It flowers usually in May, and sometimes in the autumn.

Is propagated by parting its roots at the close of summer; but MILLER says, the strongest and best plants are produced from seed.

[53]

Cineraria lanata.  Woolly Cineraria.

Class and Order.

Syngenesia Polygamia Superflua.

Generic Character.

Receptaculum nudum. Pappus simplex. Calyx simplex, polyphyllus, aequalis.

Specific Character and Synonyms.

CINERARIA lanata caule suffruticoso, foliis subquinquelobis, subtus tomentosis; foliolis ad pedunculos lanatis.

[Illustration:  53]

In the beauty of its blossoms, this species of Cineraria, lately introduced from Africa, by far eclipses all the others cultivated in our gardens; its petals exteriorly are of a most vivid purple, interiorly white; this change of colour adds much to the brilliancy of the flower.

What renders this plant a more valuable acquisition to the green-house, is its hardiness, its readiness to flower, and the facility with which it may be propagated.

It flowers early in the spring, and, by proper management, may be made to flower the whole year through; it is sometimes kept in the stove, and may be made to flower earlier by that means; but it succeeds better in a common green-house, with no more heat than is just necessary to keep out the frost, indeed it may be preserved in a common hot-bed frame through the winter, unless the weather prove very severe.

Certain plants are particularly liable to be infested with Aphides, or, in the vulgar phrase, to become lousy, this is one:  the only way to have handsome, healthy, strong-flowering plants, is to procure a constant succession by cuttings, for there is no plant strikes more readily; these should be placed in a pot, and plunged into a bed of tan.

[54]

Anemone sylvestris, Snowdrop Anemony.

Class and Order.

Polyandria Polygynia.

Generic Character.

Calyx nullus. Petala 6-9. Semina plura.

Specific Character and Synonyms.

ANEMONE sylvestris pedunculo nudo, feminibus subrotundis, hirsutis, muticis. Linn.  Syst.  Vegetab. p. 510.

ANEMONE sylvestris alba major. Bauh.  Pin. p. 176.

The white wild broad-leafed Wind-Flower. Park.  Par. 202.

[Illustration:  54]

PARKINSON very accurately notices the striking characters of this species of Anemone, which are its creeping roots, its large white flowers standing on the tops of the flower-stalks, which sometimes grow two together, but most commonly singly; the leaves on the stalk, he observes, are more finely divided than those of the root, and its seeds are woolly.

MILLER describes it as having little beauty, and therefore but seldom planted in gardens; it is true, it does not recommend itself by the gaudiness of its colours, but there is in the flowers, especially before they expand, a simple elegance, somewhat like that of the Snowdrop, and which affords a pleasing contrast to the more shewy flowers of the garden.