448 GENERAL REVIEW. 



Portulacas seed rather late in the autumn, and the best plan 

 is to pull up the plants before the autumn frosts appear, and 

 lay them on a sunny shelf in the greenhouse or window, where 

 they will keep fresh for a month or six weeks until the seeds 

 become perfectly ripe. Cuttings of the perennial species root 

 freely in dry sand or brick-dust if placed on an airy shelf in the 

 greenhouse fully exposed to the sun. 



THE PRIMROSE FAMILY 



This order of low-growing hardy or half-tender herbaceous 

 or evergreen plants has furnished us with some of the most 

 charming of all decorative plants, including the following 

 genera, all beautiful, and nearly all of easy culture : Anagallis, 

 Dodecatheon, Primula, Cyclamen, Androsace, Cortusa, Soldanella, 

 and Lysimachia. This pretty group is distributed throughout 

 Europe, America, North India, Japan, China, and one little- 

 known genus (Samolus) is common in North Holland. 



Anagallis {Pimpernel). Annual or perennial hardy or half- 

 hardy trailers, long grown in our gardens and very easily propa- 

 gated, the annuals by seed and the perennials by herbaceous 

 cuttings in the spring, or by seeds sown in a gentle heat ready 

 for planting out in May or June. Some form very pretty 

 basket-plants for conservatory or window culture. The species 

 are A. platyphylla, a large blue-flowered Algerian species, one 

 of the most beautiful ; A. alternifolia (yellow and pink), intro- 

 duced in 1839 fr m Ri Janeiro; 

 A. carnea (annual), Switzerland, 

 1819 ; A. fruticosa (orange-scar- 

 let), Morocco, 1803 ; A. indica 

 (blue), 1824; A. Monelli (blue), 

 introduced from Italy in 1648, 

 and of which there are several 

 garden varieties, including A. 

 Brewer ii, A. lilacina, A. P/ice- 

 nicea, A. Phillipsii, &c.; A. Wells- 

 iana is a hybrid raised in 1830; 

 . A. Marryatta is also of hybrid 



Flower of Pimpernel (Anagallis . . / J . 



arvensis\ enlarged. Origin, Said tO have been raiSCQ 



in 1828. Dean Herbert (see 



' Amaryllidaceae,' p. 379) observes that in Anagallis he had 

 seen a remarkable result, a distinct reddish-purple-flowered 

 variety having been obtained by crossing orange and blue 

 flowered kinds. 



