292 STtoe (SfarUen's Storp. 



the Linnasan and natural systems, but plant-study 

 isn't half so picturesque as it was when the old 

 masters held the magnifying-glass. And, after 

 all, who will object to an error when the picture 

 is so artistically painted ? Is not a misnumbered 

 page a charm of an Elzevir? There are some 

 much smaller ornamental annuals than the large 

 Peruvian species, but so many superior forms of 

 perennials exist, that the former are scarcely 

 worth the trouble of growing. 



Among the earliest of the perennial sun- 

 flowers is the showy ox-eye (Heh'opsis Icrvis), 

 frequent along streams and banks, where its nu- 

 merous yellow flowers form vast golden stream- 

 ers during August, conspicuous from a great 

 distance. At nearly the same time Helianthus 

 divaricatus peoples the thickets and meadows 

 a brilliant lemon-yellow flower. Later comes 

 H. decapetalus, the blossom not unlike the pre- 

 ceding, but the plant more bushy and more 

 numerous flowered. H. multiflorus bears showy 

 yellow heads, there being a major variety of 

 this superior to the type. The double form (H. 

 tn.flore-plenus), much seen in gardens, is among 

 the most conspicuous of perennials, carrying a 

 huge sheaf of golden bloom, the large double 

 flowers remaining long in perfection. H. mul- 

 tiflorus increases very fast, a small root set out 



