348 



CASSELL'S POPOIAR GAEDENING. 



known as the Autumn Catch-fly, and is a native of 

 the Caucasus. 



Of the annual Catoh-flies there are several hand- 

 some varieties of Silene pendula, all hardy and early 

 flowering, therefore valuable in the spring gar- 

 den. They should he treated as biennials, sowing 

 the seed in July. In addition to pendula, with rose- 

 coloured flowers, there are its white variety, and its 

 double form also, hut it is somewhat difficult to keep 

 it true when raised from seeds; ruberrima, with 

 crimson flowers and dark foliage; Bonnetti deep rose; 

 and pendula 

 compacta, a 

 very dwarf 

 tufted form, 

 having rosy 

 flowers, and a 

 white variety 

 also ; paeudo 

 atocion is a 

 very pretty, 

 free- blooming 

 pink - flowered 

 type. All do 

 well in good 

 garden soU. 



The Rag- 

 wrort (Sene- 

 cio). — Rag- 

 wort is de- 

 rived from 

 the German 

 ragwurz, a 

 term expres- 

 sive of sup- 

 posed aphrodi- 

 siac qualities,- 



and originally assigned to plants of the Orchis tribe, 

 as it is in Germany at the present day, and as we 

 find it in all our early herbals. In our modern floras 

 the name Eagwort is, for no other assignable reason 

 than its laciniated leaves, transferred to a large 

 Groundsel, Senecio Jaoobcea. The generic name Se- 

 neoio is derived from senex, "an old man," the naked, 

 dotted, smooth receptacle being like a bald head, the 

 down of the seeds being white, and many of the 

 species hoary, all characteristics of age. The speciflc 

 name of the common Eagwort, Jacotcea, is from 

 Jacohua, the Latin for James, because the plant 

 blooms about St. James's Day, July 25th. It is a 

 very common weed in waste grounds and by way- 



Senecio Balbisianus 



The common Groundsel of our gardens and fields 

 is Senecio vulgaria, and It ia a, favourite food of many 

 birds. Groundsel is from the Anglo-Saxon grund- 



awelge, "ground-glutton," from grand, "groimdj" 

 and awelgan, " swallow ; " still called in Scotland and 

 on the eastern border, Grundy-swaUow. 



Under the head of Jacobcea we find in seed cata- 

 logues a group of hardy annuals, varieties of Seneeia 

 elegana, known also as American Groundsels. They 

 axe natives of the Cape of Good Hope, and have been 

 greatly improved by seedsmen. They are double- , 

 flowered, and of such good colours as crimson, blue, 

 purple, &c. Formerly they were much used for 

 bedding purposes, but are now somewhat neglected ; 



too much so, 

 we think, for 

 although old- 

 f ashioned, 

 they are very 

 pretty and 

 useful, gi'ow- 

 ing a foot or 

 so in height, 

 and blooming 

 very freely 

 and continu- 

 ously. They 

 grow freely in 

 good garden 

 soil, and can 

 be raised from 

 seed with ease. 

 Why they 

 are termed 

 " American " 

 Groundsels we 

 cannot say, un- 

 less they have 

 been improved 

 in quantity in 

 that country. 

 There are a few Senecios that are included among 

 choice hardy perennials — as, for instance, argenleua, 

 the Silvery Groundsel, very dwarf, and like a minia- 

 ture Centaurea ragusina. It is a native of the Pyre- 

 nees, and should be grown in a sandy loam as a 

 dwarf silvery edging plant. 



S. Balbiaitmus, the variety figured, comes from 

 Piedmont. 



S. Doronicum is a free-growing border plant, with 

 large golden-yellow flowers on stems twelve inches in 

 height. It is a first-class decorative plant, and very 

 useful for cutting from. 



S. incanus ia the Hoary Groundsel from the South 

 of France, but ia not so valuable or so easily grown 

 as 8. argentem ; yet it is a pretty dwarf silvery- 

 leaved plant, forming dense tufts, and a little gem 

 for planting on rockwork. 



S. , japonicua is an ornamental composite from 



