HELIOPSIS 



DAISY OBDEB 



MONTANOA 513 



toothed margins. The yellow flower-heads, 

 with a conical disc in the centre, appear 

 fromJnly to September, and ai-e boi-ne 

 singly at the end of a long downy or hairy 

 stalk which gradually becomes swollen 

 towards the flower-head. 



Culture and Propagation. — Being an 

 annual this species may be treated as 

 recommended for annuals in general at 

 p. 78. The seeds should be sown in 

 gentle heat in March, afterwards pricking 

 the seedlings out, and by the end of May 

 they will be fit for the open border. The 

 plants may be placed 12-15 in. apart or 

 more, and if grown in groups look very 

 effective. 



H. Isvis. — A pretty free-growing 

 perennial 3-6 ft. high, with ovate lance- 

 shaped, coarsely toothed leaves, and 

 flowers about 3 in. across in autumn on 

 long stalks. The varieties scabra and 

 scabra major are both improvements on 

 the type, having larger and more numer- 

 ous flowers. Native of N. America. 



Culture and Propagation. — This 

 species flourishes in ordinary good garden 

 soil, but is well worth treating well. It 

 makes a fine show in the herbaceous border 

 if grown in fairly large clumps. Seeds 

 are ripened freely, but it is much easier, 

 and on the whole preferable, to increase 

 the plants by dividing the roots in autumn 

 or in spring, the latter season being 

 generally regarded as best. The seeds 

 may be sovra in cold frames when ripe, or 

 in spring, in light rich soil, and by the 

 following autumn or spring, according to 

 the period of sowing the seeds, the young 

 plants may be transferred to the open 

 ground about 15-18 in. apart. 



GYMNOLOMIA (Gymnopsis;. — A 

 genus having about 16 species of erect 

 branching more or less roughish hairy 

 plants, with the lower leaves nearly all 

 opposite, the tipper ones nearly all alter- 

 nate, entire, toothed, or lobed. Flower 

 heads solitary or in loose clusters, yellow, 

 or sometimes purple. Receptacle convex 

 or conical. Eay florets spreading, entire, 

 or shghtly toothed at apex. 



G. uniserialis. — A pretty Texan annual 

 l|-3 ft. high, with roughish hairy stems, 

 and ovate elliptic coarsely toothed leaves 

 reminding one of HeUa/nthus cucumeri- 

 folius. The solitary flower-heads appear 

 at the ends of the shoots from June to 

 September, and are 2-3 in. across, having 

 5 broadly elliptic ray florets of a pretty 



chrome yellow, surrounding a conical 

 cluster of disc florets. 



Culture and Propagation. — This re- 

 cently introduced plant is ornamental 

 grown in patches in the flower border, 

 and will flourish in ordinary garden soil 

 in sunny positions. It is raised j'rom 

 seeds sown in gentle heat in spring and 

 planted out at the end of May, or seeds 

 may be sown in the open border in April. 

 It requires a little attention when young, 

 as it is incUned to be ' mifiy ' or delicate 

 until estabHshed. The flowers are excel- 

 lent for cutting and last a long time. 



MONTANOA.— A genus with over 

 a dozen species of shrubs with opposite, 

 entire, toothed or broadly-lobed leaves ; 

 lower ones often large and pinnately cut. 

 Flower heads white or pink, in corymbose 

 panicles. Ray florets sterile. Aohenes 

 smooth ; the hypogynous disc sometimes 

 much developed to resemble a cup-shaped 

 pappus. 



Culture and Propagation. — Monta- 

 noas are natives of Mexico, and are too 

 tender even for the mildest parts of the 

 British Islands, except during the summer 

 months, when they are brought from the 

 conservatory to lend an air of sub-tropical 

 luxuriance to the garden. Seeds are 

 sown in gentle bottom heat about March, 

 and the seedlings are pricked oitt and 

 gradually hardened off so as to be fit for 

 planting out in June. In autumn the old 

 plants may be taken into the greenhouse 

 for winter. In January, if placed in heat, 

 young shoots will spring from the roots, 

 and may be used as cuttings in the same 

 way as mentioned under Dahlia (p. 519). 

 They will root in gentle heat in a close 

 frame, and if afterwards potted up and 

 grown on with, plenty of light and air 

 when estabhshed they make fine plants. 

 The chief attraction of Montanoas consists 

 in the large and attractively divided 

 leaves, and not in the flower-heads. 



M. bipinnatifida {M. heracleifolia ; 

 Polymnia grandis). — A striking plant 

 6-8 ft. high, with large opposite twice 

 pinnately cut leaves with serrated seg- 

 ments, somewhat resembling those of 

 Heracleum (p. 469). The stem and leaf- 

 stalks are spotted with white, and the 

 leaves when young are clothed with a soft 

 whitish down. Flower-heads yellow. 



Culture dc. as above. 



M. mollissima. — ^An ornamental shrub 

 with oval lance-shaped, sessile leaves, dull 



L I, 



