1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Snapdragon

SNAPDRAGON, or Antirrhinum (Gr. ῥἰς, ῥινὀς, snout, from the shape of the flower), a plant of the natural order Scrophulariaceae (q.v.), native to central and south Europe, occurring as an alien on old walls in Britain. It is an old-fashioned garden perennial of easy cultivation. Antirrhinum majus, sown in heat, and forwarded until the general time for planting out, becomes a summer annual, and may be so treated; but under a slower and more hardy regime it may be sown in boxes in August, and pricked off into other boxes and wintered in a frame. So treated, and planted out in well-prepared beds of good friable garden soil, it will become very showy and effective. The “Tom Thumb” or dwarf strain, obtainable in self and mixed colours, is a very valuable plant for bedding. The named sorts are propagated by cuttings, and wintered in a frame. Some of the double-flowered sorts are interesting. There are forms with white, yellow, rose, crimson, magenta, and variously mottled and striped flowers, some of them of great beauty, but the named sorts are too fugitive to make it desirable to record a list.