. Cassell's popular gardening. Gardening. 140 CASSELL'S POPTJLAE aARDENING. his genus includes the Gentiana of Dioscorides and Pliny. Two of the species appear to he natives of the British Isles, viz., O. Fneumonathe and G. verna. The former is known as the Heath Gentian, and Marsh Gentian, and it has local names, such as the Autumn Bellflower, and Harvest Bells, alluding to its time of hlooming, and the form of the corolla; Marsh Gen- tian, from its growing in hoggy places. It is a British perennial, scarcely less heautiful than any Alpine Gentian, and bears heautiful blue tubular flowers an
. Cassell's popular gardening. Gardening. 140 CASSELL'S POPTJLAE aARDENING. his genus includes the Gentiana of Dioscorides and Pliny. Two of the species appear to he natives of the British Isles, viz., O. Fneumonathe and G. verna. The former is known as the Heath Gentian, and Marsh Gentian, and it has local names, such as the Autumn Bellflower, and Harvest Bells, alluding to its time of hlooming, and the form of the corolla; Marsh Gen- tian, from its growing in hoggy places. It is a British perennial, scarcely less heautiful than any Alpine Gentian, and bears heautiful blue tubular flowers an inch and a half long. G. verna is the Vernal Gen- tian ; it grows in Teesdale, and in a few places on the western shores of Ireland. The blue of this flower is of the most vivid and brilliant de- scription ; it is, in fact, the bluest of the blue—one of the most charming of all Alpine plants, and should be in every garden of hardy flowers. It may be grown well in sandy loam mixed with broken limestone or gravel, and, indeed, it is not very particular as to soil, pro- vided that it be mixed with sharp sand and grit, kept moist, and well drained. A very impor- tant point in the culture of this plant is to leave it for several years undisturbed, G. acaulis is best known as the Gentianella; it is a well-known old inhabitant of our gardens, growing close to the ground, putting forth dense leathery leaves, and bearing on stems, two inches in length, large solitary flowers, of the deepest and most lustrous blue. In some places, such as the moist parts of Yorkshire and Lancashire, where the plant does • well, edgings are made of it, and when dense in foliage and flowers they are of the most exquisite beauty. It does well in a moist, deep loam; it is easily grown, and it should not be frequently disturbed. G. Andrewsi (Andrews' or the Closed Gentian) grows about two feet in height, and pro- duces numerous terminal flowers in axillary clusters. The flowers never expand, remaining as
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