^74 



FLORA AND SYLVA, 



rich colour set off by clear white anthers. Ari- 

 zona and Mexico. A plant with all the good 

 points of P. Murrayanus and much easier to 

 grow, flowering finely during the present warm 

 summer; to be seen with effect should be freely 

 grouped and the stems carefully staked. It is 

 nearest to P. Eatoni, but differs from it in its 

 taller growth, its greyer leaves, and its flowers 

 of deeper crimson. Seeds. 



P. Richardsoni. — An old plant found about 

 the Columbia River and its branches, thriving 

 in the leafy deposits drifted amongst the rocks. 

 It is a showy kind, forming long rambling 

 stems of 3 feet, loosely branching, covered with 

 shining deeply cut leaves and medium-sized 

 violet or rosy-purple flowers. A robust plant 

 forming large tufts. 



P.Roez/i. — A dwarf plant akin toPJatus, 

 with narrow leaves and flowers of pale blue or 

 lilac. 



P. rotundifolius. — A good border plant 

 growing 2 feet high, with thick rounded stems 

 and leaves of grey-green and large drooping 

 flowers of bright brick-red upon long stalklets, 

 giving the spike a loose appearance. A hand- 

 some plant from N. Mexico. 



P. secundiflorus. — A handsome and distinct 

 border plant of free growth, with narrow grey- 

 green leaves and bluish flowers suffused with 

 bronze where touched by sunlight. They are 

 an inch or more long, very broad and bell- 

 shaped towards the mouth, and carried in long 

 narrow racemes. Colorado. A good plant of 

 recent introduction, still rare in gardens. 



P.spectabilis. — An old and useful Mexican 

 species of 1 8 to 24 inches, with greyish-green 

 leaves deeply toothed, and pretty rosy-purple 

 flowers of about an inch, very open and full 

 in the purple-lined throat, and carried in 

 branching panicles. 



P. Torreyi. — A variety of P. barbatus. 

 P Jriphyllus. — An old kind found by Dou- 

 glas many years ago upon the decomposed 

 granite soils of the Blue Mountains. Grow- 

 ing about 1 8 inches high, it bears small violet 

 or pale rose flowers in a loose leafy spike, the 

 pale inner throat of the flowers lined with 

 darker veins. A slender herb thriving in sandy 

 soils. 



P. tubijiorus. — A plant throwing tall stems 

 of 2 to 3 feet from low leafy tufts, the stems 

 bare save for a few small bracts and the dense 



spike of tubular white flowers, sometimes 

 shaded with purple, and arranged in succes- 

 sive tiers. Kansas and Arkansas. A distinct 

 and showy plant with a long season of beauty. 



P. venustus. — An old and pretty border 

 plant from the western States, with erect leafy 

 stems of 2 feet and thick leaves sharply in- 

 dented. The spike is narrow, bearing fine pur- 

 ple flowers more than an inch long, widening 

 from a narrow tube, and hairy within. 



P. Watsoni. — A hardy little plant of re- 

 cent introduction from the mountains of Co- 

 lorado, dwarf and much branched, bearing 

 rounded leaves an d small funnel-shaped flowers 

 of dark violet-purple, relieved at times by 

 touches of white. 



P. Wrightii. — A handsome and showy kind, 

 coming very near P. puniceus, but less tall, and 

 smaller in leaf and flower. The flowers are also 

 of a deeper crimson, less than an inch long, 

 borne freely upon stout purplish stems. Leaves 

 less fleshy, but of the same grey-green, oblong 

 below, and merging to surround the stem as 

 they ascend. A plant of fine colour when 

 grouped, particularly in seasons such as the 

 present. B. 



THE STONE PINE (Pinus Pined). 



Though some may dispute its claim to the 

 proud title " Pine of Pines," none can deny that 

 this tree is one of the most beautiful of Europe. 

 Sung by classic poets and immortalised in later 

 years by the genius of Turner and other land- 

 scape painters, its praise has become familiar 

 in alllands; while travellers in southern Europe 

 are perhaps more pleasantly impressed by its 

 beauty than by that of any other tree. The 

 Eastern Cypress is.impressive but is sad withal, 

 haunting thecemeteries or ranged in ranks too 

 straitened for natural charm. The Olive, beau- 

 teous as it is, has beauty too visibly constrained 

 and fettered; beauty that is chained in ranks, 

 terrace by terrace and tier above tier; beauty 

 that is trained and trimmed, dug-about, con- 

 trolled, and forsaken when days of profit are 

 over. The beauty of the Stone Pine is the wild 

 free beauty of Nature, whether of the shady 

 forest, of wind-swept crag, or sunlit shore. 

 Standing alone, it spreads a dome of faultless 

 symmetry, finer than any temple fane, the great 

 head gracefully poised upon the trunk of mot- 

 tled grey and brown; or again, grouped in 



