AMETHYST ERYNGO. 7 



and presents a noble appearance in the border. E. alpinum 

 is a charming miniature. E. spina alba is also a pretty- 

 dwarf plant suitable for the rockery. 



We shall now mention a few more plants that make 

 no appeal in colour to the casual eye, but are, never- 

 theless, most desirable garden plants where there is space 

 for their accommodation and taste for their eccentricities. 

 Foremost in the category we should place the gigantic 

 Eryngium p and ani folium as the type of a group of which 

 the amateur does not require many examples. This plant 

 stands far apart from the pretty subject figured; it has a 

 singular body of leafage, slightly twisted in the way of 

 a screw pine, and a quite unattractive head of flowers. 

 Similarly noble is the large-leaved Senecio Japonicus, which 

 grows to a height of five feet, and finishes its career by a 

 display of orange-coloured flowers that are decidedly coarse, 

 but also decidedly magnificent. Polygonum cuspidatum is 

 another of the giants, requiring plenty of room, and being 

 quite unfit for a place in any ordinary rockery. It is a 

 glorious plant, but requires for its full development about 

 as much space as a proper four-roomed cottage. Elymus 

 glancifolius is a cheap hardy grass with glistering blue 

 leaves that will thrive on any heap of dry sand or stone. 

 It is too coarse for the rockery, but a broad-minded amateur 

 may be happy with it for an outdoor companion. Ferula 

 tingitana is the giant fennel, a most interesting and proper 

 rockery or border plant, loving moisture and warmth. 



Its rich green colour is very different to the curious 

 colours we have had before us in this chapter. Finally, 

 PAormium tenax, the New Zealand flax, demands a place 

 in the garden of every true amateur, and, strange to say, 

 the beautiful variegated-leaved variety is more hardy than 



