COBCEA 



Stamens. — Five, inserted on the corolla-tube. 



Owrj;.— Three-celled; style slender; stigma three-cleft. 



Capsule. — Three-celled, several-seeded. 



The Moss Pink sets the garden ablaze with brilliant bloom, and 

 lights up the desolation of early May. The depressed stems 

 with their little sharp- 

 pointed leaves make dense 

 mats of moss-like foliage, 

 and when in flower these 

 mats are transformed into 

 a mass of rose-purple, pink, 

 or white, so perfectly does 

 the bloom hide the foliage. 

 Rocky hillsides and river 

 banks are its natural home, 

 but any light soil will serve. 

 Pretty as it is, its blood 

 brother, the Creeping 

 Phlox, Phlox reptans, of 

 more southern range, sur- 

 passes it in size and bril- 

 liancy of flowers. The two 

 are very similar in general 



appearance, but the stems of this one grow a little taller and the 

 flowers are a little larger. The blooming period, however, is 

 somewhat later, which is a handicap, for the charm of the Moss 

 Pink is its smiling entry into early spring. 



Moss Pink. Phlox subulhta 



COBCEA 



Coh&a scdndens. 



Named for Father Cobo, a. Spanish Jesuit of the seventeenth cen- 

 tury; naturalist, and resident of Mexico for many years. 



A smooth, tall, much-branching climber, valuable as a quick-growing 

 vine. At home a perennial, but here treated as an annual. Mexico. 

 August, September. 



3^5 



