THb LION'S- TAIL, 



2 9 



lar tiers of fifteen to twenty blossoms. May to 

 August. 



Globe-headed Purple Primrose [P. pur- 

 purea). — A robust plant with narrow upright 

 leaves of dark green, crisp, and nearly smooth 

 at the edge, yellowish-white on their under sur- 

 face ; the drooping flowers of deep violet are of 

 fair size and carried in terminal clusters from 

 May to July. Alpine regions of Afghanistan 

 and the Himalayas. It is a plant of difficult cul- 

 ture, needing a light peaty soil free from lime 

 and a position in half-shade. 



Siebold's Prim rose (P.Sieboldii) . — A beau- 

 tiful plant from the gardens of Japan, with bold 

 foliage heavily indented and crisped, and co- 

 vered with soft down ; the large flowers, with 

 deep-cut lobes, are of rosy purple in the wild 

 plant but of many colours in its garden varieties, 

 someof which carry flowers with theirmargins 

 laced or curled. The plant should be grown in 

 a mixture of peat, rotten-wood, leaf-soil, loam, 

 and stones, with a position in half-shade. 



Stuart's Primrose (P. Stuartii.) — Allied 

 to the Globe-headed Purple Primrose (pur- 

 purea), but with golden flowers coming from 

 May to July. It needs a deep porous soil, care- 

 ful drainage, a place in half-shade, and protec- 

 tion from northerly winds. Himalayas. 



Californian Cowslip (P.suffruticosum). — 

 A plant growing in small tufts upon the heights 

 of the Rocky Mountains, with narrow spathu- 

 late leaves toothed towards their apex,and large 

 flowers of rosy-purple with a yellow eye,carried 

 in small clusters. April and May. It is best in 

 a sheltered and well-drained niche of the rock- 

 garden, with a fair amount of sunlight. 



Section IV. Hardy Garden Primulas. 

 — Here are classed the kinds widely known and 

 grown in England — the country of the Prim- 

 rose ; kinds such as the many beautiful double 

 and single forms of Cowslip, Polyanthus,Oxlip, 

 and Primrose, and with them a few Himalayan 

 and Siberian plants which may be so classed for 

 their beauty and their hardiness. Amongst them 

 the lovely P. cortusoides of south and eastern 

 Siberia, which yields from April to June its 

 clusters of bright rosy flowers in delicate con- 

 trast to the neat tufts of green foliage; and for 

 moist spots the Himalayan P. cashmeriana, a 

 fine variety of denficu/ata,carrymg its hundreds 

 of flowers in dense heads of lilac, purple, or, 

 more rarely, of white. Such is a rapid survey of 



the Primulas most useful in gardens. Almost 

 all the species yield seed in abundance, but even 

 when it germinates it is often only after twelve 

 or eighteen months of waiting. 



H. CORREVON. 

 Jardin d'Acclimatation de Geneve. 



THE LION S-TAIL (Leonotis 

 honor us) . 



Though the vast Mint family (Labiatce) 

 of lipped-flowers is mainly confined to 

 the warm-temperate or Mediterranean 

 region, its representatives are found 

 more sparingly in warmer parts of Africa 

 and America, and among these tropical 



and semi-tropical forms are the Leo- 

 notis.. The Lion's-tail,that best known 

 in English gardens, comes from those 

 grassy uplands characteristic of the 

 lower mountain regions of Natal and 

 the Cape, from where it was brought 

 nearly 200 years ago. Though several 

 species are showy and attractive this 

 would seem to be the only kind grown 



