[Illustration: 52]
Plants growing in mountainous situations, where they are constantly
exposed to strong-blowing winds, are always dwarfish; in such
situations, the present plant has no stalk, whence its name _acaulis_,
but cultivated in gardens it acquires one.
Most of the plants of this family are beautiful, and, cultivated in
gardens, in brilliancy of colour none exceed the present species.
As most Alpine plants do, this loves a pure air, an elevated situation,
and a loamy soil, moderately moist; it is however somewhat capricious,
thriving without the least care in some gardens, and not succeeding in
others; at any rate it will not prosper very near London.
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._