NEMOTHILA AURFTA. 
EAR-LEAVED NEMOPHILA. 
Class Order. 
PENTANDRIA. MONOGYNIA. 
Natural Order. 
HYDROPHYLLACEiE . 
Native of 
Height. 
Flowers in 
Duration. 
Introduced 
California. 
1 foot. 
June to Aug. 
Annual. 
in 1831. 
No. 666. 
The meaning of the generic name, Nemophila, 
is explained under No. 586, 
Seeds of this Californian annual were sent to the 
London Horticultural Society in 1831, by their 
collector, the late David Douglas. It has not yet 
come into general cultivation ; indeed, it is more a 
stranger in our gardens than could be expected, 
considering that it produces seed pretty freely, and 
is quite hardy. 
In the present instance the name of the plant, 
happens, with more correctness than is usual, to 
indicate one leading feature of its habit ; for, as 
far as experience has yet explained its requirements, 
shade would seem particularly advantageous to the 
successful growth of the Nemophila, and conform- 
ably with such habit, its name points at its love of 
groves. The poetic feeling thus conveyed in the 
word Nemophila raises wood-nymphs and sylvan 
fairies to the imagination, as fond nurses of floral 
beauties, forcibly reminding us of Darwin’s poetic 
allusion to the vegetation of seeds under the fos- 
tering care of Sylphs and Zephyrs, which he so cha- 
racteristically expresses, in his own peculiar style. — 
