808 SCUTELLARIA. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



SEDUM. 



represents the extreme form of variation. 

 J. M. S. 



SCUTELLARIA (Skullcap}. Hardy 

 perennials, several in cultivation, but few 

 are good garden plants. These few are 

 handsome flowers for the border, and on 

 account of their dwarf neat growth may 

 be given a place in a large rock-garden 

 in an open sunny situation in any soil. 

 S. macrantha, a native of Siberia, is the 

 finest of all the species. It is an excellent 

 alpine perennial, forming a hard woody 

 root-stock, is 9 in. high, and produces an j 

 abundance of rich, velvety, dark blue 

 flowers, much finer in colour than those 

 of S. japonica. S. japonica is, however, 

 a handsome plant. The alpine Skullcap 

 (S. alpina) is a spreading plant with all 

 the vigour of the coarsest weeds of its 

 Natural Order, but neat in habit and 

 ornamental in flower. The stems are 

 prostrate, but so abundant that they rise 

 in a full round tuft, i ft. or more high in 

 the centre. The leaves are ovate, roundish 

 or heart-shaped at the base, and have 

 very notched and very short stalks, while 

 the flowers are borne in terminal heads, 

 short at first, but afterwards elongating. 

 These flowers are purplish, or have the 

 lower lip white or yellow. The variety 

 bicolor, with the upper lip purplish and 

 the lower white, is very pretty. S. lupulina 

 is a very ornamental kind with yellow 

 flowers. Pyrenees, Swiss and Tyrolese 

 Alps, and many other parts of Europe 

 and Asia. Division. Flowering free in 

 summer. These kinds are admirably 

 suited for borders, the margins of shrub- 

 beries, and the rougher parts of the rock- 

 garden. S. japonica, S. orientalis, S. 

 scordiifolia, S. altaica, S. galericulata, S. 

 peregrina, and the British S. minor, an 

 interesting little plant for the artificial bog, 

 are among the best of the other cultivated 

 kinds, but it is doubtful if they are worth 

 a place in any but a very large collection. 

 Division or seed. 



SCYPHANTHUS (Cuf-flower). S. 

 elegans is a beautiful slender climber, 5 to 

 8 ft. high, with forked stems, and valuable 

 for trailing over a trellis or against a wall. 

 Its leaves are deeply cut and enhance its 

 graceful appearance. The flowers come 

 singly in the forks of the branches. They 

 are cup-like in shape, and are of a bright 

 golden-yellow, with fine red spots inside. 

 They appear profusely from August till 

 October. S. elegans is easily cultivated 

 in rich light soil, and should be treated 

 as a half-hardy annual. Chili. 



SEDUM (Stonecrop\ Rock and alpine 

 plants which thrive in our gardens in 

 nearly every soil. They may be grown in 



the ordinary border, in the rock-garden, 

 on walls, and on ruins, and, indeed, in 

 any place where the roots can obtain 

 a foothold. Like the Saxifrages, they 

 represent a great diversity of habit, some, 

 like S. acre, being humble and creeping ; 

 while others, like S. spectabile, are 

 stately plants for the border. A great 

 many are in cultivation, and we mention 

 the most desirable of the hardy kinds, 

 which are nearly all easily-cultivated 

 perennials. 



S. acre (Wall Pepper). This little 

 plant, with its small, thick, bright green 

 leaves and its brilliant yellow flowers, 

 grows abundantly on walls, thatch, rocks, 

 and sandy places. The variegated variety 

 (aureum) has shoots with tips of a yellow 

 hue in early spring, and the tufts or flakes 

 look quite showy. The silvery tones of 

 the variety elegans are not so effective ; 

 nor is the plant so vigorous as the variety 

 aureum. This is beautiful in the winter 

 garden ; its golden tips peep out in 

 November, and only vanish with the heat 

 of May. S. sexangulare is similar to 

 S. acre. 



S. Aizoon is I ft. or more in height, 

 with erect stems terminated by dense 

 clusters of yellow flowers. It is an old 

 garden plant for the border or large rock- 

 garden, and requires open positions and 

 a light soil. Siberia and Japan. S. 

 Maximowiczi and S. Selskyanum are 

 similar. 



S. Ewersi. A neat little hardy plant, 

 rarely more than 3 in. high, with broad 

 glaucous silvery leaves and corymbs of 

 purplish flowers. N. India and Asia. 



S. glaucum. A minute species of a 

 grayish tone, forming dense spreading 

 tufts of short stems, densely clothed with 

 thick leaves and inconspicuous flowers. 

 Other Sedums are nearly allied to it ; 

 for instance, S. dasyphyllum, S. glanduli- 

 ferum, S. farinosum, and S. brevifolium ; 

 but though hardy on walls and rocks, they 

 have not the vigour of many Stonecrops. 

 S. Lydium. A pretty little plant from 

 Asia Minor, scarcely an inch high, similar 

 to S. glaucum, except that the tiny crowded 

 leaves are greenish and tipped with red. 

 For edgings, or slopes bordering footpaths 

 it is not excelled, and likes plenty of 

 moisture. It roots on the surface with 

 great rapidity, and may, therefore, be 

 speedily propagated. Very small pieces 

 put in the soil in spring soon form a mass 

 of rich verdure, scarcely an inch in height, 

 and as level as a turf. 



S. maximum, like S. Telephium, is 

 variable, there being no fewer than a 

 dozen named varieties. Of these by far 



