C. r. albus is a white-flowering kind of the above; its main points of difference are its paler green foliage, smaller sized corymbs, shorter growth, and rather later season of bloom.
C. r. coccinea is another kind; the specific name is misleading. It is not scarlet, but nearer a rose colour, and when compared with the typical colour it appears much inferior; still, it is a good variety. All the three colours, when grown side by side, are very showy when in bloom.
This species, with its varieties, may be easily propagated by root divisions at any time from late summer to spring; the long fleshy roots should not be broken more than can be helped; every piece with a crown on it will make a flowering plant the first season.
Flowering period, June to September.
Cheiranthus Cheiri.
Common Wallflower; Nat. Ord. Cruciferæ.
Fig. 24. Chieranthus Cheiri
(One-fourth natural size.)
This well-known evergreen shrub (see Fig. 24) is more or less hardy in our climate, according to the conditions under which it is grown. Although a native of the South of Europe, it rarely happens, however severe the winter may be in this country, that we are totally deprived of the favourite bouquet of Wallflowers in winter or early spring, while it is equally true that, during the hard weather of one or two recent winters, in numerous gardens every plant was killed. In favourable seasons its blooms are produced throughout winter, but the full blow comes in April. Three hundred years ago it was known by its present name; in this respect it is a rare exception, as most flowers have many and widely different names, especially the "old-fashioned" sorts, so that often the varied nomenclature hinders the identification of the species. At one time the Wallflower was called the "Gillyflower," but the name is now only applied to a biennial and single-flowered variety of the stock—a near relation of the Wallflower. More than 200 years ago Parkinson wrote, "Those Wallflowers that, carrying beautiful flowers, are the delights and ornaments of a garden of pleasure."