COMMON GARDEN FLOWERS. 



143 



culata, a slender-growing plant. From a thick root- 

 stock, it sends up each year a set of shoots, with 

 smooth, narrow leaves, to a height of two feet; from 

 there a perfect cloud of small flowers, supported on 

 the slenderest of foot-stalks, forms a conical mass of 

 elegance, its beauty continuing through August and 

 September. It is very useful for mixing with cut 

 flowers ; and if the flowers are dried they come in 

 veiy useful for winter decoration. G. Stevensi some- 

 what resembles G. paniculata, but is of much smaller 

 dimensions ; flowers white, somewhat larger than 

 those of G. paniculata, but not so numerous. The 

 latter comes from Siberia and Sicily, and does well 

 in any light, sandy soil. G. Stevensi comes from Ger- 

 many, and will flourish in any ordinary garden soil. 



Of the annual kinds, G. muralis, from France, 

 and G. elegans, from the Caucasus, are even more 

 beautiful and profuse of bloom, and will merit being 

 naturalised on old ruins and bare rocky places ; par- 

 ticularly the former, which has rose-coloui^ed flowers, 

 and grows about nine inches in height. G. elegans is 

 taller, reaching a height of eighteen inches, and, like 

 the preceding, bears rose-coloured flowers. Both 

 make charming rock plants. 



Achillea {Milfoil). — The common Yarrow of our 

 fields must be known to many. This is Achillea 

 Millefolium ; the generic name is derived from 

 Achilles, a pupil of Chiron, who first used it in 

 medicine as a healer of wounds. Millefolium means 

 " thousand-leaved," and alludes to the numerous 

 segments of the leaves. Its popular names. Milfoil 

 and Thousand -leaved Grass, refer to the same ; its 

 more homely name. Yarrow, is said to be a corrup- 

 tion of the Anglo-Saxon name of the plant, Gearewe, 

 and is derived probably from gearo, "active," on ac- 

 count of the plant's speedy influence when used as a 

 medicine. One of the common names of the Yarrow 

 is Nosebleed, from its having been put into the nose, 

 as we learn from Gerarde, to caiise bleeding and to 

 cure the meagrims, and also from its being used as a 

 means of testing a lover's fidelity. Forby, in his 

 "East Anglia " (p. 424), tells us that in that part of 

 England a girl will tickle the inside of the nostril 

 with a leaf of this plant, saying — 



" Tarroway, Yarroway, bear a white blow ; 

 If my love love me, my nose will bleed now." 



Parkinson says that "it is called of some Nose- 

 bleede, from making the nose bleede if it be put 

 into it, but assuredly it will stay the bleeding of 

 it." It is held, however, that this application of 

 the Yarrow, and all the superstitions connected 

 with it, have arisen, as in so many other in- 

 stances, from the mediaeval herbalists having been 

 misled by a name, and taken one plant for an- 

 other. Yarrow was long considered as a noxious 



weed, but is now reckoned as a grateful food for 

 sheep when mixed with the common pasture grasses, 

 and is therefore generally sown along with such 

 other seeds as are reckoned best adapted for per- 

 manent sheep pasture, on such soils as it is found 

 naturally to thrive in ; the quantity of seed should 

 never exceed 1| lbs. to 2 lbs. per acre. It is stated 

 that the Scotch Highlanders make an ointment of 

 the Yarrow, which dries and heals wounds. 



There are a great many species and varieties of 

 Achillea, nearly if not quite all of which are hardy 

 herbaceous plants, thriving in good garden soil, and 

 propagated by root-divisions, by cuttings, and by 

 sowing their seeds. A few are very useful plants in 

 the hardy border, growing among Phloxes, Pent- 

 stemons. Evergreen Candytufts, &c. ; such as 

 Achillea Clavennce, from the Alps of Switzerland, 

 the Silvery Yarrow, which produces compact tufts 

 of hoary foliage and numerous heads of white 

 flowers ; it is very useful for edging purposes, and 

 makes a conspicuous rock or border plant. A, 

 Ptarmica Jlorepleno, a double-flowered form of the 

 Sneezeworts, so called from the powder made of it 

 causing to sneeze, is one of the most useful of border 

 perennials, producing numerous erect stems two and 

 a half feet high, terminating with abundant pure 

 white flowers, exceedingly double ; for cutting pur- 

 poses in the summer it is invaluable, and as a de- 

 corative garden plant can be highly recommended. 



A. serrata is the Serrate-leaved Achillea, from the 

 European Alps ; and of this there is a double form, 

 similar in appearance to the foregoing, but the 

 flowers are not so double but purer in colour ; the 

 leaves are also very deeply cut, and it blooms later 

 than the preceding. A. tomentosa, the Woolly Yarrow, 

 is a European species, a neat creeping evergreen, 

 with numerous large heads of bright yellow flowers 

 on stems six inches long ; it flowers early in spring, 

 and is very useful for cutting from. A. umbellata 

 is the Dwarf Silvery Yarrow, from the mountains 

 of Greece, a very neat and distinct white-foliaged 

 edging or rock plant ; the flowers white, produced 

 in close compact heads. The last two can be used 

 for bedding purposes. 



The Hare-bell {Campanula). — Campanula means 

 a small bell, and alludes to the form of the flowers. 

 The common Hare-bell of our fields is C. rotundifolia, 

 which can be found in most northern regions ; its 

 name rotundifolia, "round-leaved," refers to the shape 

 of the leaves, which approach to circular, but the 

 notch at their base renders them what botanists 

 term kidney or heart-shaped. Of its popular names 

 Hare-bell is perhaps derived from the Saxon words 

 har and belle, literally " a grey bell ; " but whether 

 this be so or not, or whether it is a corruption of hair,. 



