weeds, until the plants appear to have increased so as to become too thick, which will not be oftener than every third or fifth year, when the offsets may be placed in a separate patch. The Dog's Tooth Violet may also be increased by sowing the seeds in pots, as has already been observed in the history of other bulbous plants.

A second species of Erythronium was introduced from North America in 1665, and bears the specific name of Americanum. It flowers a month later than the European species, and is something larger, and of a golden yellow colour. The cultivation is the same, and it is equally calculated to ornament many shady places in the shrubbery, or wilderness scenery. We would place the Yellow Erythronium in the shade of the Purple Rhododendron, as it loves the same soil, and flowers at the same season, M. Pirolle, in "Le Bon Jardinier," recommends that the seeds of each of these plants be sown in pots of bog-earth.

SESSILE TRILLIUM. Trillium Sessile.

Natural Order Sarmentaceæ. Asparagi, Juss. A Genus of the Hexandria Trigynia Class.

Each land its flower hath given,

To form this fair young nursery for heaven!

T. MOORE.

THIS singular tribe of plants we owe to the discovery of a new world, as the five species hitherto made known are all indigenous to North America exclusively we cannot, therefore, meet with them in the pleasure-grounds without having our mind conveyed back to the period when the perseverance of Columbus overcame all the obstacles and difficulties thrown in his way, to prevent his glorious plan of enlarging our knowledge of the earth, and enriching the known world with unknown produce.

The name of Trillium is derived from the number of three, because the plant has three leaves, a calyx divided into three, a corolla with three petals, that shelter three styles, which conduct the farina into a three-celled capsule. The specific name of Sessile is given to this species of Trillium, because the flowers sit on the stalk without peduncles. It was first introduced into this country in the year

1759, having been found growing in the shady thickets of Carolina and Virginia, which should instruct us to plant it in the shade of our shrubbery grounds, where the earth is light and moist. The leaves of this plants are curiously piebald or mottled with two greens, the calyx-leaves are streaked with a reddish purple, and the petals are of a dark claret colour. It flowers in April and May, and rises from six to nine inches from the ground. The root is a perennial tuber which increases but slowly, and from this cause it remains rare in the garden, although it is easily raised from seed, if sown soon after it is ripe in a shady border, or amongst shrubs where the soil is moist and light.

SAXIFRAGE. Saxifraga.

Natural Order Succulenta. Saxifrage, Juss. A Genus of the Decandria Digynia Class.

Nor will the breast, where fancy glows,

Deem every flower a weed that blows

Amid the desert plain.

SHENSTONE.

Or this numerous family of plants twenty distinct species are indigenous to Great Britain, eighteen of which are mountain plants, one grows in our meadow pastures, and one in bogs, to which we have added twenty-five exotic species, besides several varieties of some of the kinds.

We do not find that the Greeks have made any mention of these plants. Their herbarizings appear to have been made principally in more eastern parts than these plants have been found in.

The Roman physicians held certain species of this genus in great esteem, on account of their supposed efficacy in breaking and dissolving calculi in the bladder, from which cause they called them Saxifraga, a name that implies a breaker of the stone, and the old English name of Breakstone was bestowed on them for the same reason. But in this

age of critical inquiry and medical investigation, the plant is found not to possess the dissolving qualities formerly attributed to it. It is, however, known to be a powerful diuretic, that carries off gravelly substances; but this valuable property of the Saxifrage exists only in the fresh plant, though the dried roots or tubercles retain it in an inferior degree. The Saxifrage of our country is said to be the most powerful in medicine, and the kinds in highest estimation are the white, or sengreen, grandulata, of the meadows, and the yellow marsh, Hirculus, of the bogs. The latter is a more gentle medicine in its effects, and therefore not so frequently used.

As an ornament to the vernal garden we shall recommend the purple-flowered Saxifraga oppositifolia, which, under cultivation, expands its purple flowers to the winds of March and the showers of April. The stems of this species are long and trailing, and form tufts that have a good effect on artificial rock-work, but a far better one when the trailing branches hang down from natural rocks, into the crevices of which this plant loves to insinuate its roots. As a border-plant the following method of treating it is recommended by Miller. "At the end of March divide a plant that has filled a pot the preceding year, into many small pieces,

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