DESCRIPTIVE LIST OP FLOWERS. 345 



RICINTJS.— Palma Christl— Castok-oil Plant. 



[From the Latin name for the tick, an insect which the seeds resemble.] 



Ricinus communis* — This is the common Castor-oil 

 Plant. A very luxuriant, strong-growing annual, some- 

 times found in the garden, not so much for its beauty as 

 for curiosity. Some of the species are ornamental as well 

 as curious. 



R. sanguineus, is well worthy of a place in the flower- 

 garden, where there is a plenty of room. The seeds 

 should be started in a hot-bed or green-house, and trans- 

 23lanted into small pots when they are three or four inches 

 high, and turned out into the garden in June. They 

 make a vigorous growth, and attain the heigbt of eight or 

 ten feet before the frost overtakes them, Avith numerous 

 side branches, with terminal spikes of greenish-yellow 

 flowers, one or one foot and one-half long; these are suc- 

 ceeded by thorny capsules of a light-scarlet color, which 

 are very ornamental. The stalks of the plants as well as 

 the foot-stalks of the leaves, are brownish-red. The leaves 

 are very large, palmate, and elegant. 



RTJDBECKIA. 



[Named after Olaus Rudbeck, professor of botany at Upsal.] 



A genus of North American plants, some of them valu- 

 able for the border ; all are hardy, and easily propagated 

 by dividing the roots. 



Rudb^ckia fiilgida has large, brilliant yellow flowers, 

 with a dark center, or disk ; about two feet high ; continu- 

 ing in bloom all the months of July and August ; peren- 

 nial. 



R. amplexifolia. — An herbaceous annual plant, grows 

 from two to three feet high; straight branching stems ; 

 lanceolated radical leaves, sinewy and petiolated ; the 

 15* 



