40 
THE LADIES’ FLOWER GARDEN 
The seed-pods of the Hypecoum are very curious; they are very long, and curve downwards like those of the 
horned poppy, and they are jointed like those of the Platystemon , so that this plant is extremely interesting, as 
showing some of those mysterious links by which the Almighty Creator of the universe has bound all the 
vegetable world together, in the same way as He has united it with the animal world through the walking-leaf 
and the zoophytes, and the different kinds of animals with each other. The leaves of the Hypecoum are glaucous 
and deeply cut, closely resembling those of the fumitory. The stems are procumbent, and lie on the ground 
unless trained up. 
The Hypecoum is a native of the South of Europe, from Spain to Astracan ; but it is only found in sandy 
places. It was introduced before 1594, and it is mentioned by Gerard under the name of horned wild Cummin. 
Parkinson calls it the true Hypecoum of Dioscorides, as described by Clusius, and he has given a very good 
figure of it. It has always been partially in cultivation since its introduction, though it is now seldom seen 
but in botanic gardens. When cultivated, the seeds should be sown in very light or sandy soil where they are 
to remain, as the plant has a long descending or tap root, and will not bear transplanting. When the plants 
come up, if they are to be left in their natural procumbent state, they should be thinned out to at least six or 
eight inches apart; but if they are to be trained they may be left nearer. Before the seeds are sown they 
should be divested of their fungous covering; as, if this precaution be omitted, they will not germinate until it 
is decayed. From this being neglected, the seeds of the Hypecoum will sometimes remain two or three years 
in the ground before they vegetate. When required to flower early, the seeds may be sown in autumn, as the 
plant is quite hardy, and will stand the winter in the open ground without any protection. It seeds freely, and 
would, no doubt, soon have become common, were it not for the peculiarity we have just mentioned, of the 
seeds. Trained over a bank, by occasionally forking down the branches, or drawn through a wire ring or hoop, 
raised by three slender supports about six or eight inches from the ground, it makes a very pretty bush 
covered with its bunches of yellow flowers, and long horn-like pods- 
Seeds may be purchased at Mr. Charlwood’s seed-shop, Covent Garden. The specimen our figure was taken 
from grew in the Horticultural Society’s Garden at Turnliam Green, where the plant, in the autumn of 1838, 
formed a large mass as it lay procumbent on the ground. 
OTHER SPECIES OF HYPECOUM. 
These are quite hardy, and are marked in the botanical works as having been introduced, but we have never 
seen them growing, and we do not know where they are to be procured. 
2.—H. PENDULUM, Lin. 
The flowers are large and of a pale yellow, and the edges of the petals are entire. The capsules are knotted, 
and hang straight down without any curvature. A native of Europe, from Spain to the Caspian Sea. Intro¬ 
duced before 1040, as it was mentioned and figured by Parkinson in that year. Procumbent like the common 
kind. 
