OF ORNAMENTAL PERENNIALS. 53 
are pretty, and they are produced in great abundance. The plant is very suitable for rockwork. It is a native 
of the Altaic mountains, whence it was introduced in ]822. 
L. ODESSANA, FUch. 
" This plant differs from L. altaica, in the pedicels being a little longer, and the stamens being double the 
height of the petals, and with the segments of the leaves on rather longer stalks." G. Don. — It is a native of 
Odessa, whence it was introduced in 1828. 
L. THALICTROIDES, Lin. ; Lodd. Bot. Cab. t. 1473. CAULOPHYLLUM THALICTROIDES, Michaux. 
An American species with yellowish-green flowers and deep blue berries, called Cohosh by the Indians by 
whom the plant is esteemed medicinal. It was introduced in 1784. 
GENUS II, 
EPIMEDIUM, Lin. BARRENWORT. 
Lin. Syst. TETRANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 
Stamens 4 — 6. Stylo 1. Seeds obliquely and transversely situated, 
uuilateial. (G. Don.) 
Generic Character. — Sepals 4 — 8, furnished with bracts on the 
outside at the base. Petals 4 — 6, furnished on tho inside with two 
coloured appendages. Capsules siliculiform, 2-TalTed, many-seeded. 
Description, &c. — The name of Epimedium alludes to the habitat of E. alpinum, which is said to grow in 
Media, but is also found wild in various parts of Europe, and even in Great Britain, always in woods or coppices. 
It was long supposed that there was only one species in the genus. '' The little dingy Epimedium alpinum," 
says Dr. Lindley, in the Botanical Rec/ister, " known only in the gardens of botanists, gave no promise of its 
representing a line of beautiful herbaceous plants, and for a long time it was supposed to be the only one of its 
race. The researches, however, of modern travellers have brought to light the existence of five others." The 
most remarkable of these are E. macrantkum, E. violaceum, E. puhigerum, E. elatum, and E. Musschianum, 
which has large white flowers, and which is the handsomest of the genus. The species are all what are 
called alpine plants, that is, dwarf hardy plants suitable for rockwork. The common species is a native of 
Europe, but the most ornamental kinds are natives of Japan. 
1 EPIMEDIUM ALPINUM, Lin. THE ALPINE BARRENWORT. 
Enoravings.— Eng. Bot. t. 438 ; 2d ed. t. 226. 
Specific Character. — No leaf at the root. Leaf on the stem solitary, twice ternate. 
Dkscbiption, &c. — This is a dwarf plant scarcely a foot high, with a slender, creeping root, which scarcely 
penetrates into the ground. There are numerous succulent stems, which die down to the ground as soon as the 
leaves have withered, which they do very soon. The flowers appear early in spring, and though the leaves 
increase for a short time after the flowers disappear, they soon wither away. The plant has received its English 
name of Barrenwort from the peculiarity observed in all the species, of the plants producing no visible seeds. 
This peculiarity is mentioned by Dioscorides, who first described the plant. The flowers of this species have 
no striking beauty, but the leaves are rather pretty, from their neat form, and delicate almost transparent green. 
When the plant is cultivated, it is generally in Botanic Gardens, on rockwork, where it will grow in any common 
garden soil if not too wet. 
