Nemesia
(an old Greek name employed by Dioscorides to denote an allied plant). ORD. Scrophularineae. A genus comprising about a score species of very pretty, South African, greenhouse, slender, annual or perennial, sometimes suffruticose, herbs. Flowers racemose at the tips of the branches, or rarely solitary in the axils; pedicels ebracteolate; corolla yellow, white, violet, or various-coloured. Leaves opposite. The few species in cultivation are treated as hardy annuals. Propagated by seeds, sown in early spring, in any ordinary soil. The seedlings should be thinned out when large enough to handle.
N. cynanchifolia (Cynanchum-leaved).* fl. rich lilac-blue, in terminal clusters. Summer. l. ovate-lanceolate, remotely toothed. Stems square. h. 1 1/2ft. to 2ft. 1879. A pretty species. (G. C. n. s., xii. 136.) N. floribunda (bundle-flowered).* fl. white and yellow, fragrant, racemose. Summer. l. at length petiolate; upper ones sessile. h. 1ft. A very charming plant. (B. R. 1838, 39.) N. versicolor (various-coloured). fl. blue, lilac, or yellow and white; racemes few-flowered. Summer. l. at length petiolate, ovate; upper ones few, remote, sessile, oblong-lanceolate or linear, entire or dentate. h. 6in. to 12in.