PLUMBAGINACE.E-LEADWORT FAMILY 



STATICE. SEA LAVENDER 



StdUce latifblia. 



Stalice, a Greek name without obvious meaning as applied to this 

 plant. 



A perennial herb with radical leaves and branching scapes, bearing 

 many small flowers. Native of southern Russia. June, July. 



Leaw5.— Radical, seven to eight inches long; oblong-elliptic, obtuse, 

 tapering into the leaf-stalk. 



Flowers. — Small, violet, borne one-sided on the branches of corymbose- 

 panicled, naked, flowering stems. 



Calyx.— T^o or three-bracted, pale, funnel-form, dry and persistent. 



Corolla.— YioXtt, of five petals, nearly or quite distinct. 



Stamens. — Five, attached to the petals. 



Ovary. — Ovoid, one-celled; stigmas five. 



Fruit. — A small utricle. 



The garden Sea Lavenders are a group of seaside perennials 

 which have been brought under cultivation. One of the best 

 is Statice latifolia, a species native to southern Russia, which has 

 long been in English gardens. The radical leaves cluster about 

 the base of the naked flowering stem, which bears at its summit a 

 much-branched, flat-topped panicle, and upon the upper side 

 of each little branchlet sits a row of pale-violet flowers in a sur- 

 rounding of gray-green. The color effect is produced by the num- 

 ber of flowers. 



The garden value of the plant lies in its cut flowers, in their 

 misty indeterminateness, which enables them to combine and 

 harmonize other blooms, serving in this way as a sort of veil and 

 enhancing the beauty of others without lessening their own. 



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