kew, with 



Erotection in severe weather. Until 

 itely this plant passed as a narrow- 

 leaved variety (angustifolia) of the 

 older one, but when it bloomed freely 

 in 1903 the flowers proved to be dis- 

 tinct creamy-white with an orange 

 centre. T. angustifolia is also quite 

 hardy on a wall facing east. These 

 shrubs are neatly attractive, of rather 



slow growth, and the flowers useful for 

 cutting. A light or peaty soil and a 

 sheltered wall are the best conditions, 

 with protection at the root during 

 frost. They will grow well in partial 

 shade. Increase by half-ripe cuttings 

 of the young shoots, rooted in heat. 

 Japan. Syn., Rhynchospermum. 



Trachycarpus. See CHAM^ROPS. 



TRACHYSTEMON. Two species of 

 hardy perennials belonging to the 

 Borage family. T. orientalis is a 

 dwarf border plant blooming in early 

 spring. Its broad hairy leaves are a 

 pretty bronze or purple colour while 

 young, and the hairy stems of 9 to 

 12 inches carry long-stemmed rosy- 



Eurple buds opening as blue and white 

 owers. Thrives in any soil, and is 

 readily increased by seeds or division. 

 Asia Minor. 



TRADESCANTIA (Virginian Spider- 

 wort). -- Perennials, some of them 

 quite hardy, of which T. virgin ica 

 with its varieties is the best. It is 

 12 to 30 inches high, and has showy 

 purple flowers in summer. There are 

 varieties with white, mauve, rosy-blue, 

 and deep red flowers, and there are 

 also double-flowered forms of most of 

 these, as well as of the parent plant. 

 They thrive in moist soil, and arc 

 useful for the mixed border. Division. 



TRAPA (Water Chestnut). Water 

 plants with nut-like seeds used as food 

 in the countries where they grow. T. 

 natans is an annual kind from the south 

 of Europe, which makes floating tufts 

 of triangular bronzed leaves buoyed 

 up in the water by their inflated 

 stems. The submerged leaves are a 

 different shape, finely divided and 

 serve partly as roots. The pretty 

 white and purple flowers float about 

 among the leaves, and are followed by 

 peculiar fruits, with a hard shell and 

 sweet white kernels, which have the 

 flavour of a Spanish chestnut, and are 



fDod to eat either raw or cooked, 

 hough it will grow out of doors in 

 summer, the plant seldom comes to 

 perfection with us, unless in water 

 warmed by overflow from a hothouse 

 tank or other means. A depth of 

 about 2 feet is sufficient, and as they 

 ripen in October the fruits reserved 

 for seed sink to the bottom, whence 

 they rise of themselves on starting into 

 growth in spring. The seed is difficult 

 to preserve in any other way, and 

 unless quite fresh is seldom good. 



