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PB ACTIO AL GUIDE TO GABDEN PLANTS eamondia 



Culture and Propagation. — The 

 flowers of this plant are so much like 

 those of a Primula that at first sight 

 might easily be mistaken for one. It 

 'derives its name of Rock Tobacco from 

 the fact that the living plants exhale a 

 powerful odour of Tobacco, especially 

 when the leaves are gently passed 

 through the hands. The plant is rather 

 delicate in constitution and requires some 

 little care in cultivation. It would look 

 charming in masses in the rookery, but 

 untU it becomes more widely distributed 

 it is safer to grow it in pots or cold 

 framies. It might be increased by division 

 in spring, but if seeds are ripened it is 

 preferable to raise plants from them, so 

 as to induce a hardier and more vigorous 

 growth by acclimatisation. 



CONANDRON.— A genus containing 

 only one species here described with the 

 generic characters : — 



C. ramondioides. — A pretty perennial 

 native of moist places on the Japanese 

 mountains. It grows about 6 in. high 

 and resembles the Bamondias and Ha- 

 berlea in habit. The oblong ovate leaves 

 are about 6 in. long, and are smooth and 

 shining, but more or less wrinkled, and 

 with irregularly toothed margins. The 

 flowers appear in June and July, several 

 on the top of a stem about 6 in. high, 

 covered with brown shaggy hairs. The 

 calyx is 5-parted with linear lance-shaped 

 segments. The corolla is more or less 

 rotate with 5 heart-shaped lanceolate 

 lobes. Stamens 5, surrounding the cylin- 

 drical pointed style. 



Culture and Propagation. — This 

 species flourishes in rich well-drained 

 peaty soil, and may be grown with the 

 Bamondias. It is easily increased by 

 division after flowering in spring, the 

 rhizomes being pegged down. 



RAMONDIA.— A genus of 3 species 

 of almost stemless herbs with radical, 

 softly wrinkled, rusty, hairy, or woolly 

 leaves in rosettes. Scapes without leaves, 

 1 or few-flowered. Calyx free, 5-4-, rarely 

 6-parted, with ovate or oblong segments. 

 Corolla violet or pale purple, rotate or 

 broadly bell-shaped, 5-4-, rarely 6-cleft, 

 with broad and nearly equal lobes. Fer- 

 tile stamens equal in number to the 

 corolla lobes and attached to the base. 

 Ovary superior, conical. Capsule oblong 

 with minute seeds. 



R. Heldreichi (JanTiiea Heldreiehi). 

 A native of Thessaly with entire leaves 

 covered with a whitish silky down. The 

 flowers are purplish, but only one or two 

 are borne on each stem. 



Culture ijtc. as below for It. pyrenaica. 



R. pyrenaica (Verbascum Mycom). — 

 Bosette Mullein. — A charming Pyrenean' 

 perennial with rosettes of wrinkled, ovate, 

 deeply toothed, rusty-haired leaves, and 

 rotate purple flowers over 1^ in. across, 

 with a bright yellow centre in May and 

 June, 3-4 on a stoutish scape about 3 in. 

 high. There is a beautiful white-flowered 

 variety named alba, which is now fairly 

 common. The flowers are as large as, if 

 not larger than, those of the type, and 

 the almost puje white petals have a 

 blood-red stain at the base which looks 

 very handsome. 



Culture and Propagation. — This 

 species flourishes in well-drained peaty 

 soil and is an ideal plant for growing in 

 the fissures of rocks so that the rosettes of 

 leaves lie flat on the surface. When grown 

 in masses they are very effective. A 

 splendid cluster of them has been growing 

 fi:eely on the face of an almost vertical 

 wall in a shady part of the rockery at 

 Kew for some years past. 



iJ. pyrena/ica may be increased by 

 seeds or division of the tufts. The seedis 

 should be sown as soon as ripe, and being 

 very small require only the very slightest 

 covering of soil or none at aU. They may 

 be placed in a cold and moist shady frame, 

 and when large enough to handle may be 

 pricked off and grown on until spring 

 before planting them in the rockery. 



Increase by division is best performed 

 after flowering is quite over, say about 

 July and August. The side shoots should 

 be detached and planted in fine peaty soil 

 and kept close, moist, and shaded until 

 established. They should be grown in 

 pots in cold frames during the winter 

 and planted out early in spring. Clean 

 healthy leaves, severed with a sharp knife 

 as close to the base as possible, may also 

 be used to increase the number of plants. 

 If treated in the same way as the side 

 shoots, and placed in leaf mould and 

 sandy loam, they will soon root, but they 

 must not be kept excessively damp, other- 

 wise the leaves are apt to rot. 



R. serbica. — -A pretty species, native 

 of Servia and Thessaly, with rather 

 thick, bluntly ovate entire leaves about 



