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Saxifrage: Linnaean

VALERIAN is a name of uncertain origin, said to be derived from that of a physician named Valerius, who first used it in medicine. N.O., Valerianaceoe. LINNAEAN: 3, Triandria; 1, Monogynia;--The Greek valerian or spikenard of Pliny is still occasionally used in medicine, but is not of high repute. Bentley and Redwood recognize in this way the common valerian (V. officinalis), which is described as exciting the cerebro-spinal system, and to be denominated nervine and anti-spasmodic. There can be no doubt the root of the plant is capable of causing intoxication, and is, in effect, a peculiar narcotic. Our handsome garden plant Centranthus ruber is usually the very first plant of a showy nature that is seen in a new chalk-pit. When it has made a beginning by hanging its red beard on the weather-worn surfaces, other plants attach themselves, and thus in time a chalk-pit becomes a glorious flower garden.

MALLOW is from malacho, in reference to the emollient or softening properties of the plant. N.O., Malvaceoe. LINNAEAN: 16, Monadelphia; 8, Polyandria.--The mallows are a great and grand family, comprising the mallows of the field, the hollyhocks of the garden, the abutilons of the greenhouse, the hibiscus of the stove, and the cotton plant of the world. These plants have a strong family likeness: the calyx and corolla are usually in five divisions, the stamens indefinite and united in the form of a tube which sheathes the style, the pistil prominent above all, the fruit a many-celled circular capsule containing the seeds. All the mallows are innocuous; most of them are highly charged with mucilage, and not a few are useful as food or as supplying fibres of various qualities.

SYRINGA, or PHILADELPHUS. The first name is from Syrinx, the name of a nymph who was changed into a reed. The second name was applied by the Greeks to a tree that is now unknown. N.O., Philadelphacoe, or Mock Oranges. LINNAEAN: 10, Decandria; 2, Digynia.--The philadelphus is allied to the saxifrages and the roses much more closely than to the lilacs, as explained in the text. Hydrangea, Deutzia, and Philadelphus are genera that combine certain common characters, but the last named has sweet-scented flowers, which are unknown in the other two. They appear to be limited to the northern hemisphere and to prefer the temperate climes, but they do not range far northward, although in the English garden they are all hardy, or nearly so. The most fragrant of the genus under consideration is the mock orange (Philadelphus coronarius), a good thing enough in a mixed shrubbery, but a second-rate subject considered as a flowering tree. The finest species for a good position in the garden is Philadelphus Gordoniana, originally found by the celebrated Douglas on the banks of the Columbia river, and through him introduced to cultivation by the Horticultural Society.