NEW HERBACEOUS PLANTS 237 



is the new Rheum Alexandrae. This remarkable plant 

 has neat, ovate-cordate, shining dark green leaves, 

 each a foot or more long, and an erect tower-like 

 inflorescence a yard or more tall, the showy part of 

 which consists of broad, rounded, decurved cowslip- 

 yellow bracts overlapping one another like tiles on a 

 house and beneath which, secure from rain, nestle 

 clusters of inconspicuous flowers. This Rhubarb 

 is native of the alpine meadows and moorlands of 

 the Chino-Thibetan borderland where its peculiar 

 and rich-colored inflorescence makes it conspicuous 

 from afar. The plant grows well in any good, rich, 

 moist garden soil and is fond of partial shade and of 

 cow dung. It is easily raised from seeds but requires 

 several years to develop strong-flowering crowns. 



The Aconites or Monkshoods are old-fashioned 

 flowers and count among their numbers many good 

 garden plants. One of these is Aconitum Wilsonii 

 which is related to the old A. napellus and is a strong- 

 growing species with stems from six to eight feet tall 

 and flowers in September. The leaves are leathery, 

 dull green, and deeply incised; the flowers large and 

 deep blue in color. After the main spike is past 

 axillary branches continue to bear flowers until the 

 advent of sharp frosts. The rootstock is tuberous 

 and the plants require a rich soil and to get estab- 



