COMMON GARDEN FLOWERS. 



259 



rarely perfected, it is better increased by careful 

 division, or by cuttings made in April. The flowers 

 open best in the evening. (E. speciosa is the Tall 

 White or Showy Evening Primrose, and is a native 

 of the southern parts of North America. It is a 

 free-growing hardy perennial, two feet in height, 

 forming neat tufts composed of many erect stems, 

 which are covered from June to October with nume- 

 rous large, white, fragrant flowers. It is increased 

 by division, cuttings, or seeds, but does not seed 

 freely in this country ; and it flourishes vigorously 

 in well-drained rich loam. In Paris this species is 

 extensively used for bedding purposes, for which it 

 is well adapted, and as a border plant few can be 

 found to equal it. (E. taraxacifolia (in reality a form 

 of ffi'. acaulis) is one of the prettiest of the dwarf 

 Evening Primroses, forming prostrate tufts of 

 deeply-divided foliage, and therefore called the 

 Dandelion CEnothera. The plant is quite hardy and 

 perennial, but on some very cold soils it perishes in 

 winter. Where it does well the plant is much ad- 

 mired, and it should be raised annually from seed. 

 It will thrive in almost any garden soil, but best in 

 one rich and deep, and it is very effective in the 

 rock-garden. It is a native of Chili, flowering all 

 the summer and autumn, and seldom rising more than 

 six inches above the ground. (E. Youngi is one of the 

 most ornamental of the perennial Evening Primroses. 

 G-rowing about two feet in height, and producing a 

 profusion of deep yellow flowers, it makes a first-class 

 border plant. It is a Canadian species. (E. Brummondi 

 is a sulphur-yellow- flowered variety, growing a foot 

 in height, but smaller in the blossoms than the pre- 

 ceding species. It is a native of Texas. There is a 

 dwarf variety of this named nana, and a white-flowered 

 form named alba, both what are termed garden 

 varieties. They make excellent hardy plants. 



(E. Lamarckiana (correct name CE. biennis grandi- 

 flora) is a hardy biennial, also from Texas. It is a 

 noble plant, growing three to four feet in height, 

 producing many long spikes of very large yellow 

 flowers. Seeds should be sown every year to secure 

 successional plants. It flowers all the summer, and 

 onwards until quite late in the season. 



There are a few annual varieties that are quite 

 hardy. The best are (E. bistorta Veitchiana, very 

 dwarf, bright yellow, very free ; (E. rosea, rose, very 

 pretty ; (E. Sellowi, yellow, free, and pleasing ; and 

 (E. tetraptera, white, very free and attractive. These 

 annual varieties can be raised from seeds, it being 

 necessary simply to sow them in the open ground. 



The most notable localities for the Evening Prim- 

 rose in a semi- wild state in Britain are on the coasts 

 of Lancashire, and sand-banks a few miles north of 

 Liverpool ; and also near the east coast, at Wood- 

 bridge, in Suffolk. 



Sunflower {Helianthus). — The common Sun- 

 flower of our gardens is // . annuus ; the specific name 

 is from fielios, "the sun," and anthos, "a, flower," in 

 reference to the opinion that this flower turns round 

 after the sun. It is also named Sunflower from its 

 "resembling the radiant beams of the sun," as 

 Gerarde states, and not as some of our popular poets 

 have supposed, from its flowers turning to face the 

 sun, which they never do. 



There are annual and perennial varieties, and of 

 the former the most generally grown are the 

 Californian, H. californicus, a fine tall-growing 

 variety ; the Dwarf, also yellow, and about three feet 

 high ; the Leviathan and the new Double Orange, 

 both very fine garden varieties, the former single 

 and very large; and the common Tall Sunflower, 

 which came to us years ago from South America. 

 The common Sunflower, apart from its ornamental 

 character as a conspicuous object in gardens and 

 shrubberies, is also a much more important plant 

 than it is generally supposed to be. In France, the 

 leaves are used for forage for cattle, which are said to 

 eat them with great relish and avidity. The stalks 

 make an excellent fuel, and yield a large quantity of 

 potash after they are burned ; or, if not wanted for 

 that purpose, the ashes m^ be used as manure by 

 sowing them over the land, or mixing in the manure 

 heap. In Portugal the seeds are used to make a 

 wholesome and nutritious bread, and, when roasted, 

 they form an excellent substitute for coffee ; in some 

 parts of the Continent a kind of bouilli (boiled or 

 stewed meat) is made of them, which serves as food 

 for infants. They also yield by expression a fixed 

 oil, little if at all inferior to olive oil, which is used 

 in some parts of Europe both for burning in lamps 

 and other domestic purposes to which olive oil is 

 applied, and for making soups. As food for poultrj'- 

 they have been found to be very nutritious. One 

 acre will produce fifty bushels of seed, yielding fifty 

 gallons of oil, and about 1,500 lbs. of oil-cake ; and 

 the stems wiU yield about 10 per cent, of potash 

 (Hogg's " Vegetable Kingdom"). It need scarcely 

 be stated that the Sunflower is a very accommodating 

 plant, but the richer and better the soil, the finer the 

 flowers. Of late years the Sunflower has become 

 very popular, the prevalence of what are termed 

 sesthetical ideas having given a great impetus to 

 its culture. The taU-growing varieties, both the 

 double and single, are very suitable for the backs 

 of flower borders, and the verges of shrubbery 

 borders. 



There are several very fine perennial species and 

 varieties of Sunflowers well worthy a place in the 

 garden, some double and some single-flowered — aU 

 growing freely and flowering abundantly. S. angusti- 

 folius, the Narrow-leaved North American Sunflower, 



