March Winds 



out of the assemblage is one of the jobs I have in store 

 for that day when I shall have some spare time. Perhaps a 

 broken leg might fix the date, but at present it does not 

 appear on my list of engagements. My first affection 

 for Lungworts dates from a day when I collected some 

 very distinct forms of P. saccharata from a little wood near 

 Bayonne, where they grew mingled with Narcissus pallidus 

 praecox. Purple and red-flowered forms were there, 

 charming with the sulphur of the Daffodil, and also their 

 leaves varied with larger or smaller mottling, and one form 

 had almost the whole leaf grey and white save for a narrow 

 edging of green. P. saccharata is one of the earliest to 

 flower, and the redder forms are very attractive ; they look 

 happier after a little frost than a frozen and thawed blue 

 one does, and if you cut away the seed heads and so induce 

 really strong leaves, the variety of their patterns is good to 

 see till flowering time comes back again. The best of all 

 red ones is a species, P. rubra, with large, pale green, 

 unspotted leaves. Its flowers are of a charming soft 

 scarlet-red, and never die off purple. If frequently 

 divided, and grown in good soil in sheltered corners, it 

 will often begin flowering in December and go on im- 

 proving accordingly as the weather does until May. The 

 best blue is a mysterious form known by many names, and 

 as my legs are still both sound I cannot yet hunt it down 

 accurately. It is generally known as P. azurea, which 

 authorities make but a form of angustifolia. I have long 

 known it as Mawson's Blue, and as it has short, wide, heart- 

 shaped leaves I hope it is not an angustifolia and doomed 

 to live under so false a name. It is dwarf, free flowering, 

 early, and easy to grow if divided every third year in fact 

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