COLUMBINES. 
35 
drained loam with plenty of humus in it, and may be 
left undisturbed for a few years, provided they receive 
a good mulching of well-decayed manure annually in 
autumn or ’winter. The blossoms are freely produced 
from May to July, and are usually thrown well above 
the ornamentally-divided leaves. By frequent cutting 
for decorative purposes, fresh flowers will continue to 
appear, however, well into the autumn. Propagation 
is most readily effected by sowing seeds in the 
open air when ripe, or in cold frames, and also by 
dividing the crowns in the spring. There are several 
fine species, among them being alpina, a charming 
plant about a foot high, with large deep blue flowers 
in May ; atropurpurea , 2 to 3 feet high, deep purple, 
and its variety Fischeriana which flowers later in June ; 
Bertoloni, 1 foot high, with blue flowers in June and 
July; canadensis, 2 feet, with scarlet and yellow flowers, 
from June to August; chrysantha, 3 to 4 feet, yellow, 
with a bright canary yellow variety ( flavescens ) ; 
coerulea, 12 to 18 inches high, flowers blue and white, 
with long spurs (Plate 14, fig. 39) ; formosa or cali- 
fornica, 2 to 3 feet, bright orange red ; fragrans 1 to 
2 feet, yellow, striped ; glandulosa, 1 to 2 feet, deep blue, 
with several varieties ; sibirica, 1 to 2 feet, bright lilac. 
The double-flowered variety is very attractive ; it has 
the spurs pointing downwards instead of upwards, the 
blossoms being blue and white; Skinneri , a grand 
Columbine from the Guatemalan mountains. It grows 
2 to 3 feet high, and has large red, green, and yellow 
blossoms, with long orange-red spurs ; vulgaris, the 
common British Columbine, 1 to 3 feet high, with 
blue, purple, or white blossoms according to its 
d 2 
