July 4, 1908. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
441 
The Prophet Flower 
07 
Maerotomia echioides. 
Many gardeners know this plant best 
ider the name of Arnebia echioides, but 
ider whatever name it may be grown it 
equally beautiful and interesting. It 
longs to the Borage family, and like 
bst of those has bristly stems, but no 
.nger is incurred in the handling of the 
ants, for they are neither prickly nor 
isonous. 
We now have the opportunity of show- 
g a fine mass of this plant, showing 
tat an effect it is capable of producing 
len grown in a mass. Usually only a 
lall plant of it is seen on a rockery, 
d that may be due either to the habit 
planting things singly or to the lack 
• space where the collection is large and 
s space for their disposal limited, 
hen a clump of it can be shown, how- 
er, it becomes a central spot of attrac- 
>n on the rockery while it lasts in 
30m. 
The flowers are bright yellow, with five 
ack spots at the base of the blade of 
the corolla. These are in perfection when 
an individual flower first opens, but in 
the course of a few days the black spot 
becomes gradually pale brown, and later 
on entirely disappears, leaving the flower 
wholly yellow. 1'his disappearance of the 
additional colour is rather peculiar, if not 
unique, though some flowers may fade 
from dark colours to pale ones during 
the course of their development. When 
growing vigorously the leaves are 6 in. 
to 8 in. long. The flower stems are much 
longer than this, however, and stand clear 
above the foliage. The size of the flowers 
and the numbers of them produced on the 
plant serve to make it a conspicuous and 
a choice plant for the rockery. 
Propagation may be effected in two 
ways. The most readily understood will 
be the method by cuttings, but as in the 
case of the double Dame’s Violet, the cut¬ 
tings are very short, and may consist of 
a small rosette of leaves, which should 
be taken off with a heel of the older wood. 
These cuttings can be dibbled firmly into 
light sandy soil, and placed in a cold 
frame for a time if the cuttings are taken 
in September. In about two or three 
weeks the cuttings might be transferred 
to a cool house, such as a greenhouse 
from which frost can be kept out. They r 
emit roots very slowly, and during this 
process they should not be kept too wet 
by a too eager desire to keep them moist. 
They should, however, be ready for plant¬ 
ing out in the following spring. 
Another method is to take pieces of the 
thick fleshy roots, and cut them into 
lengths about 1 in. to 15 in., and insert 
them to the top in light sandy soil, plac¬ 
ing them so that they will get the advan¬ 
tage of a little bottom heat. This will 
encourage the roots to push out a bud, 
which will ultimately grow into a little 
plant. Our illustration was photographed 
in the nursery of Messrs. Barr and Sons, 
Surbiton, Surrey. 
-*++- 
A French gardener has erected a sun¬ 
dial in the grounds of the Franco-British 
Exhibition. As an expression of confi¬ 
dence in our English sun this strikes us 
as rather pathetic.—“Punch.” 
The Prophet Flower (Maerotomia echioides). 
Maclaren and Sons. 
