660 



PB ACTIO AL GUIDE TO GABDEN PLANTS desfontainea 



favoured parts of the country. They may 

 be treated in the same way as B. Cohiillei. 



B. globosa. — A unique and handsome 

 Chilian shrub 12-20 ft. high, with some- 

 what 4-angled stems, which like the 

 under surface of the leaves are covered 

 with a hoary felt. Leaves about 6 in. long, 

 lance-shaped, pointed, stalked and orenate. 

 Flowers in May and June, in large 

 brilliant ball-like heads of bright yellow. 



Culture and Propagation. — This fine 

 shrub is hardy in most places and is 

 recorded as having stood 14° of frost with- 

 out injury ia Wales. In Devonshire and 

 other southern parts it is frequently met 

 with, and it is only during reaUy severe 

 winters that its quick-growing stems are 

 cut down. New ones, however, rapidly 

 spring up again and the plant is as good 

 as ever. It thrives in a light rich 

 weU-drained soU, and flowers more freely 

 if not cut about or pruned too much. 

 It may be increased by cuttings of the 

 fully ripened wood inserted in fine sandy 

 soU in the autumn in cold frames or green- 

 houses, and only requires to be kept free 

 from frost during the winter. When 

 rooted the plants may be potted singly 

 and placed on gentle bottom heat after a 

 few days to start them well into growth. 

 A little hardening off in cooler and more 

 airy quarters will fit them for planting in 

 the open border by June or July. Seeds 

 are best sown in gentle heat in spring, 

 the seedlings being pricked out and 

 treated like the rooted cuttings. 



B. japonica. — An interesting Japanese 

 shrub 4^5 ft. high, with square stems and 

 lance-shaped leaves 4-6 in. long. The 

 pale lilac flowers appear in July and 

 August in dense racemes 8-10 in. long, 

 at the ends of the shoots. There is a 

 superior form called i/nsignis and another 

 with deeper lilac flowers called carnea. 



Culture Sc. as above for B. glohosa. 



B. variabilis. — A very distinct species 

 from Eastern Thibet. It grows 6^8 ft. 



high, and is remarkable for the wooUiness 

 or dense down on the stems and leaves, 

 the latter being elliptic tapering and 

 serrate, 6-10 in. long and thickly clothed 

 with white down on the under side. 

 The sweetly scented lavender flowers with 

 a distinct deep orange centre appear from 

 June to September and are borne in 

 pyramidal clusters about 6 in. long at the 

 ends of the shoots. Seeds are freely 

 ripened. 



Culture dc. as above for B. globosa. 

 A handsome plant for massing in 

 shrubberies or in beds on the grass. 



DESFONTAINEA.— A genus con- 

 taing only one species : — 



D. spinosa. — A beautiful shining ever- 

 green shrub about 3 ft. high, native of 

 the Chilian Andes, with eUiptic-oblong 

 leathery spiny-toothed leaves, 2 in. long, 

 and very much resembling some varieties 

 of HoUy. Flowers from June to August, 

 tubular, scarlet, tipped with yellow, about 

 IJ in. long, drooping, shortly stalked and 

 soUtary from the sides of the branches 

 between the opposite leaves. Calyx cup- 

 shaped, 5-cleft. Corolla tubular, 5-lobed. 

 Stamens 5. Ovary usually 5-ceUed. Fruit 

 a globose or ovoid irregularly 5-ceIIed 

 berry. 



Culture and Propagation. — This 

 distinct shrub wiU thrive under the same 

 conditions and localities as Buddleia glo- 

 bosa in peat or light loamy soil. Cuttings 

 of the ripened shoots may be rooted in 

 light sandy soil, and there is more chance 

 of success if they are placed in gentle 

 heat under a bell-glass. The cuttings 

 should be kept close and shaded from 

 strong sunshine, and also sprinkled over- 

 head every day until fairly well rooted. 

 Small plants grown in pots make beautiful 

 conservatory ornaments in districts where 

 the plants are not quite hardy ; but even 

 in these localities the plants may be 

 plunged in the open border during the 

 summer months to flower. 



LXXV. GENTIANEiE— Gentian Order 



An order of generally smooth annuals or herbaceous perennials, rarely shrubs 

 or climbers. Leaves (except in Menyanthes, Villarsia, and Limnanthemum) 

 opposite, entire, without stalks or stipules, often strongly 3-5-nerved, and 

 sometimes connate. Elowers regular or slightly oblique, hermaphrodite, or 

 very rarely polygamous by arbortion, solitary, or in 2-3-forked cymes. 

 Calyx inferior, with a bell-shaped or very short tube, and having 4-5 (rarely 



