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PB ACTIO AL GUIDE TO GARDEN PLANTS echium 



5-oleft with linear lanoe-shaped lobes, 

 sometimes thickened and lobed at the 

 base. Corolla tube slender, straight, with 

 a naked throat ; lobes 5, blunt, spreading, 

 the sinuses often inflexed and dilated. 

 Stamens 5, enclosed. Nutlets 4, or fewer 

 by abortion. 



A. cornuta. — A pretty bushy annual 

 about 1J~2 ft. high, native of Turkestan, 

 with dark green hairy lance-shaped 

 leaves. The deep yellow flowers with a 

 blackish-purple heart-shaped spot on each 

 corolla-lobe appear in summer, and are 

 borne m racemes. The black spots change 

 to browm and finally disappear with age. 



Culture and Propagation. — This 

 remarkable annual flourishes in ordinary 

 soil and may be raised from seeds sown 

 in gentle heat in March or in the open 

 border in April and May. The flowers 

 last more than a week when cut and 

 placed in water. 



A. echioides. — A beautiful Armenian 

 perennial 9-12 in. high or more, with 

 sessile leaves having cOiated edges. 

 Flowers freely during May and the 

 summer months, bright primrose-yellow, 

 with a conspicuous purple or blackish 

 spot in the sinuses between the lobes of 

 the corolla when first open, but gradually 

 fading away, leaving the flowers at last 

 clear yellow. Flower-spikes large, soli- 

 tary, terminal, one-sided. This species 

 has now been transferred to the genus 

 Macrotomia which differs but httle in 

 SDructure from Arnebia. 



Culture and Propagation. — A splen- 

 did plant for the border or rockery, 

 flourishing in deep light moist soU, well- 

 drained, and in somewhat shaded situa- 

 tions. It is usually increased by cuttings 

 (as seeds are not always obtainable) 

 inserted in sandy soil under a hand- 

 glass and kept close and shaded for a 

 time until fairly well-rooted. 



A. Griffithi. — A pretty annual species 

 about 9 in. high, from N. West India. 

 It resembles A. echioides but has 

 narrower leaves, and smaller flowers of 

 a clearer and more decided yellow, and 

 with a longer tube. 



Culture and Propagation. — This 

 species must be raised from seeds sown in 

 gentle heat in March, the seedlings being 

 planted out in May or June according 

 to the mildness of the weather. For the 

 treatment of annuals in general see p. 78. 



A. macrothyrsa. — A beautiful peren- 

 nial 1-1^ ft. high, native of N. Kurdistan. 

 The leaves are 4-7 in. long, and the large 

 yellow flowers are borne in dense trusses 

 during the simimer months. 



Culture dc. as above. Increased by 

 seeds and division. 



ECHIUM (BuGLOss). — A genus of 

 about 20 species of more or less beautiful 

 strong-growing hairy herbs or shrubs 

 with alternate leaves, and flowers in 

 spiked or panicled one-sided racemes 

 recurved at the top. Calyx 5-parted with 

 linear or lance-shaped segments some- 

 times united at the base. CoroUa 

 tubular, funnel-shaped, with 5 rounded 

 unequal erect or somewhat spreading 

 lobes. Stamens 5, often unequally pro- 

 truding. Nutlets 4. 



Culture and Propagation. — Echiums 

 flourish in ordinary garden soil. The 

 annual and biennial kinds may be raised 

 from seeds ; the perennials also, and by 

 cuttings in sandy soU under a handlight, 

 and the shrubby kinds by layers. Seeds 

 may be sown in spring or autumn accord- 

 ing to whether the plants are required to 

 flower the same season or the following. 



E. albicans. — A beautiful dwarf- 

 growing Spanish perennial covered with 

 hoary appressed bristly hairs. The 

 linear -lance-shaped leaves 2-3 in. long, 

 tapering to the base, form dense tufts, 

 those on the stem sessile. Flowers in 

 early summer, at first rose, afterwards 

 violet, nearly 1 in. long, in recurved 

 racemes on scapes 6-18 in. high. 



Culture dc. as above. Increased by 

 seeds or cuttings. 



E. creticum. — A pretty hardy annual 

 6-18 in. high, native of S. Europe, with 

 herbaceous, spreading, hairy stems and 

 branches and oblong lance-shaped leaves. 

 Flowers in July, irregular, reddish-violet, 

 in many-flowered spikelets. 



Culture dc. as above. Increased by 

 seeds sown every year, as recommended 

 for annuals in general at p. 78. 



E. plantagineum. — A handsome 

 annual or biennial with spindle-shaped 

 roots and erect or ascending diffusely 

 branched stems, 1-3 ft. high. It is 

 found wild in Cornwall and Jersey, and 

 in the Mediterranean region. Lower 

 leaves 4-6 in. long, lance-shaped, stalked ; 

 upper ones linear oblong, spreading. 



