38 
BEAUTIFUL GARDEN FLOWERS. 
ARNEBIA echioides (Prophet’s Flower). — This 
beautiful Armenian perennial, about a foot high, is 
remarkable for its heads of bright primrose-yellow 
blossoms which appear from May to August. When 
expanded about a day or two they develop a con- 
spicuous heart-shaped blotch of deep purple and 
maroon between the lobes of the corolla. These 
blotches gradually fade awrny with age, leaving the 
blossoms once again almost pure yellow. The same 
phenomenon takes place in the yellow flowers of 
A. cornuta, an annual 1-| to 2 feet high. Other 
species are Griffithi, an annual, and macrothyrsa, a 
perennial, both with somewhat similar yellow blossoms. 
The plants flourish in a rich sandy loam in a 
partially shaded spot, rather than one exposed to the 
full glare of the sun. The perennials are perhaps best 
increased by offsets or cuttings taken in summer or 
early autumn, and inserted in rich sandy soil under 
glass. Seeds may be sown in spring, and pieces of 
the roots placed in sandy soil in a hot- bed sometimes 
develop new plants. (See Plate 11, fig. 31.) 
ARUM crinitum (Dragons Mouth). — A curious- 
looking Corsican plant, about 18 inches high, with 
lobed leaves and large fetid-smelling flowers, which 
appear from May to July. The blooms are composed 
of a drooping hairy purple spadix, and a large flattish 
brown spatlie, blotched with purple, and hairy on the 
inner surface. Closely related is A. Dracunculus, the 
Dragon Arum, which grows 2 to 3 feet high, and has 
deep purple or claret-coloured spathes with a brownish- 
red spadix standing up in the centre. In A. italicum , 
the triangular hastate leaves are not so much cut, and 
