GARDEN FLOWERS. 2O/ 



perennials and annuals : the latter are not worth cultivating ; 

 the former are of coarse habit, and of little horticultural im- 

 portance. The flowers are yellow. Common soil. In- 

 creased by division. 



IONOPSIDUM. Violet Cress. [Cruciferas.] A pretty 

 dwarf, half-hardy annual, forming a beautiful plant for rock- 

 work in a shady situation, or an undergrowth for a peat bor- 

 der, or for pot-culture. It forms close to the soil a compact 

 tuft, studded with numerous lilac, cross-shaped flowers. 



/. acaule (stemless) ; half-hardy annual ; i inches ; flowers 

 lilac, at various seasons ; Portugal ; 1845. 



IPOMCEA. [Convolvulaceae.] A large genus of showy 

 convolvulus-like plants, consisting mostly of climbing spe- 

 cies, of which the greater number require a stove tempera- 

 ture. The sub-shrubby and perennial kinds are increased 

 by cuttings of the short lateral shoots in sandy soil, under 

 glasses. Those which have fleshy roots are more difficult 

 to propagate, unless cuttings of the young shoots, which 

 break from the crown of the tuber are taken : they require 

 brisk bottom-heat. The tuberous, fleshy-rooted sorts may 

 sometimes be increased by division, but not readily : por- 

 tions of the roots, however, of the commoner sorts serve as 

 stocks on which the rarer and more difficult may be grafted 

 with success by what is called herbaceous grafting ; a good 

 heat and a close frame being indispensable. The annuals 

 are raised by seeds sown in a hot-bed in early spring. The 

 soil for them should be turfy peat and sandy loam, with 

 plenty of gritty sand added, and the roots well drained. 

 The fleshy-rooted kinds require to be kept moderately dry in 

 winter. Their habit is various. Some bloom in the axils 

 along the branches ; and others, including I. Horsfallioe^ 

 which is one of the best, bloom only at the end of the 

 shoots. With these latter, it is a practice to top the shoots 



