FLORA AND SYLVA, 



gold or purple; of woodlands, modest ' blance to N. alata, but the flowers are 

 but chastely beautiful in garb of Snow- smaller, the tube being an inch long,the 

 drops, of Wood Anemones, and Lily of j segments an inch across, with an Auri- 



the Valley, with secret nooks in which 

 the Royal Fern stands shoulder high; 

 of spangled plains with hosts of Star 

 Anemone, or dazzling ranks of scarlet 

 Poppy , or pale withCowslips orMeadow 



cula-like eye. I can learn nothing of this 

 plant beyond what Messrs. Sander have 

 told me, but I shall not be surprised if 

 it proves to be N.flexuosa, a native of 

 Monte Video, where Tweedie found it 



Saffron; even that lavishness of Butter- while collecting for Kew about seventy 

 cups and Daisies, Ox-eyes and Quak- years ago. It is a pleasing plant in every 

 ing Grasses, with yellow Marigolds and respect, and if it had been distributed as 

 Ragged Robins along the waterside, 

 which roused our earliest enthusiasms, 

 these all come back to us in such a mo- 

 ment, and with moments such as these 

 life's treasure-house is garnished. How 

 rare it is to find such chords awakened 



a new and beautiful hardy annual" it 

 would have found general favour. But 

 Messrs. Sander decided to keep it as a 

 breeder, and they married it to N. a lata 

 with mostgratifying results,the product 

 being the hybrid here figured. This plant 

 by human handiwork, however skilful. I has all the good qualities of N.alata, plus 



B. \ the colour and flat, open-faced flowers 

 NICOTIAN A SANDERS* of N. Forgetiana. A large houseful of it 

 One of the most useful of summer- in flower at St. Albans a few weeks ago 

 flowering annuals is Nicotiana alata, was a most pleasing picture, each plant 



better known as N. affinis. It was in- 

 troduced into English gardens twenty- 

 three years ago by Mr. Cullingford of 

 Kensington, who obtained it from Hy- 

 eres (Alpes Maritimes), but it is a native 

 of South Brazil. It is of the easiest cul- 

 ture, and all through the summer its 



being about a yard high, leafy to the base, 

 with from six to nine branches, divided 

 again into at least half-a-dozen branch- 

 lets, each bearing from six to ten open 

 flowers,with many buds to follow. Every 

 plant was an elegant arrangement of rich 

 green foliage and clusters of large rose- 



long-tubed white flowers, borne freely red flowers. The largest flowers I mea- 

 upon wand -like stems, emit towards sured were 2\ inches across. Of course 

 evening a powerful and agreeable frag- these plants were growing in pots, but I 

 ranee. am assured by Mr. Sander that equally 



Four years ago Messrs. Sander and 

 Sons of St. Albans obtained from Brazil, 

 through their collector Forget, a Nico- 

 tiana with bright rose-red flowers,which j ly for the production of seed. No doubt 

 they named N. Forgetiana. In its free- N. Sanders will be more generally val- 

 growing habit and numerous branches j ued as a plant for the open-air flower- 

 with many flowers, it bears some resem- | bed, but it will also be of considerable 



* With coloured plate from a drawing by H. G. Moon at St. Albans. 



good results may be obtained from plants 

 grown in the open border, the plants I 

 saw being partly for exhibition and part- 



