ARTEMISIA. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



ASCLEPIAS. 



Three kinds of easy culture are nigra, 

 arbutifolia, i\.n&floribunda. 



ARTEMISIA ( Wormwood}. Herbs 

 and low bushes covering a large part of 

 the surface of northern and arid regions. 

 Though often poor weeds, some have a 

 use in gardens, though rarely for their 

 flowers. A. anethifolia is one of the most 

 elegant herbaceous perennials, 5 ft. in 

 height. A. annua is a graceful plant 

 with tall stems 5 or 6 ft. high, the foliage 

 fine, and the flowers not showy in elegant 

 panicles. The hue is a fresh and pleas- 

 ing green, and the plant is a graceful 

 centre of a flower-bed or group. Other 

 kinds, like A. alpina and A. frigida, be- 

 long to an alpine group which is at home 

 in the rock-garden, while there are many 

 taller herbaceous and half-woody plants 

 of a silvery hue, such as A. Stelleriana, 

 A. cana, A. maritima, and some with 

 handsome Fern-like foliage, as A. tan- 

 acetifolia. 



ARUM (Cuckoo Pint}. Tuberous 

 rooted herbaceous plants of distinct form, 

 of which some from South Europe are 

 hardy, and of interest in our gardens. 

 They thrive best in warm borders and 

 about the sunny side of garden walls. 

 Some nine or ten kinds are found in South 

 Europe, two coming as far north as our 

 own country. They have, when in bloom, 

 a very offensive odour of carrion. 



A. crinitum (Dragon's Month). This 

 plant when in flower is very grotesque, 

 from the singular shape of its broad 

 speckled spathe. The leaves are cut 

 into deep segments, and the leaf-stalks, 

 overlapping each other, form a sort of 

 spurious stem I ft. or 14 in. high, marbled 

 and spotted with purplish-black. Warm 

 borders, fringes of shrubberies, or beds of 

 the smaller sub-tropical plants suit it best. 

 Division of tubers. 



A. Dracunculus (Dragons, Snake 

 Plant), from South Europe, attains a 

 height of 2 to 3 ft. ; the leaves large ; the 

 stalks and stem of a fleshy colour, deeply 

 mottled with black. It loves best a corner 

 to itself in sandy loam at the foot of a 

 south wall. Many would not care for a 

 plant having such an odour. Division. 



A. italicum (Italian Arum) is larger 

 than our native Arum ; the veins blotched 

 with yellow. As the leaves come very 

 early in the season, they are attractive. 

 In the autumn, when they have died 

 away, the clusters of scarlet berries, on 

 foot-stalks 10 in. or 12 in. long, are showy. 

 The true use for it is as a naturalised 

 plant, or in the shrubbery. 



Arundinaria. See BAMBUSA. 



ARUNDO (Great Reed). Important 



Grasses of fine form, sometimes of great 

 height. A. conspicua (New Zealand Reed) 

 is a Grass of noble form a companion 

 for the Pampas Grass, especially in the 

 western and southern counties and on 

 light soils. In fine deep loams it reaches 

 a height of nearly 12 ft., but perishes 

 from cold or other causes on many soils. 

 It flowers before the Pampas Grass. 

 It likes plenty of water nearly all the year 

 round, and may be increased by seeds or 

 division. A. Donax (GreatReed) is the 

 Great Reed of the south of Europe, a noble 

 plant on good soils, in the south of Eng- 

 land making canes 10 ft. high, in rich 

 soil, but in our country it has suffered 

 much in recent severe winters. Its varie- 

 gated variety is of some value for the 

 flower garden, and is nearly hardy in 

 the southern counties. A. Phragmites 

 (Common Reed) is the native marsh plant, 

 6 ft. or more high, bearing when in flower a 

 large, handsome, spreading, purplish pan- 

 icle. It is an excellent cover for water 

 birds. There is a good variegated form 

 which has more claims as a plant for the 

 waterside. 



&&&$XNIL(Asarabacca\ Curious little 

 plants resembling Cyclamens in their 

 leaves, but of little value except as 

 curiosities, or as wood plants in ordinary 

 garden soil. A. canadense is the Canadian 

 Snakeroot, which bears in spring curious 

 brownish-purple flowers, the roots being 

 strongly aromatic, like Ginger. A. vir- 

 ginicum is the Heart Snake-root, its leaves 

 thick and leathery, with the upper surface 

 mottled with white. A. caudatum is from 

 Oregon, and much like the others in habit, 

 but the divisions of the flower have long 

 tail-like appendages. A. europceum is the 

 Asarabacca, the flowers greenish, about 

 in. long, and close to the ground. 

 " ASCLEPIAS (Milk-weed, Silk-weed). 

 A large genus of strong growing herb- 

 aceous perennials, few of which are 

 adapted for the flower garden, as they re- 

 quire a good deal of room, and are not 

 attractive. They thrive in a light or peaty 

 soil and may be increased by division. 

 A. acuminata has red and white flowers. 

 A. amana, purple ; A. Cornuti (the 

 common Milk-weed) also known as A. 

 syriaca grows vigorously to a height of 

 4 ft., and bears umbels of deep purple 

 fragrant flowers, of which bees seem to 

 be fond. A. incarnata (the Swamp 

 Milk-weed) is a good waterside plant 

 with rose-purple flowers. A. quadrifolia 

 (Four-leaved Milk-weed) bears fragrant 

 terminal heads of lilac-white flowers 

 early in the summer. A. purpurascens 

 is also a waterside plant with purple 



