FLORA AND SYLVA, 



great loss, for the name seems to imply that 

 the colour is undecided. The Californian Pea, 

 L. pubescens, is a most beautiful plant, for 

 which, I regret to say, I cannot find a suitable 

 place in my garden. It does well, however, 

 and flowers freely, in warm positions, with one 

 of my neighbours. L. magellanicus (Lord An- 

 son's Blue Pea) was given me a year or two 

 ago, but I failed with it. The seed, however, 

 came, I understood, from Chili, and not from 

 the Strait of Magellan, and the gentleman 

 to whose kindness I owed it told me he had 

 no great opinion of it. "Lord Anson's Blue 

 Pea," however, has posed as a sort of " vege- 

 table sea-serpent " for so many years, since its 

 portrait appeared in Mrs. Loudon's book, that 

 one cannot help being interested in it. 



There is a pretty Australian Pea with 

 white flowers, a Swainsonia, of which I for- 

 get the specific name, but it is probably S. 

 galegifolia albijiora, which I used to plant out 

 during the summer months, and which, as it 

 forms no taproot, did not appear to resent such 

 treatment. 



Orobus. — In his relation to the botanist, 

 the gardener, like 



Panting Time, toils after him in vain, 



And drags at each remove a lengthening chain. 



in the shape of a concatenation of synonyms, 

 under the burden of which he stumbles hope- 

 lessly. It is therefore, perhaps, rather ungra- 

 cious to complain when the process is reversed 

 and an old name is extinguished ; nevertheless, 

 the name " Orobus " is useful, for it expresses 

 a race of plants which for all gardening pur- 

 poses is totally distinct from the climbers, to 

 which the name " Lathyrus " was formerly ex- 

 clusively applied. These Orobi, to my mind, 

 supply some of the most beautiful of spring 

 and early summer flowers. The best known is 

 O. vernus, of which there are several varieties, 

 viz., white, the double white, and one with 

 white and pink flowers, the latter not very dis- 

 tinct or valuable. The best of the lot, how- 

 ever, is a sky-blue variety, which is sold oc- 

 casionally (though it is seldom offered) as O. 

 cyaneus. This, however, is wrong, I am told, 

 for the true 0. cyaneus is a Greek plant with 

 foliage and habit something more in the way 

 of 0. canescens, and is not in cultivation. O.ca- 

 fiescens is one of the loveliest of Alpines, and 



here, at any rate, is not only hardy but appears 

 to thrive with vigour, it is a native of the 

 Alpine regions of Western Europe, and is found 

 in the Pyrennees as well as the Alps, Eaux 

 Bonnes being one of its habitats ; the true 0. 

 cyaneus, however, is not worth troubling about, 

 for, as I learn on the very best authority, the 

 flowers are not blue at all, but purple, and the 

 constitution of the plant, as I have proved my- 

 self, is not to be relied on. O. luteus (or au- 



1 rantiacus, for there is little or no real differ- 

 ence) is a plant of more vigorous habit than 

 any of them with flowers of the shade of " old 

 gold," and another most beautiful species is 

 O. roseus, a native of the Caucasus. The only 

 fault of this is that the blooms, which are of 

 a rich crimson, seem to burn and fade — as is 

 the case with others of the order, such as L. 

 rotundifolius — too quickly under the influence 



I of the sun. 0. roseus appears to prefer partial 

 shade, and, except seedlings, which appear in 

 fair number round the parent plant, it cannot 

 be safely transplanted. O. varius, with curious 

 and beautiful yellow and red flowers, is not 

 always easy to get true, and it appears to be 

 impossible to keep for more than three or four 

 years at the outside, though there is no doubt 

 it is perennial in the sense that it is not biennial. 

 A little further light thrown on the cultivation 

 of this plant would be interesting. 0. lathy- 

 roides is a taller plant with dark blue-purple 

 flowers that blooms somewhat later than the 

 other species. Slugs are fond of it. In John- 

 son's " Gardening Dictionary" I see mention 

 is made of an O. coccineus from Vera Cruz, said 

 to have scarlet flowers, which might be worth 

 looking for. J. C. L. 



(To be continued.) 



Lavender Water. — It is rather funny to read 

 how many papers echo the fiction that English 

 Lavender-water is superior to any other. Those 

 tourists so fortunate as to get the " essence de 

 lavande " of Southern Europe at first hand are 

 sufficiently aware of the difference, though by 

 the time it reaches the English consumer it 

 (in common with most of the flower-scents) is 

 so diluted as to be inferior to what is made at 

 home. The whole odour of the plant, concen- 

 trated by months of unbroken sunshine, is so 

 much stronger than ours that the resulting 

 essence must necessarily be superior. 



