118 



HARDY PERENNIALS AND 



a living specimen in the form of a bold clump. There is a wild 

 beauty about this subject which it is not easy to describe ; as a 

 flower it is insignificant, but the way in which the flowers are 

 disposed on the slender stems, blending with a quaintly pretty 

 foliage, neither too large nor dense, renders them effective in their 

 way. It is, however, only as a whole that it can be considered 

 decorative, and it should be well grown. 



Although most nearly related to the spiraeas the distinctions 

 from that genus are very marked, notably the very slender stems 



FIG. 45. GILLENIA TRIFOLIATA. 

 (One-sixth natural size ; blossom, full size.) 



and large flowers, which are produced singly on rather long- 

 bending pedicels, almost as fine as thread, and, like the stems, 

 of a bright brown (nearly ruddy) colour. The flowers form a lax 

 panicle, interspersed with a little foliage. The calyx is a bright 

 brown colour, rather large and bell-shaped. It contrasts finely 

 with the five long, narrow petals, which are white, tinted with 

 red ; they are also irregular in form and arrangement, somewhat 

 contorted. The leaves, as implied by the specific name, are 

 composed of three leaflets; they have very short stalks, and 

 the leaflets are all but sessile, lance-shaped, finely toothed or 



