bloom they
answer well for furnishing old vases. Either growing or cut, their
flowers and leaves are pleasant, but if bruised the odour is too
powerful; they, however, when used in moderation, form a valuable
ingredient of _pot pourri_.

They may be grown in ordinary soil, and in any position but a too shady
one. The propagation of these plants may be carried out any time, by
cutting small squares of the matted roots from old specimens, but it
will be found that if allowed to grow to bold examples their effect will
be all the more telling.

Flowering period, July to September.

Morina Longifolia.

_Syn._ M. ELEGANS; WHORL FLOWER; _Nat. Ord._ DIPSACEAE.

Until this plant comes into flower there is little about it for us, who
are trained to dislike and almost despise thistles, to admire. It is
not a thistle certainly, but the resemblance is very close when not in
flower, and the three or four specimens which I grow have often caused a
laugh from visitors at my expense, but I pocket the laugh and ask them
to come and see my thistles in June. When, too, weeding is being done,
it is always needful, for the safety of the plants, to give some such
hint as "Do not pull up those thistles;" but if this plant is no
relation to that despised weed, it belongs to another race, the species
of which are also formidably armed--viz., the Teasel. It comes from the
Himalayas, and is comparatively new in English gardens.

It is hardy, herbaceous, and perennial, grows to a height of 2ft., and
the flowers are produced in whorls or tiers interspersed with the thorny
foliage near the top of the stems. At this stage of development the
plant has a noble appearance, and the rings of flowers are very
beautiful--though when I say flowers I here mean the combination of buds
and blossoms in their different stages and colours. The buds are pure
white and waxy, and when open, are of a delicate pink; as they get
advanced, they turn to a lovely crimson; these are all the more
pleasing, because the flowers last a long time. In form they are tubular
and horn-shaped, having a spreading, uneven corolla, five-parted. Each
flower is 1in. long and 3/4in. across, six to fifteen in a whorl, the
whorls being five to ten in number. The whorl-bracts are formed of three
arrow-shaped leaves, deeply cupped, and overlapping at their junction
with the stem or scape; they are spiny and downy underneath. Calyx,
tubular and brown. Segments (two), pale green, n