Part II. CENOTHERA. 261 



CE3NOTHEEA SPEOIOSA.— 5'^(?wj' Evening Primrose. 



A VERY handsome plant, with an abundance of large white 

 flowers, which afterwards change to a delicate rose, in these 

 respects somewhat resembling CE. taraxacifolia, but the plant 

 is erect, with almost shrubby stems. It forms neat tufts, usually 

 from fourteen to eighteen inches high, is a true perennial, and 

 exceedingly valuable for borders, or the lower and rougher parts 

 of rockwork. A native of North America ; increased by division, 

 cuttings, or seeds, but not seeding freely in this country, and 

 flourishing vigorously in well-drained rich loam. Plants of this 

 type, somewhat above the size we require for the choice rock- 

 garden, may be very tastefully used near it on banks rocky 

 or otherwise. About Paris it is used a good deal for bedding, 

 replanted every year, and is very effective for this purpose, 

 as the bloom continues from midsummer till October. 



CBNOTHEEA 'SK&KSA.CTffOJAK.— Dandelion-leaved CE. 



One of the most popular and beautiful of all our dwarf hardy 

 plants, with rather stout stems, that freely trail over the ground 

 like any humble weed in this cold climate of ours, but bearing 

 a profusion of flowers, large and delicately tinted as those of a 

 tropical Dipladenia., which can only be grown in this country at 

 considerable and constant expense of time and money. The 

 leaves are deeply cut, somewhat like those of the Dandelion, but 

 of a greyish tone ; the flowers several inches across, white, 

 changing to pale delicate rose as they become older. The 

 plant is quite hardy and perennial, but on some very cold soils 

 perishes in winter. Where it does so, and where the plant is much 

 admired, it should be raised annually from seed. It will thrive 

 in almost any garden soil, but best in one rich and deep, and 

 may be used with the best result as a drooping plant in the rock- 

 garden border. Plants raised in early spring and pricked over 

 bare surfaces of rose-beds, &c. embellish them finely, flowering 

 profusely the first year. A native of Chili, flowering all the sum- 

 mer and autumn, and seldom rising more than six inches above 

 the ground. 



CEnothera acaulis differs from this fine plant chiefly in having 

 much smaller flowers ; it is, therefore, barely worthy of a place 

 except in botanical collections. 



