The Wallflower. 151 



Thompson, whose pen was not able to describe so sweet a flower 

 by so terrible a name as that of bloody wall, distinguishes it as 



The yellow Wallflower, stained with iron brown, 

 And lavish Stock that scents the garden round. 



We have frequently sown the seeds of the rich iron-brown colored 

 Wallflowers on old walls, and they have uniformly degenerated 

 into a plain yellow. We therefore consider this to have been 

 the natural color, and the dark lines first caused by the impreg- 

 nation of its relative ihe scarlet stock. It has been cultivated in 

 the double state for upwards of two hundred years. The Che- 

 rianthus Fructicluosus — Wild Wallflower, is an orna- 

 mental evergreen shrub, common to old walls in Britain, and 

 bearing a yellow flower from June to July. Leaves lanceolate, 

 entire ; hairs two parted, appressed or none ; pods linear ; stigma 

 with recurved lobes. Some English writers say that this flower 

 blossoms in April and May, and add that it is no doubt owing 

 to the artificial combination of various materials that afford nu- 

 triment to the seeds of many vegetables, which are thence stimu- 

 lated and come into being, and thus grow on and around ruined 

 fortifications and castles, among whose relics the botanist finds 

 frequent objects of interest; the Campanula nods on the battle- 

 ments, and the Wallflower gives her odors to the breeze, as it 

 sighs around the lonely pile which had once echoed only to the 

 voice of cheerfulness and revelry. 



A most beautiful variety of this plant has been lately intro- 

 duced from Russia to England, by Mr. Lambert, which has been 

 named the Chameleon Wallflower, as its petals at first are of a 

 bright yellow, but gradually become paler until they are nearly 

 blanched white ; after which they change to a purple tint, so that 

 the top flowers are yellow, those in the middle white, and the 

 lower blossoms of a lilac or purple hue. This variety is perfectly 

 hardy, but not permanent, as in some instances it has changed to 

 a copper color, and in others to a plain yellow or white. It ap- 

 pears to us a mixture of the yellow Wallflower with the white 

 and purple stock. We possess but few flowers that ornament 

 the garden so gaily and so sweetly as the Wallflower. When 

 planted in clumps of six and ten plants each, the effect is both 

 gay and agreeable. By cutting off the branches of seed-pods, they 

 will blossom a second time, and they have often been kept for 



