PURPLE CANDYTUFT 



So we may add the Double Stocks that. *>V>Jm . jlong the gar- 

 den path to the already long Ust o f oitGol fent' things "made 

 in Germany." 



PURPLE CANDYTUFT 



Iberis umbellata. 



Iberis from Iberia, the ancient name of Spain where the genus is 

 abundant. 



A showy, branching annual of easy cultivation; common in gardens. 



Stem. — Branching, about a foot high. 



Leaves. — Lanceolate, acuminate, lower ones serrate, upper entire. 



Flowers. — In flat-topped clusters, pink or pale-purple; four-petaled; 

 petals clawed, irregular, two 

 much larger than the other two. 



Sepals. — Saccate ; six stam- 

 ens, four long and two short; 

 siliques much compressed, 

 winged, one-seeded. 



Candy or Candia is the old 

 English name for the island 

 of Crete, from which seeds 

 were brought into England 

 some three hundred years 

 ago that produced the plant 

 we know as the Purple Can- 

 dytuft. It is recorded by 



„ t r> . 1 1 .1 Bitter Candytuft. Ibiris amdra 



Gerard, 1587, that he received 



seeds of the Candy-mustard which produced in his garden flowers 

 that were "sometimes blue, often piu-ple, sometimes flesh-colored 

 and seldom white." 



As a rule the crucifers have petals alike in form and size, but 

 one of the generic peculiarities of Candytuft is that the petals are 

 not of the same size, two being considerably larger than the other 

 two. The flowers in the centre of the cluster are smaller than 

 those at the circumference. This is the common annual Candy- 



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