430 



FLOWERS OF GARDEN AND GREENHOUSE 



L. RETICULATA (netted). Stem 2 to 4 feet high. Leaves very 

 slender, channeled ; lower ones whorled, upper ones singly. Flowers in 

 short crowded racemes, deep purple, net veined ; palate yellowish, marked 

 with purple lines ; May to July. Annual. 



L. SPARTEA (Spartium-like). Stem erect, branched, 1 foot high. 

 Leaves narrow-lance-shaped. Flowers deep yellow on long stalks, in a 

 few-flowered raceme ; June to October. Annual. 



L. TRiOKNiTHOPHORA (bearing three-birds). Stem branched, erect, 

 1 foot high. Leaves lance-shaped, glossy. Flowers purple with yellow 

 palate, 1 inch long ; three or four in a whorl ; June to September. 

 Perennial. 



L. VULGARIS (common). Common Toadflax. Stems erect, 1 to 2 

 feet high, clothed with slender Flax-like leaves of glaucous hue. Flowers 

 pale yellow with deeper lips, and long curved spur ; in dense spike-like 

 racemes; May to October. Perennial. There is a singular monstrous 

 form called Peloria, in which the flowers are all five-spurred and with 

 a regular flve-lobed limb. 



. The cultivation of Linarias presents no difficulties; 



neither is anything special in the matter of soil required. 

 They are naturally plants of banks and rocks, so require a well-drained 

 soil. L. a.lpina is very suitable, on account of its dwarf habit, for 

 growing on rock work. L. Cymbalarla only needs to be well-established 

 on an old wall, where the pointing is not too good, and it will soon 

 cover it with its graceful foliage ; L. purpurea may fitly keep it company 

 on the wall-top. All the perennials may be easily increased by dividing 

 the roots in spring or autumn : or both perennials and annuals may be 

 mised from seed sown early in spring out of doors. 

 Description of Purple Toadflax, Linaria bipartita, showing range of 



Plate 207. tints, natural size. Fig. 1 is an enlarged flower; 2, a 

 section through the same; 3, a seed, natural size and enlarged; 4, 

 a seedling. 



SNAPDRAGONS 



Natural Order ScROPHULARiNE^. Genus AntiTrhinwrn 



Antirrhinum (Greek, miti, like, and rhin, a snout — from the shape of 

 the corolla). A genus of twenty-five hardy annual or perennial herbs, 

 with entire (or rarely lobed) leaves, the lower ones opposite, the upper 

 alternate. The flowers are very similar to those of Linaria, except that 

 the corolla-tube is more bag-shaped {saccate) at the base and not spurred. 



