again dentate with smaller acute teeth. The veins are promi¬ 
nent behind with a loose bladdery appearance. The scapes are 
from eight to twelve inches high, and support a dense hattish 
spreading head, consisting of an indefinite number of distinctly 
pedicellate flowers, which are nearly an inch in diameter, six- 
to tendobed, with emarginate or bifid lobes, of a delicate lilac, 
with a straw-coloured eye and tube. The upper part of the 
scape is farinosely powdered, as also are the pedicels and calyces. 
The outer bracts of the involucre are short ovate, but within 
these, seated among the bases of the pedicels, are others about 
half as long as the pedicels, linear, and often recurved. The 
pedicels are about half an inch long. The calyx is deeply five- 
lobed, with narrow-lanceolate erect segments, covered with a 
white mealy exudation, and indistinctly glandular at the edges 
of the divisions. The flowers have a slender yellow tube, fully 
half an inch long, spreading out at top into a flat limb of bifid 
or emarginate lobes, variable in number from six to ten, of a 
beautiful soft bluish-lilac, with a conspicuous pale-yellow eye. 
Like the garden P. denticulate^ our subject, though doubtless 
hardy enough to endure any amount of cold, is yet, on account 
of its early blooming habit, rather to be considered as a hardy 
frame plant, requiring much the same general treatment as the 
Auricula. It should be grown in a rich light loamy soil, in 
well-drained pots; and in summer may be allowed to stand in 
any airy open place sheltered from heavy rains and hot sun¬ 
shine. In winter it should be kept in a dry airy cold frame, 
where it should receive but very moderate supplies of water, and 
very liberal supplies of fresh air; cold being less inimical to it 
than dampness either of the soil or atmosphere. In March and 
April it will furnish its lovely flower-heads, which retain their 
beauty for a considerable time. The winter should be a period 
of rest, with limited moisture. When symptoms of growth be¬ 
come evident, the plants should be fully exposed, in adl fine 
weather. The plants are increased by division, or more abun¬ 
dantly by seeds, when these can be obtained: for which purpose 
free ventilation is essential during the blooming period. 
