172 MORE POT-POURRI 



least, so far as I have been able to manage up to now. 

 But I am not sure that autumn cuttings, grown on in 

 heat, might not remain growing at any rate for part of the 

 winter. Life is always rather unbearable to my luxury- 

 loving nature without Lemon-scented Verbena, and I miss 

 it so in the finger-bowls at dinner, partly because those 

 few leaves supply what one wants without much trouble. 

 But a little bunch of Violets carefully arranged, and one 

 Sweet Geranium leaf, especially the Prince of Orange, make 

 a combination that pleases everyone, and they are always 

 at hand at this time of year. 



January l&th. In the January number of a charming 

 little periodical called 'The Sun-children's Budget,' in- 

 tended to teach young children botany easily and amus- 

 ingly, there was an account and an illustration of a rare 

 English wild flower, Pceonia corallina. The coloured print 

 of it gives the idea that the red may not be of a very pretty 

 hue ; bat this would not matter, as the chief charm of the 

 plant is the seed-pod. This slightly resembles in shape 

 the seed-pod of that other charming wild flower the Iris 

 fatidissima, also much less grown than it should be in 

 semi-wild damp places, with its beautiful coral-red seed 

 and strange-shaped, gaping capsule, so decorative in a 

 vase in winter. The seed-covered branching growth of 

 Montbretias mixes well with the twiggy flower-stems of the 

 Statice (or Sea Lavender). S. latifolia is the best for 

 winter decoration. To return to Pc&onia corallina. I have 

 been able to get some plants from Mr. Thompson. He 

 says it is a greedy feeder, that the seeds germinate slowly, 

 and that the plant grown from seed is long in coming to its 

 flowering-time. It flowers in May and June, and in the 

 autumn the brown downy pods open along their inner 

 side and display the seeds. It seems to be a most rare 

 wild flower, growing on an island in the Severn. Sir 

 William Hooker says it is to be found at Blaize Castle, 



