8 



JOURNAL OF THE EOYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Heleastrum, the next subgenus, has three species of the 

 south-eastern coast, all growing in what we know in the Atlantic 

 States as Pine-barrens. The sterile soil of these barrens nur- 

 tures some of the most interesting plants of our American Flora, 

 as is well shown by the long list of New Jersey plants. But 

 experience shows that these children of neglect are by no means 

 amenable to ordinary culture. Some of the Pine-barren plants 

 which thrive under very adverse circumstances in their forbid- 

 ding home do not thrive at all when we transfer them to our 

 gardens and houses. A few of them succeed remarkably well, a 

 few only indifferently, and some are hopeless from the very out- 

 set. It is impossible to state beforehand whether given plants 

 from our sandy woods will bear change or not ; we find that the 

 only way is to try the experiment where there is promise of good 

 results. In the present instance, the small size of the flowers of 

 the species of the section would render the experiment hardly 

 worth the while. 



Hesperastrum has a single species from the high mountains of 

 California ; Biotia, two species from the woodlands of Canada 

 extending as far south even as Georgia, but in our Southern 

 States only in the higher mountains. These two species delight 

 in shade, and form a pretty garden ornament under thickets, but 

 neither has any great claim to horticultural consideration. ' 



The next subgenus, Aster proper, comprises no less than 

 seventy -four well-marked species, together with no end of 

 varieties and probable hybrids. Taking the more promising of 

 these in the order adopted by Dr. Gray, we notice first A . Hcrvcyi, 

 which resembles A. macropliylhis of the last group and 

 A. spectabilis of this. One of its forms has been long in cultiva- 

 tion under other names, especially Biotia commixta and Eurybia 

 commixta. It flowers in the gardens of the Atlantic coast in 

 late summer. The rays are of reddish violet. A. spectabilis, one 

 of its nearest congeners, is generally a little brighter in colour, 

 and blends well with it in groups. There are few finer masses of 

 violet than our wild plants of these and the associated species as 

 they are grouped together on the borders of woods. 



Passing over a few species which are attractive from a 

 botanical point of view, we come to the superb species A. Curtisii, 

 which grows in rather dry soil, in woodlands, in the Alleghany 

 Mountains. The whole plant is generally smooth, always so in 



