248 



CASSELL'S POPUI.AE GAEDENING. 



known as the Autumn Catch-fly, and is a native of 

 ihe Caucasus. 



Of the annual Catch-flies there are several hand- 

 some varieties of Silene pendula, all hardy and early 

 flowering, therefore valuable in the spring gar- 

 den. They should he treated as biennials, sowing 

 the seed in July. In addition to pendida, with rose- 

 coloured flowers, there are its white variety, and its 

 double form also, but it is somewhat difiicult to keep 

 it true when raised from seeds; ruberrima, with 

 crimson flowers and dark foliage ; Bonnetti deep rose ; 

 and pendiila 

 compacta, a 

 very dwarf 

 tufted form, 

 having rosy 

 flowers, and a 

 white variety 

 also ; pseudo 

 atocion is a 

 very pretty, 

 free -blooming 

 pink - flowered 

 type. All do 

 well in good 

 garden soil. 



The Rag- 

 wort {Scne- 

 cio). — J^fig- 

 wort is de- 

 rived from 

 the German 

 ragwurz, a 

 term expres- 

 sive of sup • 

 posed aphrodi- 

 siac qualities, 

 and originally assigned to plants of the Orchis tribe, 

 as it is in Germany at the present day, and as we 

 fimd it in all our early herbals. In our modern floras 

 the name Eagwort is, for no other assignable reason 

 than its laciniated leaves, transferred to a large 

 Groundsel, Senecio Jacobwa. The generic name Sc- 

 necio is derived from senex, "an old man," the naked, 

 dotted, smooth receptacle being like a bald head, the 

 down of the seeds being white, and many of the 

 species hoary, all characteristics of age. The specific 

 name of the common Eagwort, Jacohcea, is from 

 Jacobus, the Latin for James, because the plant 

 blooms about St. James's Day, July 25th. It is a 

 very common weed in waste grounds and by way- 

 sides. 



The common Groundsel of our gardens and fields 

 is Senecio vulgaris, and it is a favourite food of many 

 birds. Groundsel is from the Anglo-Saxon grund- 



swelge, "ground-glutton/' from griind, "ground,'* 

 and sivelgan, " swallow ; " still called in Scotland and 

 on the eastern border, Grundy-swallow. 



Under the head of Jacobcea we find in seed cata- 

 logues a gi'oup of hardy annuals, varieties of Senecio 

 elegans, known also as American Groundsels. They 

 are natives of the Cape of Good Hope, and have been 

 greatly improved by seedsmen. They are double- 

 flowered, and of such good colours as crimson, blue, 

 purple, &c. Formerly they were much used for 

 bedding purposes, t)ut are now somewhat neglected ; 



too much so, 

 we think, for 

 although old- 

 f ashioned, 

 they are very 

 pretty and 

 useful, grow- 

 ing a foot or 

 so in height, 

 and blooming 

 very freely 

 and continu- 

 ously. They 

 grow^ freely in 

 good garden 

 soil, and can 

 be raised from 

 seed with ease. 

 Why they 

 are termed 

 " American " 

 Groundsels we 

 cannot say, un- 

 less they have 

 been improved 

 in quantity in 

 that covmtry. 

 There are a few Senecios that are included among 

 choice hardy perennials — as, for instance, argenteus, 

 the Silvery Groundsel, very dwarf, and like a minia- 

 ture Centaurea ragiisina. It is a native of the Pyre- 

 nees, and should be grown in a sandy loam as a 

 dwarf silvery edging plant. 



S. Balbisianus, the vai-iety figured, comes from 

 Piedmont. 



S. Doronicum is a free-growing border plant, with 

 large golden-yellow flowers on stems twelve inches in 

 height. It is a first-class decorative plant, and very 

 useful for cutting from. 



S. incanus is the Hoary Groundsel from the South 

 of France, but is not so valuable or so easily grown 

 as S. argenteus ; yet it is a pretty dwarf silvery- 

 leaved plant, forming dense tufts, and a little gem 

 for planting on rockwork. 



aS. japonicics is an ornamental composite irom 



Senecio Balbisianus. 



