JANUARY 175 



sembles in shape the seed -pod of that other charming 

 wild flower, the Iris fatidissima, also much less grown 

 than it should be in semi -wild, damp places, with its 

 beautiful coral -red seed and strange -shaped, gaping 

 capsule, so decorative in a vase in winter. The seed- 

 covered branching growth of Montbretias mixes well 

 with the twiggy flower -stems of the Statice (or Sea Lav- 

 ender). 8. latlfolia is the best for winter decoration. 

 To return to Pceonia corallina. I have been able to get 

 some plants from Mr. Thompson. He says it is a greedy 

 feeder, that the seeds germinate slowly, and that the 

 plant grown from seed is long in coming to its flowering 

 time. It flowers in May and June, and in the autumn 

 the brown, downy pods open along their inner side and 

 display the seeds. It seems to be a most rare wild 

 flower, growing on an island in the Severn. Sir William 

 Hooker says it is to be found at Blaize Castle, near Bris- 

 tol. Gerarde mentions it, and says that he found it in a 

 rabbit warren at Southfleet in Kent. But in my edi- 

 tion the editor, Thomas Johnson, is sceptical, and adds 

 severely : ' I have been told that our author himself 

 planted that Peionie there, and afterwards seemed to 

 find it there by accident ; and I do believe it was so, be- 

 cause none before or since have ever seen or heard of its 

 growing wild in any part of this kingdom.' The origin 

 of the botanical word 'Paeonia' is from one Paeon, the 

 physician of the Olympian gods, who used the leaves 

 for healing, notably in the case of Pluto when he was 

 wounded by Hercules. 



January 16th. Last January someone sent me a cut- 

 ting out of ' The Scotsman' ; it was called ' Floral Notes 

 from the West Coast of Ross -shire.' The writer begins 

 by showing himself extremely proud, as is only natural, 

 of flowering his Lilium giganteum, nine feet high and 

 with nineteen perfect blooms on it. He also praises, 



