686 



PB ACTIO AL GUIDE TO GABDEN PLANTS 



ALON\ 



ovate or round alternate leaves 1-1^ in. 

 long, in 2 rows, and on very short stalis. 

 Flowers in summer, about 1 in. across, 

 blue with a white throat, yellow anthers, 

 and a hairy calyx with 5 linear oblong 

 segments, 2 of them shorter than the 

 others. 



Culture and Propagation. — This 

 species is excellent for hanging baskets 

 or pots, and is also effectively used in 

 warm sunny parts of the rockery traiUng 

 over the faces of rooks. On raised borders 

 or banlcs it also looks well, and does best 

 in sandy well-drained soil. Increased 

 by cuttings, division, or seed. 



C. Scammonia {Scammony). — A 

 smooth, deciduous, angular - stemmed 

 species, native of the Levant, with heart- 

 shaped sagittate leaves, truncate at the 

 base. Mowers in July, large, bell-shaped, 

 creamy-white or tinted with red, usually 

 3 on a stalk. 



Culture Sc. as above for C. maurita- 

 niciis. Increased by seeds or division. 



C. tricolor. — A charming S. European 

 annual better known in nurserymen's 

 catalogues as C. minor. It has branched, 

 trailing, downy stems ascending at the 

 ends about 1 ft. high, and bearing ovate 

 lance - shaped or spoon - shaped hairy 

 leaves. Flowers from July to September, 

 IJ— 2 in. across, having a yellow centre 

 with a band of white and an outer band 

 of blue in the type, usually borne singly 

 on stalks arising from the leaf axils. There 

 are many fine varieties, including blue, 

 crimson-violet, rose, striped, and pure 

 white flowers, all of which can be obtained 

 from a packet of mixed seeds. There 

 are also double -flowered forms having 

 clear blue blossoms mixed with white at 

 the base and consisting of several corollas 

 inserted as it were one inside the other. 

 It is somewhat difficult to obtain seeds 

 from these double varieties. 



Cultwre and Propagation. — The seeds 

 of C. tricolor and its varieties may be 

 sown in gentle heat in February or 

 March so that the seedlings can be trans- 

 planted in May or June ; or as the plants 

 are perfectly hardy, seeds may be sown 

 in the open ground in September in warm 

 spots for flowering the following season. 

 Seeds may also be sown without any heat 

 in April and May to flower late in summer 

 and autumn. 



NOLANA. — A small genus of smooth 

 or clammy, downy, often diffuse or trail- 



ing annual herbs. Leaves solitary or in 

 pairs, sessile or stalked, entire, flat, some- 

 times fleshy. Flowers in the axils of the 

 leaves, shortly stalked, whitish, bluish, or 

 rosy. Calyx bell-shaped or tubular, 5-cleft. 

 Corolla broadly funnel-shaped, plaited, 5- 

 angled or scarcely lobed. Disc annular, 

 entire, or crenate-lobed, sometimes ob- 

 scure. Ovary entire, or 5- or more lobed. 

 Culture and Propagation. — Nolanas 

 grow well in ordinary garden soil in sunny 

 positions in the border or rockery. They 

 are best raised from seeds sown in the 

 open ground in March and April, thinning 

 the seeds out, rather than transplanting 

 them — a process they do not stand well. 



N. atriplicifolia {N. gra/ndiflora). — A 

 beautiful Peruvian annual with procum- 

 bent and rather hairy stems and spoon- 

 shaped leaves, the lower ones long-stalked. 

 Flowers in summer, 1 J in. across, funnel- 

 shaped, beautiful blue, white in the centre. 

 The variety alha is recognised by its 

 wholly white flowers. 



Culture rfc. as above. 



N. lanceolata. — A Chilian annual about 

 6 in. high, with twin lance-shaped, stem- 

 clasping leaves, obhquely adnate at the 

 base. Flowers in summer, blue, white, 

 green. 



Culture dc. as above. 



N. paradoxa. — A trailing hairy Chilian 

 annual with bluntly ovate hairy leaves, 

 and blue bell- or funnel-shaped flowers 

 borne during sununer. 



Culture (tc. as above. 



N. prostrata. — A beautiful trailing 

 Peruvian annual, with ovate oblong or 

 rhomboid ovate entire leaves and pale 

 blue flowers in July. 



Culture Ac. as above. 



N. tenella (2^. paradoxa, Sims). — A 

 Chilian slender-stemmed annual clothed 

 with a clammy down and having bluntly 

 ovate leaves. Flowers in summer, pale 

 blue, with a paler centre on slender hairy 

 stalks. 



Culture dc. as above. 



ALONA caelestis, a beautiful Chilian 

 Heath-like bush about 2 ft. high with pale 

 blue bell-shaped flowers, is closely related 

 to the Nolanas, and is an excellent plant 

 for the flower garden during the summer 

 months, but is too tender for British 

 winters. It thrives in peat and loam, 

 and may be readily increased by cuttings 

 in sandy soil in gentle heat. 



