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CASSELL'S POPULAR GARDENING. 



COMMON GARDEN FLOWERS. 



Sea Lavender {Statice). — Lavender, or the 

 Latin Lavendida, is from lavare, " wash," as being 

 the plant used to scent newly-washed linen, whence 

 the expression of " laid up in lavender," or, as Diez 

 tells us, from being used at the baths in washing 

 the body. The real Sea Lavender is Statice 

 Zimoniiua, or Wild Marsh Beet, and is frequent on 

 the muddy shores of England ; and its root has 

 been known as an astringent from the time of 

 Pliny. The name Statice is from statizo, " to stop," 

 on account of its astringent property. The Statices 

 are a curious family of plants, the majority of which 

 are hardy perennials, growing vigorously in ordinary 

 flower borders, where they throw up their widely- 

 branching flower -stems with hundreds of small 

 blooms covering them all over, and forming a com- 

 plete feather or plume of diminutive blossoms vari- 

 ously coloured, but for the most part confined to 

 white and blue. The dwarf kinds form charming 

 subjects for the rock- work, while the stronger-grow- 

 ing kinds should be placed in borders. The flowers 

 are very useful for cutting, retaining their colour for 

 years after being cut. The flower-stems should be 

 cut just as they are fully matured, tied together in 

 bunches, and hung in a cool place heads doT\Tiwards, 

 where they can dry gradually ; the stems will be- 

 come rigid when their juices have dried up, they can 

 then be used for the decoration of rooms in winter. 



The best species and varieties for garden culture 

 are Dobartii, bearing heads of lavender-blue^ and 

 growing to a height of eighteen inches ; angustifolia, 

 the Narrow-leaved Sea Lavender, considered a fine 

 variety of the British Lavender, S. Limonium ; data, 

 the Tall Sea Lavender, flowers bluish-lilac in long 

 panicles, an introduction from Southern Russia ; 

 Gmelini, or Gmelin's Sea Lavender, from Siberia, an 

 excellent Alpine border plant ; incana hybrida, a fine 

 form of the Hoary Sea Lavender, from Central Asia ; 

 flowers crimson, with a white calyx : latifoUa, thj 

 Great Sea Lavender, which grows to the height of about 

 two and a half feet, forming an immense branching 

 panicle two feet across, covered with a myriad of 

 lavender-lilac and white calyces and flowers (this is 

 particularly ornamental in a dried state) ; paniculata, 

 a very handsome border plant that can be highly re- 

 commended; and tartarica, a very handsome and 

 dwarf kind from Tartary, bearing small and very 

 numerous rose-coloured or reddish flowers late in 

 summer. Most of those named can be propagated by 

 careful division of the roots, and seeds. 



There are several evergreen green-house species of 

 value both as decorative and exhibition plants, which 

 it is not necessary to refer to in this relation. There 

 are also two annual species quite hardj- and of a very 



interesting character : one is a dwarf-growing form 

 named spicata, rising to a foot or more in height, and 

 bearing pretty pink flowers, and it makes an excel- 

 lent "everlasting" when dried; the other, S. Suwo- 

 rowi, said to be of Polish or Russian origin, and by 

 far the finest of all the annual Statices. The small 

 foliage lies flat upon the ground, and above it rise 

 many-branched spiral flower-spikes to the height of 

 twelve or eighteen inches. The plant continues in 

 bloom for quite two months, and from sowings in 

 February, March, and April, it is easy to secure a 

 constant succession throughout the summer and 

 autumn; the colour of the flowers is bright rose 

 shading off to a paler tint. It is also well adapted 

 for cultivating in pots for green-house decoration. 



There are a great number of Statices, and they 

 grow most abundantly on the sea-shores of the tem- 

 perate regions of both hemispheres. Some of them 

 possess peculiar properties. The root of S. caroliniana, 

 called in the United States of America the Marsh 

 Rosemary, is bitter, and extremely astringent, and 

 may be used for all purposes for which Kino and 

 Catechu are given, but it is most frequently used as 

 a domestic remedy for aphthous and ulceratial af- 

 fections of the mouth. . The root of -S. Limonium has 

 been recommended for use as a gargle for ulcerated 

 sore throat, in ulcers of the mouth, and dysentery. 

 In the Caucasus, the root of S. latifoUa is used for 

 the purpose of tanning skins. Several of the species 

 bear galls, like many other plants that contain 

 tannin. 



Trillium. — We have no common name for this 

 genus, though the best-known species, T. grandijlorum, 

 is known as the WTiite Wood Lily. We get the 

 generic name, Trillium, from trilix, " triple," the 

 parts of the flowers being in threes. There are several 

 species forming the genus, and they are natives of 

 thickets in Europe, Asia, and North America. They 

 require special treatment and careful attention, but 

 they well deserve it, and when successfully grown 

 they are most attractive. T. grandiflorum is acknow- 

 ledged to be one of the most singular and beautiful 

 of all hardy plants, belonging to a well-known Ame- 

 rican family. When well established and in good 

 health, each stem bears a lovely white three-petalled 

 flower, fairer than the "WTiite Lily, and almost as 

 large when the plant is strong, but much depends 

 upon the %dgour of the specimens. It seems to thrive 

 well under any kind of treatment, and blooms toler- 

 ably well even in small pits and frames. But to have 

 " large and fleshy leaves, the plant assuming natural 

 proportions, and so becoming a free-growing herb in 

 the open air, certain requirements are necessary — a 

 free soil full of vegetable matter, and a shady position 

 either in the hardy fernery or some depressed nook, 



