LYCHNIS segetum, Nigellastrum minus glabrum dicta, flore eleganter rubello. _Moris. Hist. 2. p. 543. s. 5. t. 22. f. 32._ LYCHNIS pseudomelanthiis similis africana glabra angustifolia. _Herm. Leyd. 391. t. 393._ [Illustration: N^o. 295] Mr. Aiton informs us in his _Hortus Kewensis_, that the charming annual here figured, the liveliness of whose colours no paint can express, was cultivated by Miller in 1739; seeing it is a plant of such beauty, and honoured with so distinguished an appellation, it is singular that it should not by this time have made its way more generally into our gardens. The Cockle of our corn-fields is an ornamental plant, the present species resembles it; but while the plant itself is much smaller, its flowers are proportionably larger, and their colours more vivid. It is an annual of ready growth, a native of Sicily and the Levant, flowering in July and August, and ripening its seeds in September and October. It appears to most advantage when several plants of it grow together; the best mode, therefore, is to sow about a dozen seeds early in April on the several spots of the flower-border where you intend they shall remain; no other care is necessary than to keep the plants free from weeds and vermin. The _Agr. Coeli rosa_ of _Miller's Gard. Dict. ed. 6 4to._ is the _coronaria_. [296] Sempervivum Tortuosum. Gouty Houseleek. _Class and Order._ Dodecandria Dodecagynia. _Generic Character._ _Cal._ 12-partitus. _Petala_ 12. _Capsulae_ 12 polyspermae. _Specific Character._ SEMPERVIVUM _tortuosum_ foliis obovatis subtus gibbis villosis, nectariis bilobis. _Ait. Kew. v. 2. p. 148._ [Illustration: N^o. 296] We know of no figure of this plant, the first and only account of which is to be found in the _Hort. Kew._ of Mr. Aiton; there it is specifically described, and from thence we discover that it was introduced from the Canary Islands, where it is a native, by Mr. Masson, in 1779. It is a shrubby plant of low growth, producing numerous fleshy leaves growing thickly together, which being evergreen, and making a pretty appearance the year through, render the plant worthy a place in all general collections at least, of greenhouse plants; and though it cannot vie with many of the more shewy high-priced novelties, it is an abiding plant, not subject to casualties, while many of those are here to day and gone to morrow. It throws up its flowering stems, supporting numerous, starry, stonecrop-like flowers, in July and August, and is most readily propagated by cuttings. It is one of those species of Houseleek which connect the genera _Sedum_ & _Sempervivum_. [297] Dianthus Superbus. Superb Pink. _Class and Order._ Decandria Digynia. _Generic Character._ _Cal._ cylindricus, 1-phyllus: basi squamis 4. _Petala_ 5 unguiculata. _Caps._ cylindrica, 1-locularis. _Specific Character and Synonyms._