90 
ABRONIA UMBELLATA. 
edging, and smart gravel walks should cha- 
racterise the ground work. The most effec- 
tive way of planning the ground work, is a 
path of two feet six inches round a bed of six 
feet wide in the middle, and borders to occupy 
the space from the path to the walls, or rather 
the sides and ends, whatever they may be. 
There will be no great effect the first year 
without enormous expense, but the second 
you will have all the advantage of your 
own growth. If the balls of potted plants 
are very hard, it may be worth while to 
soak them and loosen all the fibres ; for you 
may in vain try to wet a hard ball : the water 
will run away and soak away without pene 
trating the surface, and the plant will become 
discoloured, weakly, and perhaps defunct. The 
syringe should be used freely, with a fine 
rose on, and by pumping sharply all over 
and among the foliage, and especially of the 
creepers, you will keep the green-fly com- 
pletely under. Confine your plants as much 
as you can to evergreens, for you want it 
cheerful in the winter. Roses, however, you 
must have, and they will occasionally drop 
their leaves ; still there are some that must 
be had, and there is nothing more likely to 
give you a few fugitive flowers at Christmas. 
We have already said, water freely, but not 
often ; a good sousing with the syringe-pump 
once a-week, is better than a garden-pot 
watering once a-day, and besides this it keeps 
the plants clean and healthy, and saves 
labour ; the plants may be cut in pretty close 
for effect at first, but some may be easily 
withdrawn when they begin to crowd each 
other ; unless, which is very desirable, you 
use your knife freely, and keep all things in a 
proper shape, and perfectly quiet. 
ABRONIA UMBELLATA. 
Abronia umbellata, Lamarck (umbel- 
flowered Abronia). — Nyctaginaceas. 
This plant has much the appearance of a 
Verbena, but its relationship is with the 
Marvel of Peru, to which it is nearly allied in 
botanical structure. 
It is a perennial, with trailing stems, which 
creep along the surface of the ground, rooting 
as they go. It is clothed with glutinous hairs, 
both on the stems, on the margins of the 
leaves, and on the stalks of the leaves and 
blossoms. The stems are furnished with 
opposite leaves of ovate-obtuse form, and a 
somewhat fleshy texture ; they are about an 
inch and a half in length, and attached to the 
stem by erect stalks, as long as, or longer 
than, themselves. The flowers grow at the 
axils, in close umbels, much like a head of 
Verbena blossoms, and stand on erect stalks, 
three or four inches long ; the flowers consist 
of a long slender tube, with a flat five-cleft 
limb, the lobes of which are very regularly 
two-parted ; they are of a rosy-violet colour, 
and agreeably sweet scented, especially in the 
evenings. The blossoms are individually 
about the size of those of a Verbena. 
This species has been introduced to Eng- 
land by the Horticultural Society of London, 
through the instrumentality of their collector, 
Mr. Hartweg. The seeds appear to have 
been received in January, 1848, and plants 
raised from them blossomed towards the end 
of the summer of that year. Mr. Hartweg 
met with it on the sands near the sea-shore, at 
Monterey, in California. It appears from 
Mr. Hartweg's published Journal, that two 
species were met with ; the present, which he 
calls Abronia rosea, having pink flowers, and 
another mentioned, Abronia mellifera, with 
orange-coloured flowers ; both are spoken of 
as spreading on the sands by the sea-shore, 
and delightfully scenting the air with their 
perfume towards evening. Mr. Hartweg 
gives the locality as Carmel Bay, an easy 
two hours' walk from Monterey. 
Coming therefore from the very shores of 
the Pacific, in the latitude of Monterey, it 
cannot be expected to prove perfectly hardy 
in England. It is, however, sufficiently so to 
flourish in our climate during the summer 
months ; and, in fact, should have treatment 
something similar to that given to Verbenas, 
with which it associates in appearance, as 
