OLD-FASHIONED GARDEN FLOWERS. 289 



never seen it. In no way does the mention here of this lovely 

 little flower need an apology: the best possible reasons for 

 growing and recommending it are in the facts that it is very 

 beautiful and greatly admired (see Fig. 103). 



The flowers, which are fin. across, are salver-shaped, pure 

 white, excepting for a day or two when newly opened, then they 

 are stained with a soft pink ; the calyx has eight handsome 

 light green, shining, awl-shaped sepals; the corolla has five 

 to nine petals, equal in size, flatly and evenly arranged, their 

 pointed tips forming the star-like appearance from which 



FIG. 103. TEIENTALIS ETJROPJEA. 

 (Plant, one-third natural size; blossom, full size.) 



the flower takes one of its common names; the flower 

 stalks are exceedingly fine thready but firm, from lin. to 

 Sin. long, and each carries but one flower; they issue from 

 the axils of the leaves, which are arranged in whorls of five or 

 seven, and nearly as many blossoms will be produced from the 

 whorl, but seldom more than one, and hardly ever more than 

 two, flowers will be open together, when they occupy the cen- 

 tral position of the foliage, which gives the plant an elegant 

 appearance. The leaves are of a pale green colour, sometimes 

 a little bronzed at the tips, veined, entire, bald, lance-shaped, 



u 



