2 3 8 POPULAR GARDEN FLOWERS 



play, " The Two Noble Kinsmen," where the phrase 

 " Larks' heels trim " appears. 



The annual Larkspur may be claimed fairly as a 

 British plant, because it would seem to have derived 

 from the two species ajacis and consolida. We are 

 told that the former was introduced from Switzerland 

 in 1573, but it is naturalised in Cambridgeshire, accord- 

 ing to Mr. Thomas Fox. With respect to the other 

 species, it is a true native. Both flower in a wild state 

 in June. There are no wild perennial forms. 



The perennial herbaceous Larkspur which all classes 

 agree to call Delphiniums have sprung from the three 

 blue Siberian species, cheilanthum, datum, and grandi- 

 florum, the blue Italian species peregrinum, and the blue 

 garden hybrid formosum. These have been crossed, 

 and the progeny intercrossed, by Kelway and other well- 

 known modern florists, to an extent that it would be 

 difficult even to guess at. The varieties so produced 

 have been given distinguishing names, and they have 

 raised the plant to a position of high importance in 

 modern gardening. Delphiniums play a part, indeed, 

 that few other plants are fitted to fill. Their growth 

 is so vigorous, their spikes so tall, that they make noble 

 pictures in themselves ; and those amateurs who con- 

 sider that the most striking form of flower gardening 

 is to make a few bold groups of selected plants, seize 

 on the Delphinium as peculiarly a plant for their 

 purpose. The interest of the perennial Larkspur does 

 not lie wholly in its flowers, for the leaves are distinct 

 and handsome. Kelway likens them, not inaptly, 

 to those of the Acanthus, or Bear's Breech, a plant 

 whose foliage is said to have suggested the Corinthian 

 style of architecture. The leaves are broad and deeply 

 cut, and are set on strong, whitish flower-stems. 



