Hesperis
(the old Greek name used by Theophrastus, from hesperos, the evening; in reference to the flowers of most of the species being sweet-scented in the evening). Dame's Violet; Rocket. ORD. Cruciferae. A genus comprising twenty species of pretty hardy or half-hardy biennial or perennial erect herbs, indigenous to Europe, Asia Minor, Persia, and Siberia. Flowers various-coloured, loosely racemose, ebracteate, sweet-scented. Leaves ovate or oblong, entire, dentate, or lyrate. Only a few of the twenty species constituting this genus are cultivated; and of these the double forms of H. matronalis are by far the best. They thrive in a somewhat moist sandy loam. The single sorts may be increased freely by seeds; the double forms must be propagated by careful divisions of the roots, or by cuttings. The three species described below are hardy.
H. grandiflora (large-flowered).* fl., racemes many-flowered, crowded. l., radical ones oblong-ovate, obtuse; cauline ones lanceolate. Native country unknown. (B. M. 2683.) H. matronalis (matronly).* Damask Violet; Dame's Rocket; Dame's Violet; Common Rocket. fl. various usually sweet-scented in the evening. Summer. l. shortly stalked or tapering at the base, ovate-lanceolate or lanceolate. h. 2ft. to 3ft. South Europe and all across Russian Asia. (Sy. En. B. 103.) There are numerous double and single varieties of this handsome perennial, all of which are very ornamental border plants.
H. tristis (sad).* Night-scented Stock. fl. whitish or cream-coloured, or brownish-red or dark purple, fragrant at night; pedicels very long. Spring and summer. l., radical ones stalked, upper ones sessile, ovate, acute, entire or toothed, 2in to 4in. long. Stem much branched at the top. h. 1ft. to 2ft. Eastern Europe, &c., 1629. Biennial. This should be grown on old walls, ruins, and such like places, where the seeds may be sown in crevices, &c. (B. M. 730.)