94 FAMILIAR GARDEN FLOWERS. 



means common, though in a few places plentiful, its 

 favourite haunts being woods and coppices. When 

 grown in the garden border it scatters its seeds plen- 

 tifully, and thus renews itself without any care. But 

 fine flowers are not often obtained from the plants 

 thus naturalised in the garden. There must be careful 

 selection and good cultivation to insure the establishment 

 of a good strain, and none but the best should ever be 

 allowed to remain after the first flowers have been seen. 

 The double kinds are certainly handsomer than the 

 single, and as they do not produce seed, or at all 

 events but little, they must be multiplied by division. 

 Any good soil will suit them, and.they bear partial 

 shade without injury. 



The economy of the reproduction of this flower is de- 

 serving of study. The nectaries, that may be likened to the 

 heads of birds, secrete a syrup that appears to be needed 

 to promote the growth of the stamens. These are pro- 

 duced in a series of circles which have been perfected suc- 

 cessively from within outwards, each series changing from 

 a recurved to an erect attitude to discharge its pollen, 

 the result being a very abundant production of seed. 



The hardy species of columbines that may be met 

 with in gardens where choice plants are cherished have 

 no place in the catalogue of " familiar " flowers. They 

 are, however, extremely beautiful and intensely inte- 

 resting. The most useful of all is the noble blue and 

 white Aquilegia glandwlosa, which rises to a foot in 

 height, and produces a profusion of flowers. Aquilegia 

 carulea is the most beautiful of all, though it is cer- 

 tainly not showy ; its large and singular flowers blue 

 and white, and tipped with green, and as it were twisted 



