March.'] PERENNIALS. 45 
ing, the stems should be cut off. The foliage is an agreea- 
ble evergreen ; the plant increases rapidly, and in a few 
years may be planted to a great extent. $. specibsa has red 
flowers, crowded in spreading panicles. S. tartar ica has 
also very showy flowers, and is now given to the genus Tax- 
dnthema. S. latifblia and S. marit\ma are the finest. T. 
latifblia and T. conspicua deserve attention. They should 
be lifted every alternate year, and sunk deeper into the soil, 
because they incline to grow out, and are sometimes during 
summer killed by the drought. Hence they are said to be 
" bad to cultivate." 
Veronica, Speed-well. This genus consists of about one 
hundred and twenty species of herbaceous plants, besides 
several varieties. The flowers are in long, close spikes, white, 
flesh-coloured, or blue ; they are generally of the latter 
colour. Above sixty species are equally fine, and, being ge- 
nerally of the same character, the catalogue at the end of this 
work will contain the best selection that we can make. Very 
few of them are in the collections of the country, although 
they are very showy, and flower from May to August. They 
will grow in any soil, but will not flourish where they are 
much shaded. V. officinal is has been used in Germany and 
Sweden as a substitute for tea. Some prefer V. chamsedrys 
for the same purpose. 
Valerianas. Several species are showy border plants, with 
small flowers in large close flattened panicles. V. dioica 
is remarkable for having the stamens and pistils in separate 
flowers, situated on different plants; the flowers are of a 
blush colour. V. plui, a large-growing species with white 
flowers, and V. rubra, with its varieties which bloom all the 
season, are the finest of the genus. They are now given to 
Centrdnthus. They are all easy of culture in common garden 
earth, but preferring moist, shady situations. In flower from 
May to September. 
Viola, a genus consisting of upwards of eighty species of 
low pretty plants, of great diversity of colour and foliage. 
Many of them* are natives, and well worth a situation in our 
gardens. They mostly delight in sandy loam, and a little 
shade. A few of the species grow in moist situations. The 
most esteemed varieties for fragrance are, V. odordta pur- 
purea plena, double purple, V. odordta alba plena, double 
white, the double Neapolitan and the monthly Double purple. 
