comparison with many farther-fetched things. The dwarf diffuse sort is the one here recommended-it is the most beautiful both in habit and flowers; and there is a doubleflowered variety, which, inasmuch as it is more continuous and sustained in bloom, is more desirable than the type. It is a very variable plant in nature: in many districts of very limited extent, much variation of character may be observed; and socalled species not a few, both in Britain and on the Continent, have been created out of the more marked variations that have received the attention of botanists from time to time. The plant is prostrate and diffuse, rarely reaching more than 9 inches high, but extending a foot or more wide. The stems are abundantly clothed with dark-green trifoliate leaves, the leaflets egg-shaped, but somewhat variable in size. The flowers are borne in small compact umbels, of from six to twelve blossoms, bright yellow, and the standard or broad upper petal tinged with bright orange-red externally. The more distinct of the varieties above alluded to, and which pass as species, are L. major, which grows taller and more erect than the type, and is more luxuriant every way, but not so floriferous; L. hirsutus is in all respects like the type, but is rather densely hairy, and is inferior as regards flowering qualities; and L. tenuis, more weak in all its parts, and quite unworthy of cultivation. There are some half-hardy species, such as the old-fashioned and once favourite L. jacobæus, which would be found very useful for introducing variety and contrast into mixed borders; and they are so easily kept up in stock by cuttings where ordinary facilities for that purpose exist, that they give no more trouble than Verbenas and other bedding plants, and they yield quite as uninterrupted a succession of bloom. The Bird's-foot Trefoil succeeds in any common garden-soil, and blooms throughout the greater part of summer early and late.

Lupinus (Lupine).-This is a noble genus, comprising many species, annual, biennial, and perennial in duration, which are represented in a very limited way in private gardens by a few varieties of L. polyphyllus, a perennial species, and by the common dwarf annual Lupine, L. nanus. Other perennial species are rarely seen out of botanic gardens, which, considering the fine handsome character of the leaves, and the bold, striking, and gaily-coloured plume-like racemes of flowers that many of them produce, is somewhat wonderful. They are most easy to cultivate, succeeding well in any ordinary garden-soil, but delighting most in that which is deep, rich, and moist. The taller growers are beautiful background plants for wide borders and for the centres of large beds, and they are very useful for introducing

colour into masses of evergreen shrubs, and for naturalising in groves and half-kept places where rabbits do not abound; but if they are fostered the Lupines have no chance, as they are very fond of them. The dwarf species are available for the same purposes, also, in suitable positions. All are propagated by seed and division, and by cuttings also the cuttings as early as they can be got in spring, a little hardened at the base, or afterwards from side shoots, inserted in sandy soil under hand-lights in a shady place; the divisions in early autumn; and the seed in pots in spring, in cold frames, or in the open ground where they are to remain.

L. leucophyllus (Hoary-leaved Lupine).-Plants about 22 or 3 feet high, erect, the stems clothed with leaves divided into about nine oblong lance-shaped leaflets, which, with the stems, are densely covered with whitish hairs. The flowers appear in August and September in rather lax spikes, and are reddishpurple or pink. Native of Columbia.

L. nootkatensis (Hairy Lupine). — Plant taller and more luxuriant than the last, growing 4 to 5 feet high, the stems and leaves hairy, with rather long spreading hairs. The leaves are composed of seven or more lance-shaped leaflets. The spike is loose and the flowers distinctly whorled. They open in June and continue for a couple of months, and are purple. Native of Nootka Sound.

L. perennis (Smooth Perennial Lupine).—This species grows from 2 to 4 feet high, with erect stout stems, destitute of hairs. The leaves are divided into six or more leaflets, lance-shaped, but widening towards the point. The raceme is moderately dense and long, and the flowers are arranged alternately or only imperfectly whorled; they are blue, but varieties with variouslycoloured flowers are to be met with. They appear in early summer. Native of North America.

L. polyphyllus (Many-leaved Lupine).-This is one of the most striking and handsome of the hardy Lupines. It grows from 4 to 6 feet high, erect, with somewhat hairy stems densely clothed with large handsome leaves. The leaflets are numerous -often as many as fifteen-and lance-shaped. The spikes are long, dense, and numerously flowered, and the flowers are arranged in a somewhat whorled manner. They vary much in colour in different individuals-blue, purplish blue, reddish purple, and white, being the most common shades; and there are variegated individuals exhibiting different combinations of these colours. Flowers in summer. Native of Columbia.

L. sericeus (Silky Lupine).—This is a dwarf plant, growing about 1 foot or 2 feet high. The stems and leaves are clothed

with close-lying silky hairs. The leaves are composed usually of about seven leaflets, sharply lance-shaped. The flowers are purple, whorled in short racemes, appearing in early summer. Native of North America.

Orobus (Bitter Vetch).-Modern botanists do not regard this group as anything but an artificial offshoot of the genus Lathyrus; but in gardens their distinct habit of growth and style as decorative plants deserve a separate designation. It may be characterised as a very handsome group, if not strikingly showy, and in their flowering period they have few compeers amongst hardy plants; and their value is enhanced when it is remembered that their blossoms appear at a time intermediate between spring and summer flowers, thus filling up a gap that should not, but does, exist in most gardens that are conducted according to the fashion of the present time. Some of them, such as O. vernus and cyaneus, owing to their neat dressy habit of growth, low stature, and free-flowering quality, are peculiarly fit subjects for the gardens of amateurs and others whose space is limited. All are good rockwork plants where that is on a large scale, and they are among the best of hardy mixed-border plants. They are propagated by seed sown in pots in cold frames in early spring, or later in the open ground where they are to remain, or in a nursing border, from which they must be timeously transplanted; and by division in autumn or spring. Probably other species equally worthy of cultivation are yet to introduce, or have been in gardens and are lost, but the following selection embraces the best that we have at present.

