PLANTS WORTH GROWING 195 
may be severed from the main stock and cut into 
two-inch lengths. The root cuttings should be laid 
regularly in a shallow box or pan of fine gritty soil 
and covered with coarse silver sand. They will 
callous and break into growth if kept just moist 
and placed in a cold frame, or if convenient in a 
slightly heated pit or greenhouse. When in active 
growth the young plants may be potted off and 
ultimately planted out in permanent quarters. 
Statices dislike root disturbance, and except for 
propagating purposes they should not be lifted 
when once in the ground. 
In addition to the charm of the Statices in the 
garden — and they are particularly useful in seaside 
districts where the salt sea breezes are too strong for 
many plants — they are of exceptional value for 
Winter decoration. The flower stems should be cut 
as soon as the real flowers — the corollas — are 
expanded, and should be hung heads downward in 
a cool, airy shed to dry. The corollas will shrivel 
and fall, but the calyces and leafy bracts will dry, and 
retain their natural form and colour, providing 
excellent material for vases, fire screens, hall-stands, 
etc., and also for making wreaths and other floral 
emblems of a lasting character. 
Sternbergia. — The species lutea is the only mem- 
ber of this small genus cultivated in our gardens. 
Its chief distinction is that it throws up its yellow 
starry flowers on six- or seven-inch stems quite late 
in Autumn, leaves appearing after the flowers have 
