MECONOPSIS. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



MKC.ARRHIZA. 



683 



of Thibet. The leaves are entire, taper- 

 ing at both ends, and covered with long 

 coarse hairs of a shining yellow colour. 

 The massive flowers are borne singly 

 upon slender stems of \\ to 2 feet, reach- 

 ing at their best 6 inches wide, and com- 



Meconopsis Wallichi. 



posed of large drooping petals of carmine- 

 red or reddish-purple. Even the wild 

 flowers show a tendency to become 

 double, which will doubtless increase 

 under cultivation. The plants grow in moist 

 meadows among grass and low shrubs. 



M. quintuplinervia. A perennial 

 kind from Manchuria, of dwarf growth as 

 a rosette of long-stemmed uncut leaves, 

 covered with reddish hairs and traversed 

 by five prominent veins. The -nodding 

 flowers come during summer upon hairy 

 stems of 6 to 12 inches, and are cup- 

 shaped, \\ inches wide, and pale violet 

 or purple with a large cluster of golden 

 stamens. 



M. racemosa. A rare plant but lately 

 introduced to this country. Its flowers 

 range in colour from pale lilac to deep 

 purple, and have given good seed in the 

 past autumn. China. 



M. simplicifolia has a tuft of lance- 

 shaped leaves, 3 to 5 in. long, slightly 

 toothed, and covered with a short, dense, 

 brownish pubescence. The unbranched 

 flower-stalk is about i ft. high, and bears 

 at its apex a single violet-purple blossom, 

 2 to 3 in. in diameter. 



M. Wallichi is the finest kind, and a 

 very handsome plant, between 4 and 5 ft. 

 high. It forms an erect pyramid, the 

 upper half of which is covered with pretty 

 pale blue blossoms, drooping gracefully 

 from slender branchlets. It is a most 

 conspicuous plant in the rock-garden, 

 where it withstands the winter without the 

 least injury. Well-grown specimens have 

 leaves 12 to 15 in. long, and a great 

 number of pale blue flowers, opening 

 terminally. Separate flowers do not last 

 long, but a few expand at a time, and it is 

 fully a month before they are all expanded 

 at the base, by which time the seeds 

 of those which opened first are nearly 

 ripe. 



The group is full of interest and beauty 

 of the highest kind for gardens, and we 

 may expect valuable additions to it. 



MEDEOLA VIRGINICA.-A North 

 American Liliaceous plant of no parti- 

 cular garden value. 



MEDICAGO(Af^V^). This is a large 

 genus, but it contains few, if any, good 

 garden plants. One or two are useful for 

 planting on banks or slopes, on which 

 their wide-spreading masses may be seen 

 to advantage. For this purpose the most 

 suitable are M. falcata and elegans, both 

 vigorous herbs with yellow flowers, thriv- 

 ing in almost any kind of soil. They are 

 not suited for choice collections, but 

 would yield good effects in certain special 

 cases. 



MEGACARP.EA POLYANDRA.- 

 A curious Cruciferous plant for botanical 

 gardens. 



MEGARRHIZA CALIFORNICA 

 (Californian Big Root}. A twining 

 Bryony-like plant, having an enormous 



