, and from which this is as distinct as it well
can be. Besides having the valuable property of flowering all summer, it
is otherwise a suitable subject for the most select collections of hardy
flowers.

[Illustration: FIG. 67. ONONIS ROTUNDIFOLIA.

(Plant, one-sixth natural size; blossom, natural size.)]

It grows 18in. high, and is erect and branched in habit; the flowers are
produced on short side shoots; in form they are pea-flower-shaped, as
the reader will infer from the order to which the shrub belongs. The
raceme seldom has more than two or three flowers fully open at one time,
when they are of a shaded pink colour, and nearly an inch in length; the
leaves are 1in. to 2in., ternate, sometimes in fives, ovate, toothed,
and covered with glandular hairs.

The plant should be grown in bold specimens for the best effect.
Ordinary garden soil suits it; if deeply dug and enriched, all the
better. It is not so readily increased by division of the roots as many
border plants, though root slips may, with care, be formed into nice
plants the first season; the better plan is to sow the seed as soon as
well ripened, from which more vigorous plants may be had, and they will
sometimes flower the following summer, though far short of their natural
size.

Flowering period, June to September.

Onosma Taurica.

GOLDEN DROP; _Nat. Ord._ BORAGINACEAE.

A hardy perennial, somewhat woody, and retaining much of its foliage in
a fresh state throughout the winter, though by some described as
herbaceous. The leaves which wither remain persistent, and sometimes
this proves a source of danger to the specimen, from holding moisture
during our wet winters, causing rot to set in. It is a comparatively new
plant in English gardens, having been introduced from the Caucasus in
1801, and as yet is seldom met with. Not only is it distinct in the form
of its flowers--as may be seen by the illustration (Fig. 68)--from other
species of its order, but it has bloom of exceptional beauty, and the
plant as a garden subject is further enhanced in value from the fact of
its delicious perfume and perpetual blooming habit--_i.e._, it flowers
until stopped by frosts; in short, it is one of the very finest hardy
flowers, and if I could only grow a small collection of fifty, this
should be one of such collection.

The flowers are bright yellow, 11/2in. long, somewhat pear-shaped, and
tubular. The calyx is long and deeply divided; the corolla i