HINTS ON HANDSOME FLOWERS, 
18 
the port and semblance of the common Hyacinth, namely, the 
S. campanulata , S. hyacinthoides, and the like, may be placed 
farther from the verge. 
The Scilla belongs to the sixth class (Hexandria) and first 
order (Monogynia) of Linnsean botany ; signifying that the flower 
has six stamens and one style in the centre. In Jussieu’s system, 
the Scilla is arranged in the natural order Asphodeleoe, which 
comprises many other bulbs as well as fibrous rooted plants, 
both useful and ornamental : of tjie former the Onion and 
Asparagus are examples. 
6. The Dog’s-Tooth Violet (Erythronium Dens Canis), This 
is a pretty little bulbous or tuberous-rooted plant, and an early 
flowerer. The leaves are longly-ovular, and lance-pointed ; like 
most other leaves, they are green, but irregularly mottled with 
green of a darker hue, and have a reddish tinge all over. The 
flowers are solitary, on slender footstalks, and nodding; the petals 
are lanceolate, spread out horizontally as if to defend the stamens 
and style from rain or sunshine ; the colour of the flower is either 
red, purple, pale purple, or white. There is one variety with 
smaller flowers ; and two species, natives of America—namely, 
E. lanceolatum, having yellow flowers, and E . albidum, with white 
flowers. The first of these grows best in peat soil; the second, 
and all the others, succeed in any common garden soil. 
All the sorts increase themselves by offsets from the root, which 
should be taken off and planted separately. The plants being of 
humble growth, they look best when planted in little beds by 
themselves ; indeed, all such flowers look best, and are most inte¬ 
resting, when disposed in groups. 
The Dog’s-Tooth Violet belongs to the sixth class, (having six 
anthers,) and to the first order (having one style) of sexual botany ; 
and to the natural order Liliaceae . 
7. The American Cowslip (Dodecantheon meodia). This is an 
unique genus, there being varieties, but no other species. It is 
a native of Virginia, but it grows and flowers as well in this 
country as it does in its native habitat. 
The leaves are as large, though not so pointed, as those of the 
lily of the valley, but are spread on the ground instead of standing 
erect. Like our English cowslip, the flowers are produced in an 
umbel, from the top of the stem, and are from thence most grace- 
' fully pendent. The outer and inner cups of the flowers are 
