284 breck's new book of flowers. 



the Gentian Family. A very pretty flowering annual 

 from California, one foot high. The plant produces a 

 profusion of showy flowers, of a fine golden-yellow color. 

 Each bloom about two and one-half inches across. It de- 

 liglits in a sheltered sunny situation, and, if grown in a 

 rich light soil, will bloom profusely. The plant requires 

 to be raised as a frame annual, and to be planted in the 

 border in June. 



MERTENSIA.— Smooth Lungwort. 



[Named for a German botanist, Prof. Mertens.'] 



Mertensia Vir^inica. — Virginian Cowslip or Lung- 

 wort. — An indigenous, hardy perennial, which occurs 

 pretty commonly in the shady woods of Pennsylvania, 

 and most of the southern and western States. Its flow- 

 ers, which appear early in May, look like so many small, 

 bright blue, pendulous funnels, each springing out of a 

 prismatic, pentagonal, five-tooth calyx ; flower-stems from 

 one to one and one-half foot high. After flowering, the 

 plant to appearance dies, and it is not seen until the fol- 

 lowing spring. This is one of the most elegant orna- 

 ments of the flower-garden in May. It is propagated by 

 divisions of the roots, which are thick, fleshy, or tuberous. 

 M. maritima and M. Slhirica^ are elegant perennials, 

 greatly resembling each other and considered by some as 

 only varieties. They are among the most elegant orna- 

 ments of the flower-garden, in dry springs ; but they re- 

 quire some care in keeping, unless in a soil almost entirely 

 of sand. These species are sometimes placed under Pul- 

 monaria^ to which they are closely related. Pulmonaria 

 officindlis — the Medicinal Lungwort — is sometimes cul- 

 tivated. It is a native of Euro])e, in bloom from April to 

 June, with clusters of red and blueish purple flowers, 

 with spotted leaves ; six inches high. 



