with a description of most of the Species and Varieties. 285 



from the 1st to the 6th of June. One of the single sorts 

 worthy of general cultivation. 



P. officinalis var. blanda. — A variety of the former, with 

 middle sized, pale purple, flowers, produced from the 1st to the 

 4th of June : same habit of its parent. Not very desirable. 



P. officinalis var. Sabini. — One of the most showy of all the 

 single ones: the flowers are extremely large, of a very brilliant 

 crimson, with bright yellow stamens and anthers: in foliage and 

 habit just like the last: in flower from the 4th to the 12th of June. 

 [t is a variety which should be in every garden. 



P. officinalis var. albicans. — With fine large double flowers, 

 of a pale rosy color, when they first expand, but gradually chang- 

 ing to a very pale blush, nearly white; it has the same habit of 

 the other varieties of the species, and is a free flowerer. In 

 bloom from the 4th to the 12th of June. One of the best. 



P. officinalis var. carnescens. — A very showy double variety, 

 with pale rosy flowers faintly striped with a deeper tint: habit 

 the same as its parent. In full flower from the 4th to the 12th of 

 June. Together with the last named, it should be found in ev- 

 ery good collection. 



P. officinalis var. rubra. — The well known, universally culti- 

 vated, and always admired old double red. We do not know 

 how long it has been in this country, though we presume some 

 of the older amateurs of the present day may have been the first 

 to import it. It commanded a great price when first known in 

 England. So general has it now become, that almost every vil- 

 lage garden possesses a clump of roots, and the little parterres 

 in front of cottages, by the road sides, throughout the country, 

 are decked with its gay blossoms in the month of June. All the 

 varieties of the officinalis are of the same habit as this, and 

 bloom at nearly the same time, from the 4th to the I2th of June; 

 in sunny situations, however, in a dry soil, they flower much 

 earlier. It is one of the showiest and most desirable, and only 

 wants rarity to render it a plant that would be more sought 

 after than any other variety of the herbaceous ones. It goes 

 under the name of atrorubens in some English nursery cata- 

 logues, having ourselves received it once under this name. 



P. albiflora. — This species is a native of Siberia, and was 

 introduced to England in 1784. It has large single white flow- 

 ers, with brilliant yellow stamens. It grows taller and more 

 erect than the officinalis and its varieties, (about three feet,) and 

 has a smooth shining foliage, much more ornamental than the 

 former. In perfection from the 8th to the IGth of .June. Not 

 so desirable as most of the varieties. 



P. albiflora r«r. vestalis. — A single white variety, with a simi- 

 lar liabit and cliaracter to the original species. It is also a native 

 of Siberia. Flowers from the 8th to the IGth of June. 



