has but
recently been brought under cultivation, and was found a native of the
Apennines of Etruria. It proves perfectly hardy in this climate, and
flowers in mid-winter unless the season is very severe. As will be
inferred from its near relationship to _H. purpurascens_, like that
species it has non-persistent foliage, and the flower stems with their
floral leaves appear before the leaves of the root. As a species or
variety, whichever it may be, its more marked features are to be seen in
the form or cut of the leaves.

As a garden flower it is not showy, yet it stands out well in a group;
the nodding cup-shaped bloom is a bright green colour, and, for a time,
the outer sides of the sepals only are seen; but when the flowers are
more fully expanded, the numerous and somewhat long stamens (which are a
creamy-white) seem to nearly fill the cup; to my mind, its greatest
charm is in the fragrant odour which it yields, resembling that of elder
flowers. A single blossom, if plucked dry and when in its prime, scents
a small room; at such a stage, the anthers are loaded with pollen, and
the tubular petals are richly charged with nectar. True, these
last-named qualities are common to the genus, but when they are coupled
with that of a sweet perfume, and produced by an open-air plant in
winter, such a plant, be its blossoms green or red, is too valuable to
be neglected. The flowers are borne on stems 6in. to 12in. high, which
are twice and thrice branched or forked, having six to twelve blossoms
on a stem. The flowers are bright green, nearly 2in. across, cup-shaped,
and drooping. The sepals are somewhat oval, concave, and overlapping;
petals very short, pale green, and evenly arranged; stamens
creamy-white; styles green. The flowers are supported by floral leaves,
which are much divided, in the way of those of _H. purpurascens_, but
the segments are more irregular in shape. The radical leaves have long
stems, and are palmate; divisions lobed. It dies down entirely during
the autumn. Being a vigorous grower and free bloomer, and the flowers
very durable withal, it should be largely grown for the sake of its
sweet-scented blossoms for cutting purposes. There is an allied variety
cultivated under the name of _H. B. angustifolia_ (narrow-leaved).
Assuming that _H. Bocconi_ is a species, this is a variety but slightly
removed from the typical form, inasmuch as the latter is not only much
cut in the floral and radical leaves, but the