DR. HERBEUT ON THE LOCAL HABITATION OF PLANTS. 49 



The Pyramidal Saxifrage delig-lits in similar positions, growing 

 often on the bare rocii, of which the crumbled particles gathered 

 round its roots, and they were constantly refreshed by the issuing 

 moisture ; but it had a wider range than the yellosv violet : flou- 

 rishing in such positions in the narrow valley of the Ticino as 

 Avell as on the Alps, its graceful blossoms waving in the air, and 

 pendulous, not naturally pyramidal. The rare Saxifraga mutata, 

 which has the same general aspect as to the foliage, with a spike 

 of yellow flowers, was pointed out to me in the neighbourhood 

 of the lake of Thun actually riding on the water of a mountain- 

 brook, with its roots spreading vmder a large stone in a wide 

 naked space of round and pulverised stones, towards the mouth 

 of the deep ravine along which they had been brought down 

 from the mountain. I was told that I should have no chance 

 of preserving it alive, unless it could be planted inmiediately. 

 It was therefore tied up in a piece of linen with a handful of the 

 stone- powder in which it grew, and, being kept moist, it reached 

 England alive. Climbing the steep sides of the ravine afterwards, 

 I saw several more of the same species aloft, where the water 

 burst out, and one was growing in a tuft of moss. I pulled up 

 another also, which was near, and, inserting its roots into the 

 same moss, I tied the moss in the shape of a ball, and they were 

 so brought to England. The first was potted in its native soil, 

 and, having been left three M'eeks in the care of my gardener, 

 was found to be dead on my return. The moss-ball had been set 

 in the mouth of a pot filled with moss, and placed in a large pan 

 of water. The two plants in it have continued to thrive well, and 

 that which had been pulled out of the ground cannot be distin- 

 guished from the original occupier of the moss. The plant was 

 figured about forty years ago in the ' Botanical Magazine,' where 

 it is stated that great care must be taken not to give it much 

 water. It is very possible that in a pot of earth, the wet which is 

 suitable on a rock in moss might cause the fibres to rot, if the 

 drainage were insufficient. I am however satisfied that the diffi- 

 culty of cultivating Gentiana verna arises merely from its thirsti- 

 ness, and that it should be planted in a mixture of strong soil 

 with jieat, or in a bed of peat on clay. It is said that Epigaea 

 repens, which has been found the most difficult of plants to cul- 

 tivate, will thrive in a peat-bed of great depth. I apprehend that 

 in such case its extreme roots find moisture below when the peat 

 near the surface becomes too dry for it. Probably a less depth 

 of peat would preserve it, if a cup-formed bed of clay were 

 placed under the peat to retain moisture. 



VOL. I. 