O. cyaneus, syn. Platystylis cyanea (Blue Bitter Vetch).— This species forms handsome tufts 9 to 12 inches high. The stems are clothed with bright green, narrow, lance-shaped leaflets, two or three pairs to each stalk. The flowers are bright blue, in loose few-flowered racemes; in profusion in May and June. Native of the Caucasus.

O. Fischeri (Fischer's Bitter Vetch).—Rather a peculiar and pretty species, producing unbranched stems about 1 foot high, thinly clothed with linear lance-shaped leaflets on very short stalks, only a pair to a leaf. The flowers are produced in onesided crowded racemes, are purplish, and appear in early summer. Native of Siberia.

O. Jordani (Jordan's Bitter Vetch).—This is a pretty species, growing from 9 to 12 inches. The leaves are composed of three or four pairs of broadly lance-shaped leaflets terminating in a distinct sharp point. The flowers are blue, in few-flowered racemes, appearing in early summer. Native of Lucania.

O. luteus (Yellow Bitter Vetch).—This is one of the hand

somest of the group. It grows from 1 to 2 feet high, the stems being crowded with leaves, which are composed of from three to five pairs of leaflets, milky green on the under side. The flowers, produced in rather dense racemes, freely from June till the end of July, are pale yellow. Native of Siberia.

O. niger (Black Bitter Vetch).—This is an indigenous species, but rare, though abundant in most countries of central and southern Europe. It grows from 1 foot to 21⁄2 feet high, and at the greater height becomes rather a straggling plant. The leaves are composed of from four to six pairs of oval dark-green leaflets. The flowers, in short loose racemes, are dullish purple. They open in June and July.

O. variegatus (Variegated Bitter Vetch).—This is a fine compact species, with erect habit, producing its leaflets in two or three pairs to the stalk; they are egg-shaped, and have three rather conspicuous longitudinal veins. The flowers are beautifully variegated, rose, crimson, and blue, and are produced in dense racemes, which appear in May and June. Height about I foot. Native of Italy and its islands.

0. vernus (Spring Bitter Vetch).—This species is very near in habit of growth and general aspect to the last, and about the same in height. The leaves are composed of two or three pairs of oval sharply-pointed leaflets, bright green, and distinctly three-veined. The racemes of flowers are loose and rather one-sided, and the flowers are bright reddish purple, and appear in April and May. It is one of the choicest plants of its period. Native of France, Germany, and Italy.

Oxytropis. This genus is nearly related to Astragalus, and resembles, in such species as we have in cultivation, some of the dwarf sorts of that family. It is not a small family, comprising, as it does, twenty or thirty species; but they are not common in gardens, two or three species being the utmost to be met with in even extensive botanical collections. They are not showy plants, but interesting and pretty, and are best adapted for rockwork culture in rather dry sandy soil. They are propagated by division in early autumn, and by seed in spring, in pots or in the open ground.

O. campestris, syn. Astragalus campestris (Field O.)—This is a very local British plant, being found only on the Clova mountains in Aberdeenshire, but is frequent in upland pastures and gravelly and rocky places in the mountain-ranges of Europe, western Asia, and North America. The plant is dwarf, almost stemless, producing tufts of long pinnate leaves, composed of twenty or thirty lance-shaped leaflets, clothed with long silky hairs. The flower-stalks are about the same length as

the leaves, terminating in short spikes of yellow flowers, shaded slightly with purple. The plant varies somewhat in the colour of the flowers and other minor particulars, and some of the varieties have been set up as species. The more remarkable of these are C. c. var. cærulea, syn. O. cærulea, having blue flowers; and O: c. var. sordida, syn. O. sordida, in which the keel bears a blackish spot, and the standard is more distinctly tinged with purple than the type. Flowers in July and August.

O. montana (Mountain O.)—This species is rare in cultivation. Like the last, it is all but stemless. The leaves are composed of twenty or more leaflets, broadly lance-shaped, and clothed with long silky hairs. The heads or short racemes of flowers are borne erect, are purple or pink, and appear about the same time as the last. Native of mountain pastures in Austria and other parts of central Europe.

O. uralensis (Silky O.)-This is the handsomest plant of the three. It is very similar in habit and stature to the preceding. The leaflets are broadly lance-shaped and densely clothed with close-lying silky hairs. The racemes are more numerously flowered than either of the other two, and the flowers are bright purple, spreading horizontally from the stalk; they appear in May, and last about two months. Native of the Tyrol, Pyrenees, and Carniola; found also on some of the Scotch mountains.

Phaca (Bastard Vetch).-This genus is nearly related to the last and to Astragalus, and the species are sometimes in catalogues mixed up together. The species of this are adapted to the same purposes, and require the same treatment, as that described for Oxytropis and the smaller Astragaluses.

P. astragalina (Astragalus-like Bastard Vetch).-This is perhaps the most vigorous of the species selected. The stems are short but branching freely, bent earthwards at first, but rising obliquely afterwards. The leaves are composed of sixteen or more egg-shaped leaflets, clothed above and below with close-lying hairs. The flowers are produced in short loose racemes; the keel deep violet, and the standard paler, or, as the plant is somewhat variable, in some individuals it is white. They appear in June and July. Inhabits upland pastures on the Alps and Pyrenees.

P. australis (Southern Bastard Vetch).-This is rather a prostrate species, rarely exceeding 9 inches high, forming tufted masses of branched stems. The leaves are composed of twelve or more narrow lance-shaped leaflets. The flowers are produced in close short racemes; the keel dark blue, the standard white or pale yellow; and appear in June, July, and August. Native