164 BRECK'S BOOK OF FLOWERS. 



AMMOBIUM. 



Ammobium alatum. Winged Ammobium. This is a very 

 pretty half-hardy annual, with composite white flowers, or with 

 white, dry, involucral scales, like some of the everlastings. 

 The flowers, when gathered before they fully mature, retain 

 their shape and brightness, and are fit companions for the 

 Globe Amaranths, Immortal Flower, &c., for winter orna- 

 ments. It grows two feet high ; in flower from June to Octo- 

 ber. The stems have a curious winged attachment their 

 whole length. 



ANAGALLIS. 



Aiiagattis Indica. Indian Anagallis. A dwarf trailing 

 plant, with blue flowers, in July and August. 



ASTER CHINENIS. 



NOW CALLISTEMME HOETENSIS. 



China Aster. 



The Double China Aster, now known as the German Aster, 

 has, within a few years, been very much improved and per- 

 fected by the German florists, and others, so that it is hardly to 

 be recognized as the same flower as the old China Aster of the 

 flower-garden. The varieties are now very numerous, and 

 possess exceeding beauty, some of them being almost as large 

 as a small Dahlia, and much more graceful. The full-quilled 

 varieties are the most highly esteemed, having a hemispherical 

 shape, either a pure white, clear blue, purple, rose, or deep red ; 

 or beautifully mottled, striped, or edged, with those colors, or 

 having a red or blue centre. They are also of various habits : 

 some dwarf, others taller, some spreading, and others growing 

 erect and very much branched. Seeds, sown in the fall of the 



