ON SHRUBBY BORDER 39 



laria : on the contrary, it is a pretty and pleasing little 

 plant, neat in its growth, very free blooming, and so 

 bright in colour as to be as cheering as a sunny morn- 

 ing. It is the gardeners who over-used it, and not the 

 plant itself, that we ought to condemn. Now that it has 

 settled down to the modest position to which its merits 

 entitle it, we can well afford to regard it with favour. 



The shape of the flower gave it its name. The re- 

 semblance to a slipper (calceolus) is not very close in 

 modern flowers, which come nearer to the form of a 

 tobacco-pouch than that of a slipper, but doubtless the 

 flowers have become rounder with cultivation. Florists 

 always try to take angles out of flowers, and make them 

 smooth and round. 



Although Calceolaria is a botanical name the public 

 has taken kindly to it so kindly, in fact, that it is often 

 affectionately reduced to the diminutive " Calcic," which 

 might almost be the name of a favourite daughter. The 

 pronunciation is Cal-se-o-lair'-i-a. The fancies of the 

 people with respect to plant names are past comprehen- 

 sion. Calceolaria would prove a troublesome mouthful, 

 one might have thought, to the class of gardener that gives 

 plants popular names ; but apparently it did not discom- 

 mode them. To be sure, the bedding Calceolarias are 

 comparatively modern plants, most of the species from 

 which the bedding varieties have sprung having been 

 introduce^ during the nineteenth century, so that the 

 plant plays no part in folk-lore or tradition. Integrifolia 

 (rugosa) came over in 1822, and we know that this was 

 used as a parent by hybridists. Perhaps floribunda 

 (petiolaris) and violacea were also used as parents. These 

 were introduced in 1843 and 1853 respectively. All 

 three species came from South America, and this being 

 so, we should not expect them to be hardy. 



