THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN, 



ALLOSORUS. 



415 



down annually, taking care to prevent it 

 from breaking into an irregular head. 

 Vigorous young plants and suckers in 

 good soil will produce handsome arching 

 leaves 5 ft. or more long, not surpassed 

 by those of any stove plant. Cuttings of 

 the roots. 



AIRA (Hair Grass], Graceful grasses, 

 of which one of the prettiest is A.pulchella, 

 with many hair-like stems, growing in light 

 tufts 6in.high. It is useful forforming grace- 

 ful edgings, amongst plants in borders, or 

 for pots for rooms. Its delicate panicles 

 give a charm to the finest bouquets. Seed 

 may be sown either in September or in 

 April. This comes from South Europe, 

 and the British A. ccespitosa is handsome. 

 A. c. vivipara, with its innumerable 

 panicles of graceful viviparous awns, re- 

 sembles a miniature Pampas Grass. A. 

 flexuosa (the Waved Hair grass) is a 

 pretty and graceful perennial. Of easy 

 culture in ordinary garden soil. 



AJUGA (Bugle], A small family of 

 dwarf herbs of the sage order, flowering 

 in spring and early summer, and having 

 blue flowers. They grow on mountain 



genevensis. 



or lowland pastures, are easily cultivated 

 and increased by division. A, genevensis 

 is among the best, and is distinguished 

 from the Common native Bugle (A. 

 reptans) by the absence of creeping shoots. 

 The flower-stems are erect, from 6 in. to 



9 in. high ; the flowers deep blue, and 

 in a close spike. It is suitable for the 

 front of mixed borders or for the margin 

 of shrubberies, and also for naturalising. 

 There is a white variety of A. reptans, also 

 a form with variegated leaves, and another 

 with purplish ones, this being finer than 

 the type. 



AKEBIA. Of these climbing or twin- 

 ing shrubs of the Barberry order, A, 

 quinata is best known. It comes from 

 China, often grown in greenhouses, but 

 hardy. It is a good plant for a trellis, per- 

 gola, wall, or any such place in cold dis- 

 tricts, growing 12 ft. or more high. In 

 southern localities it does not need this, but 

 rambles like a Clematis. It is best to let 

 it run over an Evergreen, being then better 

 protected against cold winds, which may 

 injur e its flowers. It has long slender 

 shoots, and fragrant claret purple flowers 

 of two kinds large and small, which are 

 produced in drooping spikes. The 

 Japanese^, lobata is a climber of elegant 

 growth, and, although the flowers are 

 small and dull, they are very fragrant. 



ALISMA (Water Plantain}. Water 

 plants, of which two are fitted for growing 

 with hardy aquatic plants. A, Plantago, is 

 rather stately in habit, having tall panicles 

 of pretty pink flowers. When once planted 

 it sows itself freely. The other kind is 

 A, ranunculoides, a few inches high, in 

 summer bearing many rosy blossoms. 

 Both are adapted for wet ditches, margins 

 of pools, and lakes. A. natans is a small 

 floating pretty British plant. There are 

 one or two Chinese kinds, single and 

 double. 



ALLIUM (Garlic, Chive, Onion}, 

 Liliaceous bulbs. Not often important 

 for the garden, and frequently with an 

 unpleasant odour when crushed ; but to 

 growers of collections there are some in- 

 teresting kinds, of which a few are worth 

 growing. They thrive in ordinary 

 soil, the bulbs increasing rapidly. Some 

 kinds give off little bulblets, which 

 in certain situations make them too 

 numerous. The following are among 

 the kinds worthy of culture : A, neapoli- 

 tanum,paradoxum, ciliatum, subhirsutum, 

 Clusianum pulchellum, triquetrum (all 

 with white flowers), azureum and cceru- 

 leum (blue), pedemontanum (mauve), 

 Moly and flavum (yellow), fragrans 

 (sweet scented), oreophyllum (crimson), 

 descendens (deep crimson), narcissiftorum 

 (purplish), Murray anum, acuminatum, 

 and Macnabianuni (deep rose). These 

 mostly grow from I ft. to 18 in. high, some 

 2 ft. or 3 ft. 



ALLOSORUS (Parsley Fern}. A. 



