HOLLYHOCK. Alcea Rosea.

Natural Order Columniferæ.

Malvacea, Juss.

A

Genus of the Monadelphia Polyandria Class.

From the nectaries of Hollyhocks

The humble bee, e'en till he faints, will sip.

H. SMITH.

THE cultivation of this magnificent Eastern plant is of great antiquity in this country. Its noble size, majestic height, and splendid flowers, could not fail to attract the attention of our earliest collectors of exotic plants; and although we cannot state the time when the Hollyhock was first brought to this country, it was certainly much earlier than the date mentioned in the Hortus Kewensis, or any other modern work on plants that we have been able to consult. Dr. Turner speaks of it as a familiar plant in his work, dated 24th June, 1564; and Gerard, in 1597, observes that it was then sown in gardens almost everywhere.

The derivation of the English name of this flower may be traced to the Saxon language, the old name of Holyoak being the same as Holihec.

Mortimer retains the old name of Holyocks for

these plants, in his work on husbandry, as late as the year 1707, wherein he says, "Holyocks far exceed Poppies for their durableness, and are very ornamental." Turner spells it Holyhock; and Gerard, and after him Parkinson, call it Holli hocke.

The French, who consider this plant as a native of Syria, call it by several different names, as Rose trémière, Rose d'outre-mer, Rose de mer, Rose de Damas.

Botanists have named it Alcea, from the Greek word Axx, on account of its supposed medicinal strength in curing the dysentery, &c., for which it was formerly held in great repute.

In floral language the Hollyhock is figured as the symbol of Fecundity, and its extreme fruitfulness seems to justify the device.

These plants grow naturally in various eastern parts of the globe. It is common in China, from whence the seeds of the tall, as well as the dwarf, Hollyhock have been frequently received. Pliny speaks of this flower in the fourth chapter of his twenty-first book, where he describes it as a rose growing on stalks like the Mallow; and Miller says he received seeds of these plants from Istria, where it was gathered in the fields; but these seeds produced single red flowers only, whereas from the seeds procured from Madras he raised

plants with double flowers of many different colours.

A late traveller in Africa says, the Hollyhock is also a native of the Marootzee country, where he found it growing wild among the rocks around Kurreechane; but these appear to have been only of a yellow colour.

Linnæus ascribes the Hollyhock to Siberia; and as we have at different times received seeds from all the various places where it grows naturally, we have not only procured all the varieties which these countries produce, but by bringing them together into one spot, so that the several kinds have been impregnated by each other, we have procured a greater variety in their colours than is to be found in any one country where it grows spontaneously. Many of the colours of these flowers have been changed by accidental circumstances; and that the corollas have become doubled by the art of cultivation, there can be doubt in the mind of the florist who has regarded the formation of the flower. Miller says, although the varieties of the double Hollyhocks are not constant, yet where the seeds are carefully saved from the most double flowers, the greatest number of the plants will arise nearly the same as the plants from which they were taken, both as to their colour and the fulness of their flowers, provided no plants with

single or bad colours are permitted to grow near them. Therefore, so soon as any such appear, they should be removed from the good ones, that their farina may not spread into the other flowers, which would cause them to degenerate.

We have but few flowers that contribute more to the embellishment of large gardens than the Hollyhock, although their hardy nature and easy propagation have rendered them so common that they are much less regarded by the generality of florists than they deserve, since it yields to no flower for the grandeur and beauty of its appearance, as well as the great variety of its colours, which embraces all the shades of the Rose, from the palest blush to the deepest carmine: and from a pure white the yellows are equally numerous, until they reach to the richest orange, from which the colour is carried on to a dark chesnut. Others are dyed of a pale reddish purple, running up to a black.

The noble stalks which these plants send up, like so many floral banners garnished with roses, render the Hollyhock particularly desirable for ornamenting the borders of plantations, and for giving gaiety to the shrubbery in the later season of the year, since it generally continues its succession of flowers until the frost warns the floral goddess to depart.

The florist who is possessed of taste will not reject the Hollyhock because it so familiarly flourishes in the rustic gardens of the cottagers, as it will be found equally appropriate for the decoration of the most princely grounds, if properly dispersed and grouped, so as to give effect, and receive assistance from other plants; for it readily displays its eastern splendour, whilst many of the exotic plants, that are so eagerly sought after, show that they are

Borne from their native genial airs away,

That scarce can their tender bud display.

The tall Hollyhock is not adapted for the small parterre,-its aspiring height befits it for a nobler situation, and it rises with a degree of dignity from amongst clumps of flowering shrubs that is not excelled by any plant whatever. But to give full effect to this flower, they should be planted in clumps of from five to ten plants, according to the size of the grounds; and each of these clumps should be formed of one colour, contriving to have a clump of the darkest-coloured flowers between two plantations of the paler colours. Where the grounds are very extensive, clumps of mixed varieties may be admitted, but these never tell so well in the perspective as a mass of a single colour. It considerably adds to the beauty of these plants when they are so placed as to appear emerging