324 



PRACTICAL GUIDE TO GARDEN PLANTS lupinu& 



B. exaltata. — A pretty perennial 3-4 

 ft. high. Leaves ternate, stalked ; leaflets 

 lance-shaped obovate ; stipules 3 times 

 longer than the leaf stalk. Flowers in 

 June, deep blue. 



Culture (Itc. as above. 



B. leucophaea. — A perennial about 1 

 ft. high. Leaves unstalked, rather hairy ; 

 leaflets rhomboid- obovate ; stiptdes and 

 bracts ovate acute, broad, leafy. Flowers 

 in July, creamy-white, all leaning to one 

 side. 



Culture dc. as above. 



B. minor. — A plant 1-2 ft. high. 

 Leaflets rhomboid lance-shaped ; stipules 

 lance-shaped, longer than the leaf stalks. 

 Flowers in June, blue. 



Cloture iCc. as above. 



B. perfoliata. — A pretty perennial about 

 3 ft. high. Leaves perfoliate, roundish, 

 entire, glaucous. Flowers in August, 

 yellow, small. 



Culture li'-c. as above. 



B. tinctoria. — A handsome species 

 2-3 ft. high. Leaves stalked ; leaflets 

 roundish obovate ; stipules bristly, almost 

 obsolete. Flowers in summer, yellow. 



Culture dc. as above. Unless this 

 species finds itself in a really favourable 

 situation one is apt to regard it as an 

 inferior plant. 



LUPINUS (Lupine). — A genus 

 consisting of 80 species of herbaceous 

 annuals and perennials, rarely under- 

 shrubs. Leaves simple, or digitately 5-15- 

 or many-foholate, rarely 3-foliolate ; sti- 

 pules adnate to the base of the leaf stalk. 

 Flowers in erect terminal racemes. Calyx 

 deeply 21obed. Standard petal roundish 

 or broadly ovate ; wings siclde-shaped- 

 oblong or obovate, iinited at the tips ; keel 

 ending in a cui'ved beak. Stamens 10, 

 united in one bundle. Pod more or less 

 compressed, silky-haired, leathery or 

 fleshy. 



Culture and Propagation. — The 

 Lupines nearly all thrive in ordinary 

 good garden soil. They will not, how- 

 ever, flourish in soils heavily charged with 

 chalk or lime. The presence of either of 

 these ingredients may be readily detected 

 by beating up a httle of the soil in a tum- 

 bler of clean, and if possible distilled, 

 water. After allowing the soil to settle at 

 the bottom, the water may be breathed 

 into strongly. If it assumes a milky 

 colour, then lime is present. 



The annual and perennial kinds may 

 both be easily raised fi:om seeds sown in 

 early spring out of doors in the places 

 where the plants are to flower. As the 

 annual kinds do not bear transplanting- 

 very well, the seeds should be sown very 

 thinly, and afterwards if the plants are too 

 close together they must be thinned out. 

 The perennials may be further multipHed 

 by dividing the rootstooks at the same 

 period. 



Lupines are easily recognised by their 

 rachating leaflets as well as their tall 

 spikes of blossom. They are very valu- 

 able for the decoration of the herbaceous 

 border when grown in bold masses, and 

 some of the finest may be grouped in large 

 beds on the grass. 



L. afiinis. — A Californian perennial 

 about 9 in. high, with deep blue flowers. 

 Culture dc. as above. 



L. arboreus {Tree Lupine). — A 

 roundish bush 2-4 ft. high, with 

 lanceolate-linear leaflets clothed with a 

 soft silvery down. The beautiful iragx-ant 

 yellow flowers appear in great profusion 

 in summer. There is a purple-flowered 

 variety and some inferior yeUow ones. 



Culture and Propagation. — This fine 

 species differs from the annual and her- 

 baceous perennial kinds in being of a more 

 or less woody character. In favourable 

 situations it attains a very great size and 

 diameter, and when covered with its fra- 

 grant blossoms is very attractive. Being 

 a native of California it likes warm, sunny 

 and sheltered situations, and in unfavoured 

 parts of the kingdom may be grown 

 against a south wall. It may be increased 

 by seeds sown in a cold frame or pots when 

 ripe, and also by cuttings of the plump 

 and fairly well-ripened shoots in summer, 

 inserted in sandj soil in » cold frame or 

 in gentle bottom heat. 



L. aridus. — A N. American perennial 

 1 foot high, with linear lance - shaped 

 leaflets. Flowers in late summer, purple- 

 blue. 



Culture dc. as above. 



L. Chamissonis (L. albifrons). — A 

 Californian perennial 8 ft. high, covered 

 with a silvery silky down. Leaflets 

 obovate-oblong, narrowed at the base. 

 Flowers in September, blue. 



Culture dc. as above. Increased by 

 seeds and division. 



