268 A Chapter on Everlasting or hnmortal Flowers. 



Ji. maciilata, a splendid novelty, rose, with yellow disk and dark-crimson 

 ring. 



R. 7?iacHlafa alba. — This sport from the beautiful R. maadata is identi- 

 cal with it in habit, and differs only in the color of the ray-scales, which 

 are of the purest and most silvery white ; the disk being yellow, as in R. tna- 

 culata. Admirable when fully expanded, it is indescribably so when in 

 bud ; and, preserved under a glass shade from dust, affords an ornament for 

 the table or chimney-piece, unapproachable in elegance. It is unquestion- 

 ably the finest white everlasting in cultivation. 



R. atrosangiiinea. — This beautiful and very distinct species differs from 

 the R. maculata in its dwarfer and more branching habit, longer and more 

 pointed foliage, and especially by the color of its flowers, which have the 

 entire disk of a dark-purple or crimson-brown shade, varying in some speci- 

 mens to almost a dark violet and maroon, as in Coreopsis tinctoria and its 

 varieties. The ray-scales are of a bright purple, or magenta. A good idea 

 may be formed of the color from the well-known Mesembryantlmmwi tricolor., 

 which it much resembles ; but there is no white around the dark eye of 

 the flower, as in that plant. 



Hclichryswn bracteatinn (Golden Eternal Flower). — This immortelle 

 has been known for a long time among us, producing golden-yellow or 

 silvery-white flowers, but much inferior to many of the beautiful Hclichrysutns, 

 sometimes called Elichrysujtis, which have been introduced of late years. 

 The name is from Greek words, signifying swi and gold, in allusion to the 

 golden-yellow flowers of the yellow variety. All the varieties of the ITeli- 

 chrystims are easily grown in any good loamy, rich soils. They may be 

 sown in the open ground by the middle of May ; but succeed better, grow 

 stronger, and flower more profusely, if started in a hot-bed or greenhouse 

 in March or April, and transplanted to the borders or beds the last of May. 



H. macranthiim fl. pi. (Large Double Everlasting). — The numerous 

 varieties under this head are of various colors ; viz., white, yellow, rose, 

 brown-red, white and yellow tipped with red, and many shades of these 

 colors. 



H. compositiim monstrosum fl. pi. — This section of the species composi- 

 tum produces very large full double flowers, embracing all the colors of 

 macranthum^ and is perhaps only a variety of the same. 



