OLD-FASHIONED GARDEN FLOWERS. 123 



on. Some are notched, others slightly toothed, but many are 

 entire. All are waved or contorted, wrinkled and thickened at 

 the edges, where the younger leaves show a brown line ; the 

 under sides are pale green, and furnished with short stiff brown 

 hairs, as also are the stout leaf stalks. The upper side of the 

 foliage is a dark glossy green, with shadings of brown. In sub- 

 stance the leaves are leathery, inclining to stiffness. The 

 stunted branches have a cork-like appearance as regards the 

 bark, are diffuse, curiously bent, and sometimes twisted loosely 

 together. It is of slow growth, more especially in the upward 

 direction, and though provision may be made for it to cling and 

 climb, and it has also well-formed roots on the branchlets, still, 

 it assumes more the tree- shape. I never saw or heard of its 

 flowering, much less that it ever produced seed ; if it does not 

 seed we are not only deprived of an ornamental feature belonging 

 to the genus from the absence of berries, but it proves that it is 

 only a variety of some species. 



It may be grown in any kind of sandy soil, and nothing special 

 whatever is needed. An open sunny situation will favour its 

 form and colour of foliage ; under trees I have found it to 

 produce larger leaves of plainer shape and more even colour. 

 During the winter it becomes a conspicuous object on rockwork, 

 where it seems most at home. It may be propagated by cuttings, 

 and spring is a suitable season to lay them in; in well dug 

 light soil they soon make plenty of roots. 



Helianthus Multiflorus. 



MANY-FLOWERED SUNFLOWER; Nat. Ord. COMPOSITE. 

 THIS fashionable flower is glaringly showy. Still, it is not 

 wanting in beauty; moreover, it belongs to an " old-fashioned" 

 class, and is itself a species which has been grown for nearly 

 300 years in English gardens. It was brought from North 

 America in the year 1597, and during the whole of its history in 

 this country, it can hardly ever have been more esteemed than 

 it is to-day ; it is very hardy, and in every way a reliable subject. 

 Everybody knows the Sunflower, therefore no one will care to 

 read a description of it ; still, one or two remarks may, perhaps, 

 be usefully made in the comparative sense, as this is a numerous 

 genus. Many of the Sunflowers are annuals, to which this and 

 others of a perennial character are much superior, not only in 

 being less trouble and not liable to be out of season from mis- 

 management in sowing and planting, as with the annual sorts, 

 but from the fact that their flowers are of better substance and 

 far more durable ; they are also less in size and more in number 

 two points of great gain as regards their usefulness as cut 

 bloom. They are, besides, better coloured, and the flowering 

 season more prolonged. Well-established specimens, two or 



