HARDY PERENNIAL PLANTS. 131 



shaped, are arranged in very long racemes. The color is usually rose 

 and white. Although perennial, it is generally treated as a biennial. 

 Plants are easily raised from seeds. 



DODECATHEON (American Cowslip)— D. media, the only species 

 which I have seen in a wild state, grows in shaded positions, but it 

 makes most of its growth while the surrounding trees are leafless. The 

 soil is composed largely of vegetable humus. Most of the species thrive 

 well, but are not much grown in gardens; this is probably because their 

 period of bloom is short and the plants are apt to be lost sight of and 

 neglected when out of bloom. D. Clevelandii and D. Hendersonii are 

 Californian species of great beauty. Many varieties of hybrid origin are 

 cultivated in Europe, but they are seldom seen in America. The seeds 

 should be sown in places where they can remain undisturbed for at least 

 a year, as after germinating little progress is made the first season 

 beyond the formation of a root stock. 



DORONICUn (Leopard's Bane)— Useful plants, with yellow, daisy- 

 like flowers, blooming in May. D. plantagineum excelsum is one of the 

 best. Other good kinds are D. austriacum, D. caucasicum and D. par- 

 dahanches. They should be increased by division in the Fall. 



ERPETION (Viola) RENIFORME— A very dwarf plant, covering the 

 ground rapidly by means of runners, which are thrown out in great pro- 

 fusion. It blooms all Summer if given a shaded position on the rockery. 

 The flowers are small, blue and white; very showy. It will thrive in 

 any kind of soil if kept slightly moist during dry weather. In the lati- 

 tude of Washington, D. C, it is perfectly hardy. It is increased by seeds 

 or by division. 



FARFUGIUM GRANDE— This fine Japanese plant is now known as 

 Senecio Ksempferi aureo-maculata. It is among the best constitutioned 

 plants for the dwelling house. There is a beautiful kind with white 

 spotted leaves, which I have only grown for a couple of seasons, but I 

 suppose it to be as hardy as the yellow spotted one, which, by the way, 

 has stood outdoors at Washington, D. C, for the last 15 years. Old 

 plants, with numerous growths, will stand division best in early Spring. 

 Give the pieces a week in the sand bed previous to potting, in order to 

 start new roots. They thrive well in a loamy soil, well drained. The 

 pieces are potted after midsummer in a compost consisting largely of 

 leaf mould and sand, placed under cover of sash on the approach of cold 

 weather, to preserve the leaves in a fresh state, and brought indoors 

 when wanted to bloom. 



FATSIA (Aralia) PAPYRIFERA (Rice Paper Plant)— In this latitudethe 

 plants are annually killed to the ground, but they send up shoots in 

 Spring from the roots, which grow very rapidly, making very attractive 

 growths, sometimes 6 feet high, so that it may be treated as an herba- 

 ceous plant instead of a shrub, which it really is in its native country 

 and in localities with mild Winters. Its habit of growth resembles to a 

 certain extent that of the Castor Bean, but the plant is furnished with 

 leaves and retains them from the ground up all through the season. 

 Propagation is by pieces of the roots cut into lengths of 2 or 3 inches. 



