296 



SHRUBBERIES AND FLOWER-GARDENS. [CHAP. 



dry. Lychnis^ red-flowered. — Lat. L. dioica. A hardy per- 

 ennial plants common in Europe^ which is two or three feet high, 

 and blows a red flower in June and July. Propagated like the 

 scarlet. The fonner of these plants is a very handsome ornament 

 of either the border or the shrubbery. All the species are hand- 

 some^ but particularly this. It should be parted early in the 

 spring ; and, by rights, ought to be covered with litter during 

 the winter, for severe frost will injure it. 



523. MAD-WORT, the rock. — See Alyssum. 



524. MARSH-TREFOIL, common buck bean. — Lat. Ifen- 

 yanthes trifoliata. A hardy aquatic plant, common in some 

 parts of Europe, is a creeper, and blows a reddish flower in 

 May, June, and July. It has a pretty effect on the borders of 

 ponds, where it will multiply itself. 



525. MARVEL OF PERU.— Lat. MiraUlis Jalappa. Large 

 bushy plant, with a rough, black root, growing forked or long, ac- 

 cording as the soil is rich and deeply-moved. This root will, in very 

 rich gardens, deeply trenched, get to the size of a very large parsnip 

 in the first year, and, by keeping it in sand in winter, housed, it 

 may be made a perennial, which it is not in our gardens, unless 

 thus carefully managed. The stalks rise (with good digging and 

 good manuring) to near four feet high, becoming a very branching 

 and large plant. The colours are red, yellow and white, with 

 mixtures, red and yellow, red and white, yellow and white ; and 

 there are some purple sorts. The striped sorts are most 

 esteemed, and, therefore, the gardeners are careful to save seed 

 from none but such plants as have yielded mixed flowers. This 

 is taste, however, and, as long as tastes differ, it is proper to have 

 all the sorts that can be procured. The yellow makes the greatest 

 show. The flower is borne at the end of every shoot ; and the 

 blowing begins in the first week in July, and continues until the 

 frosts set in. The only reason for the most fastidious to quarrel 

 with this plant is that it blows but little in the heat of the sun, 

 reserving all its beauties for those who rise early enough to see 

 them at from five to seven o'clock in the morning. It is properly a 

 hardy annual, though, as said above, may be rendered perennial, 

 and may be sown in the open air as soon as all chance of injury 

 to the young plants by frost is over. April is the best time for 

 sowing. One plant is enough in a spot, and that not near to any 

 minor plant or shrub, as it effectually sucks all moisture from it 



