November, 1911 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



171 



of gray-leaved plants should make a note 

 of this plant for his herb border. It is 

 a biennial and may require a dry, sunny, 

 well drained position, e. g. on a sheltered 

 bank. 



Second, we get in Fig. 6 a plant that 

 mimics the perennial coreopsis, viz. Peu- 

 cedanum coriaceum. It is a better plant 

 than it seems from the picture, for the open 

 clusters of greenish yellow flowers are 

 delicate and interesting, even if not showy. 

 The plant ought to make a good ground- 

 cover in rough places for it is very compact, 

 growing about one and a half feet high and 

 three feet across, and forming perfect 

 mounds of fresh green foliage. 



Third, we get in Fig. i an aberrant form 

 called Hydrocotyle repafida. I do not 

 recommend this for cultivation, for the 

 green flowers are not attractive, but the 

 shield-shaped leaf is sure to arouse wonder. 

 Is this the way the umbrella-bearers first 

 armed themselves for the battle of life? 

 Do the highly bred members hark back, 

 in their seed-leaves, to such a form as 

 this? Can the botanists decipher from 

 these shields the original family from which 

 these umbel-bearers spring? Whether we 

 ever know the answers to such questions 

 is of small consequence to the gardener, 



but to live amid a wonder world seems 

 to me very desirable in a commonplace 

 age. And so I should like to see that 

 little bedding plant which is said to be 

 cultivated in Washington, D. C, under 

 the name of Hydrocotyle sibthorpioides. 

 The word Hydrocotyle means "water 

 beaker," referring to the fact that these 

 plants grow near the water, and to the little 

 cuplike depression in the centre of the leaf. 



SUBTROPICAL FOLIAGE EFFECTS 



Another type of foliage in which the 

 umbrella-bearers are rich is the large, 

 highly compound leaf which has a strong 

 suggestion of the tropics. The most 

 familiar example is Angelica. Almost 

 every lover of the country has at some time 

 paused before a swamp where a colony 

 of lusty herbs five or six feet high arrested 

 the attention. There is a beautiful picture 

 of Angelica hirsuta in the catalogue of a 

 nurseryman who specializes on plants of 

 the southern Appalachians. Few plants 

 look as if they were gladder to be alive. 

 The lush growth, fecundity and infinite 

 detail in Angelica rejoice the heart of your 

 true boggist. The leaves are biternate, 

 with quinate divisions. 



An allied genus which is equally suitable 



for bog gardens, and for no other place, is 

 Archangelica. The most famous member 

 of that genus is A. officinalis, an old 

 European plant, with ternately decom- 

 pound leaves. The stems and ribs were 

 formerly blanched and eaten like celery, 

 and the plant is still used in confectionery. 



Robinson pictures a striking plant called 

 Molospermum cicutarium which grows five 

 feet high and has large pinnately cut leaves 

 and huge, compound umbels. 



When bog gardens become as popular 

 in America as they are in England our 

 swamps will be scoured for the grandest 

 plants of this sort. Such plants are too 

 coarse and too strong-smelling, when 

 bruised, to be planted in ordinary gardens, 

 but they are appropriate ornaments of 

 wet places. The wonder never ceases 

 that the fertile earth can bring forth in a 

 single season such monumental plant- 

 architecture. One must be careful to 

 avoid the water hemlock, that banal 

 herb which furnished the fatal draught 

 for Socrates. Its name is Conium, and 

 it is described in all the botanies. 



A WOODLAND AND WATERSIDE BEAUTY 



Most of these water-loving members of 

 the Umbelliferae are wonderfully robust, 



3. Giant fennel iFerula), which grows ten feet high and has fluffy balls of 

 white flowers, and is prized for the exceeding fineness of its foliage. The whole 

 plant is a marvel for softness of texture 



4. The giant parsnip (Heracleum villosum or giganteum), which grows ten feet 

 high and has white flowers. Other species in cultivation are H. lanatum. Sibiri- 

 cum.eminens, pubescens, and Wilhelmsi 



