358 THE GARDENER. [Aug. 



sea-level. They are all strictly alpine plants, and are Lardy enough 

 to resist successfully the severest temperature we are liable to in this 

 climate ; but a moist stagnant atmosphere they cannot endure. Abun- 

 dant moisture at the roots is delighted in by all the species, provided 

 the drainage be good and the soil open and porous ; but the foliage of 

 all the densely hairy species at least should be kept dry in winter and 

 protected from battering rains. The soil should be open fibrous peat 

 and loam, in about equal parts, and should be well sharpened up with 

 gritty sand ; and in the case of two or three species a little pounded 

 limestone will be found advantageous. These species are A. lactea, 

 A. villosa, and A. cylindrica. 



A. Chaince-jasme, from the Alps, generally grows about 4 or 5 

 inches high, with weakly trailing branches, bearing a few small lan- 

 ceolate leaves at the extremities ; leaves and branches alike covered 

 with long spreading silky hairs. The flowers are white, with yellow 

 — often red — eyes, and are produced in small dense umbels about 

 June, and continue till August. 



A. villosa forms small cushion-like tufts 2 or 4 inches high ; the 

 leaves are small in dense rosettes, and are covered with long shaggy 

 hairs. The flowers in small umbels are pure white, with yellow or red 

 tubes, and are of considerable substance. They appear in June and 

 July. Found on the loftier mountains of Europe generally. 



A. lactea, from the Alps, is a pretty little tufted species, with deep 

 green ciliate leaves, and rather large showy white umbels of flowers ; 

 appearing from June till August. 



A. lanuginosa is rather loose, trailing, and spreading in growth, 

 with rosettes of oval lanceolate leaves at the extremities of the 

 branches, covered densely with silky-white close-lying hairs. The 

 flowers in small loose umbels are large individually, pink, with a yellow 

 eye, and appear in June and July. 



A. carnea is not one of the best, but is one of the earliest flowering 

 of the family. The stems are tufted, and terminate in rosettes of 

 almost awl- shaped leaves, from which spring the pretty umbels of pink 

 or rose-coloured flowers with yellow tubes ; flowers in May and June. 

 From the Alps and Pyrenees. 



A. cylindrica, from the Pyrenees, is closely tufted in habit, and the 

 small lanceolate blunt leaves are closely imbricate. The flower-stalks 

 are simple, and rather longer than most of this section of the genus. 

 The flowers are pure white, and appear in July and August. 



A. ciliata is one of the most beautiful of the group. It is also very 

 easy to distinguish from any of the foregoing by the inflorescence be- 

 ing simple instead of compound. It forms dense cushions of closely 

 imbricated ciliate foliage. The flowers are numerous, variable in 



