6 54 



LYCIUM. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



LYONIA. 



a cool spot. The plants vary in height 

 considerably, and this should be taken 

 into account when choosing for permanent 

 bedding use. The variety called hybrida 

 is a veritable gem, dwarf, compact, and 

 giving an abundance of prettily fringed, 

 vivid scarlet flowers. The colours seem 

 fixed, and we have now good distinct 

 scarlet, crimson, pink, salmon, and several 

 white forms, all worthy of attention, and 

 suitable as substitutes for Geraniums in 

 summer bedding. They can be increased 

 with the greatest ease either by cuttings, 

 division, or when in quest of new forms 

 by seed, which is best sown as soon as 

 ripe in boxes and placed in a cold frame. 

 The seedlings by the end of May will be 

 ready to plant in their permanent quarters. 

 They may almost be treated as annuals 

 or biennials, especially in heavy soils, 

 where the hopes of their living through 

 severe winter in northern counties will be 

 limited indeed. In the neighbourhood of 

 London they give very little trouble, and 

 are a source of much enjoyment. 



L. Lagascae. A lovely dwarf alpine 

 plant, with many bright rose-coloured 

 flowers, about f in. across. It is suited 

 for adorning fissures on the exposed faces 

 of rocks, associated with the smallest 

 alpine plants. It is easily cultivated in 

 the rock-garden in any free sandy or 

 gritty soil. An exposed position should 

 be preferred, as the plant is very free in 

 growth. The flowers appear in early 

 summer, and if not weakened by shade, 

 or by being placed in frames, are in fine 

 condition when the plant is about 3 in. 

 high. Readily increased by seed. Syn., 

 Petrocoptis Lagascse. 



L. Viscaria (Gentian Catchfly). A 

 British plant, with long Grass-like leaves, 

 bearing in June many showy panicles of 

 rosy-red flowers, on stems 10 to nearly 

 1 8 in. high. The bright-coloured variety 

 called splendens is the most worthy of 

 cultivation. L. V. alba, a charming white 

 variety, is worthy of a place in gardens, 

 as also is the double variety, which has 

 rocket-like blooms. They are excellent 

 for the rougher parts of the rock-garden, 

 and as border plants on dry soils. The 

 double variety is used with good effect as 

 an edging plant about Paris. Easily pro- 

 pagated by seed or division. 



LYCIUM (Box Thorn). Rambling 

 shrubs, the best-known being L. europasum, 

 a common climber on cottage walls. 

 Though not a showy flowering shrub, few 

 others are so rapid in growth, so graceful, 

 and so indifferent to the nature of the soil. 

 It is also suited for covering porches, 

 pergolas, and arbours, and in late summer 



and autumn, when every long drooping 

 branch is thickly hung with small orange- 

 scarlet berries, it is pretty. The flowers 

 are small, purple and white, and the 

 unripe berries are of the same tints. The 

 description of L. europasum may be taken 

 as applying to the 

 other kinds in gar- 

 dens, as they are all 

 much alike, though 

 differing more or 

 less in a botanical 

 sense. The com- 

 monest kinds are 

 L. chinense, from 

 China ; L. barbar- 

 um, from North 

 Asia ; L. afrum, 

 from North Africa ; 

 L. Trewianum, and 

 L. ruthenicum. 

 They are of rapid 

 growth, and there- 

 fore suitable for 

 covering high 

 walls, though all are 

 deciduous. Some- 

 times hedges are 

 made of Box 

 Thorns, for, as they 

 all throw up numer- 

 ous suckers, the 

 hedge soon be- 

 comes thick. There 

 is a species named 

 L. chilense against 

 one of the walls at Kew, which seems 

 to be more rapid in growth than the rest. 



LYCOPODIUM (Ground Pine). L. 

 dendroideum is a very distinct Club Moss, 

 worth a place in the rock-garden, its little 

 stems, 6 to 9 in. high, much branched, and 

 clothed with small, bright, shining green 

 leaves. It flourishes best in a deep bed 

 of moist peat in a low part of the rock- 

 garden, where its distinct habit is attractive 

 at all seasons. Difficult to increase, it is 

 rare in this country. N. America, in moist 

 thin woods. 



LYGODIUM(C//;;/<toj^>r). L.pal- 

 matum is an elegant North American twin- 

 ing fern, hardy in a deep, peaty, moist soil if 

 in a sheltered and partially shady position. 

 The wiry stems are furnished with delicate 

 green fronds. It may be allowed to trail 

 on the ground, but it prefers to twine 

 around the branches of some shrub. 



LYONIA. Plants allied to Andro- 

 meda ; indeed the species belonging to it, 

 numbering about three, are sometimes 

 called Andromedas. They are not im- 

 portant, but would add interest to a col- 

 lection of peat-loving shrubs. The chief 



Lycium chinense. 



