DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF FLOWERS. 208 
care if the stools are large, as they are very tough, re- 
quiring a strong, sharp knife to divide them; each por- 
tion of the root must have an eye, as it will not grow 
without. The time to separate the roots is very early in 
the spring, or after it has done flowering in August. It 
may also be propagated by sowing the seeds as soon as 
they are ripe. The seeds are very hard, and do not vege- 
tate freely. If sowed in the spring, boiling water should 
be poured upon them. The plants will flower the second 
year from the seed. 
—+4 
DIDISCUS. 
Didiscus certilea,—Sky-blue Didiscus.—his is a hand- 
some annual; stem very much branched, producing its 
fine sky-blue flowers in numerous umbels, or hemispheri- 
cal heads, of the size and shape of a large quilled Aster; 
two feet high; in flower July and August. Sow the seed 
in the open ground in May. Plants, forwarded in a hot- 
bed, will begin to flower in June. 
DIGITALIS,—Foxe.ove. 
{So named by Fuchs, from digétalis,a finger of a glove, in allusion to the 
form of the flowers.] 
Digitalis purptirea, with purple flowers; also a variety 
D. alba, with white flowers. Ornamental plants of great 
beauty, producing dense spikes of flowers on stems, three, 
four, or five feet high, in June and July, and straggling 
spikes most of the season. It is a biennial, propagated 
by sowing the seeds; flowers the second year. It may be 
perpetuated by dividing the roots every year, and is 
sometimes called an imperfect perennial. 
It is suitable for the border, and may be introduced in- 
