300 GARDEN PLANTS. PAHT II. 



PAPILIONACE^E. 

 Lupinus. 



LUPINS. 



Of these annuals there are a great many species and varieties, 

 all more or less beautiful. Their fault is that they run to seed so 

 rapidly. The seeds should be sown in October in the spots where 

 the plants are to blossom, as they bear transplanting very indif- 

 ferently. 



1. L. hirsutus. The old familiar blue Lupin, with large rough 

 seeds, and the variety with white or rose-coloured flowers some- 

 times termed pilosus. Sow in October, having first thrown the 

 seeds into a basin of water and rejected those that floated. Sow 

 the sound ones by threes in a spot eight inches apart. The plants 

 require scarcely any water, grow fast, and blossom considerably 

 earlier than any of the dwarfer kinds. To save seeds, when 

 the pods on the lower part of the flower-stalk have grown to 

 nearly their full size, the tops of the stalks should be pinched 

 off, and the plants carefully taken up and potted, and placed in 

 some shady place, where the seeds will ripen gradually and 

 remain plump. If the plants are left exposed to the sun in the 

 open ground the seeds are apt to dry and shrivel up instead of 

 ripening. 



2. L. luteus. The well-known old yellow Lupin with speckled 

 seeds. The seeds are very hard, and should be soaked in hot 

 water to soften them before being sown. Those, however, im- 

 ported from England more commonly than not fail of ger- 

 minating: care should therefore be taken when plants have 

 been once raised to save seeds from them for sowing the following 

 season; or seeds might with advantage be obtained from the 

 Nilgherries, where in neglected gardens I have seen this as well 

 as other species of Lupin growing like a weed in great profusion, 

 and ripening seed in abundance in September. 



3. L. Menziezi, Also a yellow Lupin, and spoken of as one 

 of the handsomest. I have not seen the plant in this country, 

 the seed I have procured having failed of germinating. 



The remaining are comprised in L. Hartwegii, with white, blue, 

 and red varieties : L. mutabilis and L. hybridus with several 

 varieties of party-coloured flowers, and L. nanus, a very 

 delightful little species. 



