HE names of plants present for our consideration innumerable strange questions, mostly of a mirth-provoking kind, but some-times sad enough. The name that now confronts us possesses but little interest of any kind; but the reader may very properly ask why a plant should be called a plumbago? It is, perhaps, impossible to explain the reason of the name, but it seems to have originated from the use of one of the species as a remedy in some disease of the eye. Then the decoction of the plant was probably considered the equivalent of a solution of lead, or the name of the disease may have carried with it an allusion to the metal. The blue colour of the flowers is not far unlike that of pure lead that is as yet free from corrosion and dirt. But, after all, plumbago is not lead; it is "graphite," and graphite is a natural charcoal, or silicate of carbon, without a shadow of lead in its substance. It derived its name from its likeness to lead, or "plumbum;" and it is commonly believed to this hour that "black-lead," or graphite, is identical with the metal lead, although they differ as much as chalk and cheese.

The Cape leadwort is a half-hardy climbing shrub, with scaly leaves, and diffuse panicles of phlox-like flowers of a soft azure-blue colour. It may be planted out during the summer, and will grow and flower freely; but to be fully appreciated it should be grown in the greenhouse, and have careful training to a wall, pillar, or trellis, when it will soon declare itself one of the most elegant plants of its class in cultivation. As for the cultivation, it is of the simplest possible kind, for the plant will grow in any ordinary compost in which there is a fair proportion of peat or leaf-soil, with sharp, gritty sand. To multiply the stock is an easy matter, for cuttings of any age will strike at any time with the aid of a little heat, although it is better to take cuttings of young shoots in the later part of the summer, and strike them under a bell-glass.

There are about a dozen species of plumbago known in gardens. The genus is related to statice, armeria, and acantholimon, constituting a group called the Plum-baginaceae, all of them herbs or undershrubs, and most of them having a liking for the sea-shore, as, for example, Armeria vulgaris, the common thrift, which you may find in plenty on the rocky coasts of those northern counties that look out on the stormy North Sea.

The best-known plumbagos are P. capensis (here figured), and the two hardy species P. Europaea, native of Southern Europe, and Lady Larpent's (P. Larpentae), native of China. The last-named is sometimes described as Valoradia plumbaginoides, on the authority of Hooker, who removes it from the genus plumbago because of some trifling peculiarities of structure. These two hardy species are well adapted to plant on the face of a rockery, and they are equally adapted to clothe low trellises with their neat leafage and beautiful blue flowers.

The tropical species comprise the Mexican (P. Mexican), with white flowers; the diamond-leaved (P. rhombifolia), with blue flowers; the rosy (P. rosea), with red flowers; the Ceylon (P. Zeylanica), with white flowers; and the climbing (P. scandens), with white flowers. The last-named is the best of the series. These, in common with P. capensis, may be had in flower all the winter by a little management, and in that case will often prove serviceable to supply cut flowers for decorative purposes.

The plumbagos are bitter and acrid, and perhaps poisonous. The root of the European species is sometimes chewed as a cure for toothache, and a preparation of it with olive oil is in high repute in the south of Europe as a cure for ulcers and the itch. All the species probably, and certainly several of them, have striking vesicatory properties, so that when rubbed upon the skin they produce inflammation, and may therefore supplant cantharides and other irritants. The statices have nearly the same properties, but are bitter, and are astringent rather than acrid.

The most interesting of the British plants that are allied to plumbago is doubtless the sea lavender (Statice limonium), which may be met with on muddy sea-shores; the thrifts, or armerias, are but rarely seen in such situations, the sandy and rocky shores being their usual habitat. The flowers of the sea lavender are purplish, and are produced in corymbose panicles. There is a white variety, and there is also a lilac-coloured variety which is often catalogued as a separate species under the name Statice angustifolia. The great sea lavender (Statice latifolia), native of Russia, is one of the finest hardy border plants in cultivation.

"Ye gentle shades between the trees and flowers,

With you, ye laughing race, I'll deck my bowers.

Oh that my theme would grant the fond delay,

Nor with too urgent haste forbid my stay!

With what delight my hands each spray should guide,

And teach your curling tendrils where to glide.

In woven bowers and roofs your shoots should grow,

And' teach your network arch the riv'let flow;

Around you elm your wedded arms should wind,

Emblem of strength, with gentlest beauty joined.

You then to whom their lowly pomp is given,

Display with art these charming gifts of Heaven;

Let every season have their brilliant bloom,

Their laughing colours, and their rich perfume;

Let each in turn the well-wrought chaplet wear,

Thus ne'er shall fade the garland of the year;

But new-born joys shall every season bring,