u8 



FLORA AND SYLVA. 



and charm are becoming increasingly 

 familiar. 



The Chionodoxas may be grown 

 from seed or from imported bulbs ; if 

 from the Levant the 

 Culture. bulbs are usually ga- 

 thered before fully ripe 

 and do not regain their true vigour and 

 character under two or three seasons, 

 but home-grown or Dutch bulbs are 

 now plentiful and free from this objec- 

 tion. In light fertile soil seedlings flower 

 in their second year, and when once 

 well established the plants sow them- 

 selves freely in most gardens and soon 

 form strong colonies. Wherever the 

 soil suits them bulbs should be planted 

 in broad masses and left to spread at 

 will, growing more vigorously and 

 flowering earlier when quite undis- 

 turbed. They may be freely used in 

 grass, the stout erect stems showing 

 finely in this way, while the plants die 

 down so early as to be out of the way 

 of the mowing machine in most gar- 

 dens. Used in broad patches their fine 

 blue colour is distinct and good at quite 

 a distance, commencing early in Feb- 

 ruary to full beauty a month later, and 

 though the individual flowers are soon 

 over, strong stems bear from eight to 

 a dozen blooms, so that the display is 

 long continued. Blooming before the 

 Squills they may be planted with the 

 Snowdrop for the sake of their rich con- 

 trast in colour. Being very sensitive to 

 aspect and sun-heat nothing is easier 

 than to arrange successive groups in 

 sunny and colder parts of the same lawn 

 or rock-garden, under and around de- 

 ciduous shrubs, or any corner where 



their early disappearance is covered by 

 the growth of later plants. Though 

 grown without care in most gardens 

 there are a few in which the Chiono- 

 doxas do not thrive, increasing slowly 

 or not at all, but this experience is com- 

 paratively so rare that few need hesi- 

 tate to make free use of these charm- 

 ing plants, their moderate price placing 

 them within the reach of all. In spite 



i of their earliness in flower the bulbs 

 remain long at rest and may be safely 

 planted at any time during September. 



As is not uncommon with plants 

 seeding as freely as the Chionodoxas, 

 many of the kinds run 

 Kinds. closely into one another 

 and are more distinct in 

 name than appearance. Even when ty- 

 pical kinds are distinct enough in them- 

 selves they are linked with other sorts 

 by a series of intermediate flowers in 

 many shades of colour and with differ- 

 ences of structure that render classifi- 

 cation difficult. Well-marked sorts are 

 Lucilice with flowers of varying shades 

 of blue ; gigantea, a bolder variety of 

 Lucilice, with flowers of a soft lavender 

 colour ; sardensis, also a mere variety, 

 but of a deep bright shade ; and nana, 

 a species distinct in form, with smaller 

 flowers of pale blue. Though much 

 scarcer, white forms are to be had of 

 nearly all the kinds, and a few rosy or 

 lilac varieties ; there is also a curious 

 hybrid plant between the Chionodoxa 

 and Scilla bifolia, for which the name 

 Chionscilla has been suggested. The 

 flowers of thisplant arelargeand pretty, 



j mostly self-coloured, though a few are 

 lighter towards the centre and their 



