or eight in each, alternately with Snow-drops and Crocuses in the front of the flower borders.

HAB. The temperate parts of the continent of Europe. H. Fl. Jan.-March.

11. HELLEBORUS. Linn. Hellebore and Christmas

Rose.

Calyx persistent, of five roundish, obtuse, large, and often green sepals. Stamens 30-60. Ovaries 3-10. Stigmas terminal, orbicular. Capsules coriaceous. Seeds arranged in a double series, elliptical, umbilicated. De Cand.-Named from ɛλew, to destroy, and ßope, food; from the well-known poisonous properties of this plant.

1. H. NIGER (Black Hellebore or Christmas Rose); radical leaves pedate glabrous, scape leafless 1-2-flowered bracteated. (TAB. XL.)-Linn. Sp. Pl. p. 783. Curt. Bot. Mag. t. 8. De Cand. Prodr. v. 1. p. 46.

CULTURE. When the season is favorable for the full expanding of its blossoms few hardy plants attract more notice than the Christmas Rose. Its name implies its early flowering, often blossoming in that inclement season; on which account it is well worth the trouble to protect a large strong root of this handsome plant with a hand-glass, giving it full exposure in fine weather. It is propagated by dividing the roots early in the autumn: for if done later, it interferes with its blossom-buds. It delights in rather a moist rich soil; and should remain two or three years undisturbed. Since medical knowledge has been so much extended, this, like many other plants which made a conspicuous figure in the Herbals of the ancients, has fallen into neglect, although not quite into disuse, as it is still retained in our Pharmacopæias in the forms of the powdered root and of a tincture,

HAB. Mountain woods of the continent of Europe. H. Fl. Jan.-March.

2. H. LIVIDUS (Livid or Purple Hellebore); stem many-flowered leafy, leaves ternate glabrous glaucous beneath, leaflets ovatolanceolate, bracteas ovate. (TAB. XLI.)-Ait. Hort. Kew. ed. 1. v.

2. p. 272. Curt. Bot. Mag. ed. 1. t. 72. De Cand. Prodr. v. 1. P. 47. p.

CULTURE. Propagated in every respect like the Christmas Rose, requiring to be placed in a sheltered situation to have it in perfection, as it is not quite so hardy as most of the other Hellebores. It is well to keep a plant or two in pots, to be wintered in a pit, or cool greenhouse.

HAB. Corsica. H. Fl. Jan.-May.

12. GARIDELLA. Linn. Garidella.

Calyx of five deciduous, petaloid sepals. Petals five, two-lipped, bifid. Stamens 10-40. Pistils three, combined: Styles very short. Capsules 2-3-polyspermous, combined into one, 2-3-celled, and with 2-3 points. De Cand.--Named in honor of Pierre Garidel, a French Botanist.

1. G. NIGELLASTRUM (Fennel-leaved Garidella); petals sessile patent, stamens 10-12. (TAB. XLII.)-Linn. Sp. Pl. p. 753. Bot. Mag. ed. 1. t. 1266. De Cand. Prodr. v. 1. p. 48.

CULTURE. This being an annual plant, it requires to be sown in the spring with other annual seeds; but in order to lengthen the season of flowering, if part of the seed be set in the autumn, the plants will mostly survive the winter, and bloom much earlier than the seedlings produced from the spring-sown seeds.

HAB. Waste places and vineyards in the South of France. H. Fl. June, July.

13. NIGELLA. Linn. Fennel-Flower.

Calyx of five coloured, petaloid, patent, deciduous sepals. Petals small, 5-10, two-lipped, having a nectariferous pore in the claw. Stamens many. Pistils 5-10, more or less combined at the base into one, ending in long simple styles. Capsules as many, more or less combined, beaked with the elongated styles, opening in the inner face, polyspermous. Embryo linear. De Cand.-Name derived from niger, black, the seeds being often of that colour.

1. N. ORIENTALIS (Oriental Fennel-flower); capsules 5-10 glabrous united as far as the middle scarcely diverging, styles straight,