94 BRECK'S BOOK OF FLOWERS. 



to the garden. One of the finest, A. Nova Anglce, or New 

 England, is a strong-growing plant, three or four feet high, 

 with large purple flowers. 



A. multiflora is a very fine plant, producing its snow-white 

 flowers in beautiful wreaths, having small linear leaves, of a deep 

 glossy green ; two feet high. If we had never seen this so 

 common, and if it had been introduced from some foreign land, 

 it would no doubt produce quite a sensation among florists. 



A. puniceus has brilliant light-blue flowers ; grows three or 

 four feet high. 



A. cyanus has purplish-blue flowers ; three feet high. 



A. diffusus is a beautiful species, producing a profusion of 

 small white flowers with brownish disk; two to three feet high. 



A. puniceus, A. cordifolia, A. cory?nbosum, A. lesvis, A. 

 diversifolia, and many others, would be valuable acquisitions 

 to the large flower-garden, and all improved by transplanting. 

 They would open a wide field for improvement by hybridizing. 



ASCLEPIAS. 



Swallow- Wort. 



This is a numerous genus of plants, of which there are 

 found in the United States about twenty species. Many of 

 them are cultivated in England as ornamental plants, and, in 

 an extensive collection, they should be brought into the flower- 

 garden here ; arid a few of them in any collection, however 

 small.- 



The following are some of the species which may be found 

 in New England. Nos. 1, 4, 5, 6, 8, and 13, are some of the 

 most ornamental, and may be transplanted to gardens soon 

 after flowering. They are all perennials. 



" 1. Venosa has leaves elegantly variegated with white and 

 crimson veins, and the stems terminate in an umbel of pale, 

 flesh-colored flowers. 



