IRISH GaXRDENING 



S5 



Ram 



llUlllllS 



Lvall 



11. 



Tl I IS mavjnirnoiu pl.ini is known 10 colonisis as 

 till- " MouMl Cook I-ily" or " Slicphord's Lily. ' 

 ;iik1 i.s llie finest member of the l?iillerciip 

 f.imilv, and a native of the Now /Cealand Alps. In some 

 parts of llie Sontliern Alps il is said to be so abundant 

 that in sunimor the mountain slopes are whitened bvtlie 

 iniillitntle of flowers. It jjrows naturally in marshy 

 plaees at an eU'v.ilion of (wo to four llunis.ind fi'i'l. .ind 



pelt.'ite and circular; in fact, shaped like those of Ihc 

 Common Peimywort, but nearly :t foot across, borne on 

 lonjf stalks. In mature specimens they become con- 

 cave and form saucers in wliich water collects, and there 

 .ire deep fjrooves over the leaf veins, and some people 

 think that the leaves are able to absorb water at these 

 places. The plant jjrows from two to four feet high, 

 and the beautiful flowers are pure while, rather like 

 those of the Anemone, and measure two to three 

 inches across. There .'ire oiilv two oilier species of the 



RANiNcrias LvAi1.11. 



on mountain slopes below the snowfields, where the 

 ground is kept moist by the meltinif of the snow from 

 the higher regions ; it grows in peat, shingle antl even 

 sand. 



Mr. H. Travers, I'.L.S., of Wellington, N.Z., writing 

 recently to Ireland, says — " I saw a specimen of Ranun- 

 culus Lyallii growing through a Veronica on the bank 

 of a stream. I am sure tlie leafstalks were at least five 

 feet long, and the radical leaves ten to twelve inches 

 across. .-Ml the Ranunculus appear to like protection. 

 In the mountains the greatest numbers of plants are 

 found on the shady side, and this is the moistest and 

 coldest." 



The leaves are mofct remarkable, for in shape they are 



genus which have peltate leaves, and these are R. 

 Cooperi and Baurii, natives of South Africa. Cheese- 

 man now regards R. Traversii as a smaller form of 

 R. Lyallii. 



Unfortunately up to the present R. Lyallii has proved 

 to be very difficult to grow and flower in this country, 

 but it is not an impossible plant, as the letter and 

 photograph from Mr. G. Smith, of Newry, will clearly 

 show. Probably Mr. Smith is the first, or at least one 

 of the first, to raise this plant from home-saved seeds. 

 During the last twenty years many pounds of seeds 

 have been imported, but their germinating power seems 

 to be destroyed, or partly so, by the voyage, although 

 they should not be thrown out too hastily, for seeds 



