HERBS, TTJBEKS AKD BULBS. 



317 



ilone are far too nmnerous to name here, and I can only mention a few 

 of the most important and valuable among the herbaceous perennials. 

 Aster — only a few perennial species are cultivated. The popular annual 

 China Aster is a CaUistephvs. Artemisia — only one species is of special 

 value, and that the A. Absinthium (Wormwood), a low-growing, hai"dy 

 plant, possessing some medicinal properties, and another is largely used 

 for flavoring the French liqueur known as absinthe. Anthemis nobUis is 

 the well-known garden herb, Chamomile. Achillea, or Sneezeworts, aie 

 mostly low perennial weeds, but a few ai'e handsome border plants, and 

 A. rtarmica plena has pretty double white flowers. Antennarias are 

 known as Everlasting, and one — ^the Pearly 

 Everlasting— is extensively cultivated in 

 Europe, and the flowers dried for winter 

 bouquets. Liatris, of which there are 

 many hardy indigenous species, are best 

 known in cultivation under the name of 

 Blazing Star. They are tall-growing 

 plants, with rather thick and woody corms 

 or tubers at the base of the stems. Arnica , 

 and Inula (Elecampane), are genera yield- 

 ing medicinal properties more or less in 

 repute. GaUlardia and Gazania are showy 

 greenhouse plants, also employed for bed- 

 ding out in summer. These plants are 

 raised from seeds, or by divisions of the 

 roots and cuttings of the young shoots. 

 All of the hardy genera are most readily 

 propagated by division. Chrysantfwtnum 

 has of late years become one of the most 

 popular genera in the family, especially 

 the Chinese species ( C. Indicum). Propa- 

 gation may be effected by seeds, cuttings, 

 divisions or suckers. Varieties can only 

 by perpetuated by the last three modes. 

 Cuttings of the young shoots strike root 

 very readUy imder glass and with mod- 

 erate heat, and the plants require only 

 good, rich soil, plenty of moisture, and 

 plenty of room in which to expand. There are now more than a thou- 

 sand named varieties of Chinese and Japanese Chrysanthemums in cul- 

 tivation, and scores of new ones are brought forward evei-y season. The 

 Dahlia is another very popular genus of the Composite Family of plants. 

 There are but few distinct species, but an immense number of cultivated 

 varieties. Flowers usually very large and showy, and of many shades 

 of color ; roots tuberous, several tubers usually attached to the base of 

 the stem, and the eyes or buds always at the apex of each tuber, or on 

 the stem. The most usual mode of propagation is by dividing the clump 



Fig. 106. 



GRAFTING THE DAHLIA. 



