SCABIOSA CAUCASICA. 
133 
March to May (Plate 3, fig. 6). Tlie variet j purpurea 
has leathery leaves shaded with bronzy-purple, and the 
blossoms are of a deep rosy-purple. 8. crassifolia is 
very similar, having large obovate or oval leaves and 
rosy-pink flowers. 8. ligulata has heart-shaped wavy 
leaves, toothed on the margins, and expanded at the 
base into a fringed sheath. The flowers appear from 
March to May, being pale red or almost white in 
forked panicles. The variety ciliata is distinguished 
from the type by its smaller hairy leaves and white 
flowers. 8. purpurascens has large roundish leaves, 
with red margins and masses of purple bell-shaped' 
flowers from April to June. 8. Stracheyi is a vigorous 
Himalayan Saxifrage, with glossy-green obovate 
wedge-shaped leaves, sheathing at the base, the 
sheaths being irregularly toothed and fringed on the 
margins. The beautiful rose-pink flowers appear in 
March in much branched drooping panicles. 
The Megasea section flourish in ordinary good 
garden soil, and may be increased by division about 
August or September. 
SCABIOSA caucasica. — A charming Caucasian 
plant of the Teasel order, 1 to 3 feet high, with more 
or less lance-shaped leaves and an abundance of long- 
stalked lilac-blue blossoms, as shown in Plate 26, 
figs. 69-71, from June to August. There are several 
forms, the white-flowered one {alba) probably being 
the best. Although really a perennial, and capable 
of being increased by the division of the rootstocks 
in spring, or from cuttings during the summer months, 
it is generally treated as a biennial like the Canter- 
bury Bell. To secure the plants flowering in one 
