658 



PB ACTIO AL GUIDE TO GARDEN PLANTS 



PHLOX 



leaves 2-4 in. wide. Flowers in spring, 

 white, in simple or forked cymes. Corolla 

 lobes naked with the exception of a hairy 

 crest down the centre. 



Culture dc. as above. 



M. trifoliata (Marsh Trefoil; Com- 

 mon Buchhean). — A pretty perennial 

 found growing wild in the marshy bogs 

 of the British Islands, and having trail- 

 ing matted stems covered by the leaf- 

 sheaths. Leaves on stalks 3-7 in. long, 

 and composed of 3 oblong or obovate 

 blmit leaflets IJ-S in. long. Flowers 

 from May to July, white inside, pink or 

 reddish outside, with purple-red anthers, 

 and crested and beautifully fringed 

 corolla-lobes. 



Culture dc. as above. 



VILLARSIA. — A genus contaiaing 

 about 10 species of marshy herbs with 

 long-stalked radical entire or irregularly 

 sinuate-toothed leaves. Flowers yellow or 

 white. Calyx 5-parted or deeply cleft into 

 lance-shaped segments. Corolla broadly 

 bell-shaped, somewhat rotate with or 

 without fringed margins. Stamens 5, 

 with narrow arrow-shaped versatile 

 anthers. Ovary 1 -celled. 



V. parnassifolia. — A pretty Australian 

 plant with oval or almost round leaves 

 with entire sinuate or crenulate margins. 

 The naked flower stems are about 12-18 

 in. high, and bear panicles of yellow 

 flowers in August. 



Culture and Propagation. — This plant 

 will grow in the open air in marshy places 

 or in moist peaty soil in the milder parts 

 of the kingdom, and may be used with 

 the Buck Bean or Floating Heart. It may 

 be increased by dividing the roots, or by 

 means of seeds sown when ripe, or in 

 spring, in moist sandy soil. 



LIMNANTHEMUM (Floating 

 Heart). — About two dozen species have 

 been described as belonging to this genus, 

 but the one mentioned below is the only 

 one grown out of doors in the British 

 Islands. The chief characteristics of the 

 genus are : Aquatic herbs with creeping 

 roots, and ovate or roundish deeply heart- 

 shaped, entire, or obscurely sinuate leaves. 

 Flowers yellow or white ; peduncles 

 1-flowered, in pairs, or often several at 

 the leafy joints. Calyx 5-parted with 

 oblong lance-shaped segments. Corolla 

 somewhat rotate deeply 5-cleft with 

 entire or fringed lobes. Stamens 5 at- 

 tached to the base of the corolla. Ovary 

 1-celled ; stigma 2-lobed. Capsule ovoid 

 or oblong, indehiscent or irregularly rup- 

 tured. 



L. nymphaeoides {L. peltatum, ; Vil- 

 larsia nymphcBoides), — A pretty native 

 aquatic perennial found in still waters in 

 various parts of the British Islands. It 

 has a creeping rootstock, with alternate 

 stalked roundish leaves, deeply heart- 

 shaped at the base, quite entire or slightly 

 toothed or sinuate, shining green and 

 spotted with purple. Flowers in July and 

 August, 1 in. across, bright yellow, with 

 fringed edges, crowded on stalks 1-3 in. 

 long. 



Culture and Propagation. — This 

 species may be grown in tanks, pools, 

 lakes &c., with a muddy bottom for the 

 creeping roots. The small Water- LUy- 

 like leaves float on the surface of the 

 water, above which are raised slightly the 

 bright yellow flowers. It may be increased 

 by dividing the rootstock as in the case of 

 the Bog Bean, or by seeds sown in the 

 mud as soon as ripe. 



LXXVI. POLEMONIACE^— Phlox Order 



An order of erect or rarely climbing, smooth, downy, or clammy herbs, rarely 

 shrubs, with alternate or opposite entire or variously cut leaves. Flowers 

 often showy, regular or slightly oblique, hermaphrodite, in corymbose cymes, 

 heads, or loose panicles at the ends of the branches ; or solitary or in pairs in 

 the axils of the leaves, sessile or stalked. Calyx inferior, bell-shaped or 

 tubular, shortly or deeply 5-cleft. Corolla gamopetalous, funnel-, salver-, or 

 bell-shaped or rotate, with 5 twisted lobes. Stamens 5, equally or unequally 

 attached to the corolla tube. Ovary superior, 3-celled. Style simple, thread- 

 like, with a 3-cleft stigma. Capsule few- or many-seeded. 



PHLOX. — A genus containing less or tufted perennial herbs, rarely annuals, 

 than 30 species of erect or spreading, tall with entire leaves, those on the stem 



