ACONITUM. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



ACTINIDIA. 



411 



ACONITUM (Monkshood).l2\\ and 

 handsome herbaceous plants, of theButter- 

 cup order, dangerous from their poison- 

 ous roots. There are many names not 

 so many species, of value for our gar- 

 dens. They should not be planted where 

 the roots could be by any chance dug up 

 by mistake for edible roots, as they are so 

 deadly : almost all the kinds may be easily 



Aconitum Napellus (Monkshood). 



naturalised in copses or shrubberies away 

 from the garden proper, or beside stream- 

 lets or in openings in rich bottoms. 



The best kinds are A. Napellus and its 

 forms, versicolor and others ; A. chinense, 

 A. autumnale, A.japonicum, and A. tauri- 

 cum ; A. Lycoctonum is a yellow-flowered 

 and vigorous species. They are from 

 3 ft. to 5 ft. high and flower from July to 

 September. A. Fortunei, the old A. 

 chinense of gardens, is the best for late 

 blooming. 



ACORUS (Sweet Flag). Waterside or 

 marsh plants of the arum order, easily 

 cultivated, and of wide distribution. A. 

 Calamus (Sweet Flag) is a marsh or water- 

 side plant, now naturalised in most parts 

 of Europe. A variety has gold-striped 

 leaves. A. gramineus (Grass-leaved 

 Acorus) has a slender creeping rhizome 

 covered with numerous Grass-like leaves, 

 from 4 in. to 6 in. in length, and 



there is a variety with white-streaked 

 leaves. This plant is often seen in the 

 little bronze trays of water-plants in 

 Japanese gardens and houses. China. 



ACROCLINIUM. A.roseumjhK, only 

 species, is a pretty half-hardy annual 

 from Western Australia, growing over 

 i foot high with rosy-pink flowers, which, 

 owing to their chaffiness, are used as 

 "everlasting" flowers. Seeds should be 

 sown in frames in March, and the 

 seedlings planted at the end of April or 

 early in May in a warm border ; or the 

 seeds may be sown in the open ground 

 in fine rich soil at the end of April. If 

 the flowers are to be dried as everlast- 

 ings, it will be well to gather them when 

 fresh and young some when scarcely 

 out of the bud state. This annual might 

 be 'made graceful use of in mixed beds. 

 There is a white variety. Composites. 



A C T JE A (Baneberry}. Vigorous 

 perennials of the Buttercup order, 3 ft. 

 to 6 ft. high, thriving in free soil ; flower 

 spikes, white and long, with showy 

 berries. The white Baneberry has white 

 berries with red footstalks. The var. 

 rubra of A. spicata has showy fruit ; the 

 plants are best suited for rich bottoms 

 in the wild garden, as though the foliage 

 and habit are good, the flowers are short- 

 lived in the ordinary border, and some- 

 what coarse in habit. A. spicata (com- 

 mon Baneberry or Herb Christopher), 

 A. racemosa (Black Snakeroot), A. alba 

 (white Baneberry), having white berries 

 with red stalks, and one or two American 

 forms of the common Baneberry are in 

 cultivation. The flowers have often a 

 very unpleasant smell. 



ACTINELLA. North American com- 

 posites of which there are three kinds in 

 gardens, dwarf-growing plants with yellow 

 flowers. The finest is A. grandiflora 

 (Pigmy Sunflower), a native of Colorado,, 

 an alpine plant with flower-heads 3 in. 

 in diameter, growing from 6 in. to 9 in. 

 high. The other species, A. acaulis, A. 

 Brandegei, and A. scaposa, are somewhat 

 similar. They are all perennial, and 

 thrive in a light soil. 



ACTINIDIA. Climbing summer-leaf- 

 ing shrubs of the Camellia order from 

 Japan and China,thriving in warm rich soil. 

 They all have climbing or twining stems 

 and bear waxy white flowers. A. Kolomik- 

 ta should be grown against a wall or 

 against a buttress or tree trunk placed 

 against the wall, on which the stems sup- 

 port themselves. The leaves are brightly 

 tinted in autumn, and the flowers of A., 

 polygama are fragrant. A. volubilis is 

 free-growing and has small white flowers. 



