It is a native of Germany, where, as Professor JACQUIN informs us, it grows in wet meadows; is a hardy perennial, thrives in our gardens in almost any soil or situation, flowers in June, and is propagated by parting its roots in Autumn.

[59]

Mesembryanthemum bicolorum.  Two-Coloured Fig-Marigold.

Class and Order.

Icosandria Pentagynia.

Generic Character.

Cal. 5-fidus. Petala numerosa, linearia. Caps. carnosa, infera, polysperma.

Specific Character and Synonyms.

MESEMBRYANTHEMUM bicolorum foliis subulatis punctatis laevibus distinctis, caule frutescente, corollis bicoloribus. Linn.  Syst.  Vegetab. p. 470.

MESEMBRYANTHEMUM tenuifolium fruticescens, flore croceo. Dill.  Elth. 267. t. 202. f. 258.

[Illustration:  59]

Contrary to the Mesembryanthemum dolabriforme, lately figured in this work, this species expands its flowers in the day-time, and that only when the sun shines powerfully on them; on such occasions, the blossoms on the top of the branches being very numerous, exhibit a most splendid appearance.

It is a native of the Cape of Good Hope, flowers in July, and is most readily propagated by cuttings.

Like most of the Cape plants, it requires the shelter of a green-house during the winter.

[60]

Lathyrus odoratus.  Sweet Pea, or Vetchling.

Class and Order.

Diadelphia Decandria.

Generic Character.

Stylus planus, supra villosus, superne latior. Cal. laciniae superiores 2-breviores.

Specific Character and Synonyms.

LATHYRUS odoratus pedunculis bifloris, cirrhis diphyllis, foliolis ovato-oblongis, leguminibus hirsutis, Linn.  Syst.  Vegetab. p. 663.

LATHYRUS distoplatyphyllos hirsutus mollis, magno et peramaeno flore odoro. Comm. hort. 2. p. 219. t. 80.

[Illustration:  60]

There is scarcely a plant more generally cultivated than the Sweet Pea, and no wonder, since with the most delicate blossoms it unites an agreeable fragrance.

Several varieties of this plant are enumerated by authors, but general cultivation extends to two only, the one with blossoms perfectly white, the other white and rose-coloured, commonly called the Painted Lady Pea.

The Sweet Pea is described as a native of Sicily, the Painted Lady Variety as an inhabitant of Ceylon; they have both been introduced since the time of PARKINSON and EVELYN.

It is an annual, and not a very tender one; seedling plants sown in Autumn frequently surviving our winters.