DESCRIPTIVE- LIST OF FLO WEES. 203 



care if the stools are large, as they are very tough, re- 

 quiring a strong, sharp knife to divide them ; each por- 

 tion of the root must have an eye, as it will not grow 

 without. The time to separate the roots is very early in 

 the spring, or after it has done flowering in August. It 

 may also be propagated by sowing the seeds as soon as 

 they are ripe. The seeds are very hard, and do not vege- 

 tate freely. If sowed in the spring, boiling water should 

 be poured upon them. The plants will flower the second 

 year from the seed. 



DIDISCUS. 



Didiscus ccerulea. Sky-blue Didiscus. This is a hand- 

 some annual ; stem very much branched, producing its 

 fine sky-blue flowers in numerous umbels, or hemispheri- 

 cal heads, of the size and shape of a large quilled Aster ; 

 two feet high ; in flower July and August. Sow the seed 

 in the open ground in May. Plants, forwarded in a hot- 

 bed, will begin to flower in June. 



DIGITALIS. FOXGLOVE. 



[So named by Fuchs, from digitalis, a finger of a glove, in allusion to the 

 form of the flowers.] 



Digitalis purpurea> with purple flowers ; also a variety 

 D. alba, with white flowers. Ornamental plants of great 

 beauty, producing dense spikes of flowers on stems, three, 

 four, or five feet high, in June and July, and straggling 

 spikes most of the season. It is a biennial, propagated 

 by sowing the seeds ; flowers the second year. It may be 

 perpetuated by dividing the roots every year, and is 

 sometimes called an imperfect perennial. 



It is suitable for the border, and may be introduced in- 



