DESCRIPTIVE AND SELECTIVE. 219 



tall for the rockery. One species may, however, be 

 used for our purpose, and that is the scarlet nudicaule, 

 which grows about eighteen inches high and blooms in 

 July. It may be raised from seed, either sown in 

 winter under glass to be pushed on for blooming the 

 same year, or in a cold frame in May. A good loamy 

 soil is Hked. There is an orange variety of it called 

 aurantiacum. 



DIANTHUS, see Chapter VI: 



DI CENTRA or DI ELYTRA (Bleeding Heart 

 or Lyre Flower). — Many owners of greenhouses 

 buy with their bulbs in autumn clumps of curious 

 gnarled roots and dormant crowns of the singular and 

 beautiful plant generally known as Dielytra sped- 

 abiliSj but now called by botanists Dicentra spectabilis. 

 Although much used for forcing it is nearly hardy, 

 and other species of the genus are entirely so. They 

 are extremely graceful and beautiful plants, having 

 elegant fern-like foliage as well as charming pendent 

 flowers, arranged almost Hke earrings on the arching 

 stems. They are fleshy, free-growing herbaceous 

 plants, suitable for planting on the lower slopes of 

 large rock gardens. They are easy to grow, as they 

 will do in ordinary garden soil if planted betv/een 

 autumn and spring. They should not be put in places 

 swept by cold, cutting winds in spring. They may 

 be propagated by division while dormant. The 

 shade and partial shelter of shrubs are grateful to 

 them. 



The following are the principal species : Canadensis, 

 the Canadian Fumitory, has glaucous, ferny foliage. 



