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PBAGTIGAL GUIDE TO GABDEN PLANTS mobisia 



C. pinnatifida. — Another remarkable 

 Caucasian perennial 4-5 ft. high, with 

 pinnately divided and lobed leaves some- 

 what resembling those of a Turnip, only 

 being much larger. The flowers appear 

 at the same time as those of 0. corMfoUa, 

 but the branching panicles are not quite 

 so large, and the branchlets are rather 

 ascending than horizontal and descend- 

 ing. It makes a good companion for C. 

 cordifolia in the wilder parts of the 

 garden. 



Culture dc. as above. 



MORISIA. — A genus with only one 

 species here described : — 



M. hypogaea. — A charming little 

 perennial 2-3 in. high, native of the 



Sardinian mountains. The smooth, deep 

 and shining green leaves are more or less 

 out and lobed like those of Dandelions, 

 and form dense tufts on the surface of 

 the soil. The clear bright yellow flowers 

 about an inch across, and with wedge- 

 shaped petals, are produced in great pro- 

 fusion in April and May, just topping the 

 foliage. The roundish one-seeded fruit 

 pods are buried in the soil, but they do 

 not ripen seeds freely in our climate. 



Culture and Propagation. — This 

 pretty plant flourishes in rich, damp, 

 sandy loam in the flat border or in the 

 rockery. It may be increased by seeds 

 which should be sown when ripe, or fail- 

 ing these the plants may be divided in 

 spring. 



XII. RES EDACE.^— Mignonette Order 



Annual or perennial herbaceous plants, rarely shrubs, with alternate, 

 entire, or pinnately divided leaves, and minute gland-like stipules. Plowers 

 irregular, hermaphrodite, or rarely unisexual, borne in racemes or spikes, and 

 furnished vnth bracts. Calyx persistent, 4-7-partite, often irregular, imbricate 

 in bud. Petals 4-7, rarely 2 or none, deciduous or persistent, hypogynous or 

 perigynous, entire or 3 to many partite. Disc hypogynous, conspicuous and 

 glandular. Stamens usually many (3-40), perigynous or inserted on the disc, 

 equal or unequal, free or connate. Ovary sessile or stalked v?ith 2-6 connate 

 carpels, lobed at the top, and open between the stigma-bearing lobes, with 

 numerous ovules. Fruit dry and membranous, or succulent, opening at the 

 apex ; or apocarpous, vsdth empty carpels surrounding a central placenta, or 

 hooded and 1-seeded. Seeds kidney-shaped. 



RESEDA (Mignonette). — A genus 

 containing about 26 species of erect or 

 decumbent, smooth or hairy, annual or 

 biennial herbs, with entire, lobed, or 

 pinnatiseot leaves, having gland-like 

 stipules. Flowers racemose, with bracts. 

 Calyx 4-7-parted. Petals4-7, hypogynous, 

 unequal, twice or many times cut. Torus 

 almost sessile, urn-shaped, dilated behind. 

 Stamens 10-40, inserted in the torus. 

 Capsule indehisoent, 3-lobed at apex. 

 Seeds numerous. 



The following are the only species of 

 any garden value, but B. lutea with 

 greenish-yellow flowers and JJ. Luteola 

 (the Dyer's Eocket or Dyer's Weed) 

 with small pale yellow flowers are to be 

 met with in botanical collections. 



R. alba. — A fine biennial about 2 ft., 

 native of S. Europe. Leaves all pinnatifid 

 or sometimes interruptedly pinnate, seg- 



ments lance-shaped, smooth, rarely wavy. 

 Flowers from May to September in dense, 

 erect spikes, with white petals, brownish 

 anthers, and a 5-6-parted calyx. 



Culture and Propagation. — When 

 given plenty of space to develop, this 

 species makes a fine and effective border 

 plant, and wiU grow in ordinarj' garden 

 soil. Seeds may be sown in the open 

 border in April and May, and the plants 

 afterwards thinned out to about 1 ft. or 

 18 in. apart. 



R. odorata (Mignonette). — This uni- 

 versal favourite is a native of N. Africa, 

 Egypt &o., and has lance-shaped, blunt, 

 entire or trifld leaves. Flowers out of 

 doors from June to October, in loose 

 racemes. Petals yellowish-white, finely 

 cleft into several club-shaped filaments ; 

 anthers safErou-yellow, and calyx 6-parted. 

 The VBxiety frutescens is simply a shrubby 



