PAXTON'S FLOWER GARDEN. 



n 



"A shrub with a compact 

 habit, and dark green, con- 

 vex, evergreen leaves, obo- 

 vate, crenated near the point, 

 and netted on the under side 

 with green veins on a pale 

 ground. The flowers grow 

 singly in the axils of the 

 leaves, on cinnamon-brown 

 stalks an inch long. The 

 corolla is about the same 

 length ; tubular, curved, and 

 rich scarlet, with a projecting 

 style. The calyx consists of five straight, narrow, sharp lobes, 

 not unlike five, brown needles, whence the generic name has 

 arisen ; recpiires a temperature intermediate between the green- 

 house and stove ; easily increased by cuttings, and grows freely 

 in loam, peat, and leaf -mould. " — Joum. Sort. Soc, vol. v., p. 36. 

 With a figure. 



Spir^ia Decumbens. Koch [alias S. flexuosa, Reichen- 

 bach, not Fischer; alias S. adiantifolia, of Belgian Gardens). 

 A hardy European shrub of the Rosaceous order, with weak 

 twining stems, and clusters of white flowers with a rose-coloured 

 eye. In the Belgian Gardens. (Fig. 6.) 



" This species is a native of the mountains of the Frioul, where it was found by 

 Schiede. It is at present little known, although its graceful habit and abundant 

 sweet white flowers give a claim to the attention of amateurs. It forms a bush about a 

 foot high, and one and a half feet wide, tufted, with numerous shining brown branches. 

 The leaves are obovate or oval, long-stalked, unequally serrated, entire near the base, 

 green above, glaucous beneath. The flowers are in little terminal corymbs. It is per- 

 fectly hardy, and is suitable for planting in front of larger shrubs." — Annates de Gand, 

 t. 262. To us it seems to be a very pretty rock-plant. 



Grammanthes Gentianoides. Be Canclolle. A native of 

 the Cape of Good Hope, and a half-hardy annual. Flowers 

 salmon colour, in hemispherical clusters. Natural order, Gen- 

 tian worts. (Fig. 7.) 



Stems a few inches high, white and brittle. Leaves oblong, blunt, succulent. 

 Flowers numerous, about as large as a sixpence, five-parted, salmon-coloured, with a 

 pallid stain at the base of the lobes, and a greenish stain somewhat in the form of the 

 letter V. It is rather pretty in a greenhouse, but is not suited for the open air, where 

 it soon rots, even when elevated on rock- work. — Figured in Van Houtte's Flora, 

 Oct., 1849, t. 518. 



Calandrinia Umbellata. Be Candolle. A native of Chili, belonging to the 

 natural order of Purslanes. A very pretty half-hardy annual, with deep rose-coloured 

 flowers growing in clusters, opening only under a bright sun. (Fig. 8.) 



Stems fleshy, somewhat branched. Leaves very narrow, acute, hairy, those on the stem and next the root alike in 

 form and equally succulent. The flowers when open are about as large as a sixpence, with very round petals ; they grow 

 in many-flowered umbels, and expand in succession during the whole summer. Professor Morren speaks thus of its 

 management in Belgium. Naturally an annual, the seeds are sown in sandy land early in the spring ; this is best done 

 where they have to stand, because such delicate plants do not bear well the operation of pricking out. A soil composed of 

 sand, mixed with decayed vegetable matter, especially rotten leaves, is what suits it best. In order to have large fine 



