190 



PRACTICAL GUIDE TO GABDEN PLANTS 



EOMNBYA 



with slender filaments and erect anthers. Ovary 1-celled, or 2-4:-celled by 

 prolonged placentas. Stigmas as many as placentas, radiating and sessile. 

 Fruit a pod, dehiscing by pores or valves. 



PLATYSTEMON.— A genus con- 

 taining only one species, viz. : — 



P. californicus (Calif ornian Poppy). 

 A pretty annual about 1 ft. high, 

 ■with narrow entire leaves, the lower 

 ones alternate, the iloral ones often 

 nearly opposite or ternately verticiUate. 

 The yellow flowers are borne on elongated 

 stalks from June to August, and consist 

 of 3 sepals, 6 petals, numerous stamens, 

 and carpels. The variety leiocarpus has 

 smooth carpels. 



Culture a/nd Propagation. — The seeds 

 of this species may be sown, like those of 

 the annual Poppies, in spring or autumn, 

 in any good garden soil, and the seedlings 

 should be thinned out if too close to- 

 gether. 



ROMNEYA (White Bush Poppy). — 

 A genus containing only one species — 

 B. Ooulteri, the characters of which of 

 course are those of the genus. 



R. Coulteri is branched, smooth, and 

 glaucous, perennial, 2-8 ft. high, with 

 pinnatifld leaves, the hnear lanceolate or 

 deltoid segments of which have hairy 

 margins. The large, fragrant, delicate 

 white flowers, often 6 in. across when 

 fully expanded, appear from Jime to 

 September at the ends of the branches. 

 There are 3 sepals about 1 in. long ; 6 

 petals, broadly obovate, thickened at the 

 base, each about 2^ in. long, and in 2 

 circles. Stamens numerous in many 

 circles. 



Culture and Propagation. — This fine 

 plant is a native of California, and will 

 grow in most parts of the British Islands. 

 It likes a rich and somewhat sandy loam 

 in warm and sheltered situations. During 

 severe winters in most parts of the 

 country north of the Thames it is wise to 

 protect the crowns by means of litter, 

 dry leaves, or ashes, but protection 

 should be given only in case of real 

 necessity, otherwise the young shoots 

 may be too tender and be unable to stand 

 the later spring frosts. The plants like 

 plenty of moisture in summer, and an 

 occasional dose of liquid manure wiU be 

 very beneficial. 



The easiest way to increase Bomneya 

 Coulteri is by sowing seed in spring either 

 singly in small pots or in pans or boxes 



in a cold frame or in gentle heat. When 

 large enough the seedlings may be pricked 

 out into other boxes, and after being 

 established may be hardened ofi' for 

 transplanting out of doors the next or 

 even the following spring after that. 

 Dull showery weather should, if possible, 

 be chosen for this work. Seeds may also 

 be sown as soon as ripe in autumn in 

 sandy soil in cold frames or greenhouses, 

 and the seedlings may be transplanted 

 the following June. Sometimes the seeds 

 remain dormant for several months after 

 sowing. 



As the plants often suffer a good deal 

 in transplanting, it is advisable to be 

 very careful in handling the roots, so 

 as not to cause more injury than is 

 necessary. For this reason it is probably 

 the best plan to raise the plants singly 

 in small pots, from which they may be 

 transferred to pots of a larger size and 

 grown on in cold frames until sturdy 

 enough for the open border. They are 

 more easily transferred from pots than 

 from boxes or from the open border. 

 Cuttings of the roots about 2 in. long, 

 inserted in sandy soil, and placed in a 

 hotbed early in the year, wUl sometimes 

 produce plants, but cuttings of the shoots 

 rarely root, although they keep fresh for 

 a long time. 



PAP AVER (Poppy). — A genus of 

 about 14 species of hairy or glaucous 

 annual or perennial herbs with milky 

 juice, and lobed and cut leaves. The 

 nodding showy flowers are red, violet, 

 yellow or white, on elongated stalks. 

 Sepals 2, rarely 8. Petals 4, rarely 6, 

 crumpled. Stamens numerous, hypogy- 

 nous. Capsule shedding its seeds by 

 pores or valves under the ledge of the 

 rayed and peltate stigma. 



Culture and Propagation. — Poppies 

 — both annual and perennial — are very 

 showy plants, and owing to the differ- 

 ence in height, as well as their habit 

 of growth, are suitable for various parts 

 of the flower garden, in the front, back, 

 or centre of beds or borders accord- 

 ing to height. Mixed in patches with 

 other_ plants, Poppies are far more 

 effective by contrast than when grown in 

 large patches by themselves. The annual 



