CRUCIFERAE 65 
Iberis is another important race of Crucifers—some of 
them dwarf, and all, to my mind, spoilt by the tone of 
their whites, which are either dingy or very hard. Jberis 
correaefolia and Iberis Snowflake are far and away the 
best for general purposes, and their flowers are clean and 
pure, though rather cold in tone. Correaefolia is a huge, 
obtrusive grower, but Snowflake and pinnatu, another 
good plant, make dignified, pleasant little bushes about a 
foot high, flowering with splendid generosity. Jberis 
jucunda is a synonym of Aethionema coridifolium, which 
leaves Iberis petraea alone to represent the rock-section of 
Iberis. Petraea is a very dwarf plant, trailing little 
dark boughs along the ground, and bearing a profusion 
of white flowers not as brilliant, alas! as some, though 
extremely pretty. Nicholson gives it as a form of [beris 
tenoreana from South Europe. It is a true high- 
Alpine—minute, neat, and supposed to be rather difficult 
by some people. I have never had any sort of bother 
with it here, nor, beyond a corner to itself and decent 
soil to grow in, have I ever given it any attention or 
coddling. Of the larger sorts, I think one called Little 
Gem is the best—even neater than Snowflake—forming 
robust round balls which, in their time, are literally 
hidden by the abundance of blossom. Tenoreana, sem- 
pervirens, and gibraltarica are none of them trustworthy 
in my climate. 
The Aethionemas are certainly the most brilliant of 
the Cross-bearers after Aubrietia. 'They are southerners, 
coming, for the most part, from the Alps along the 
Mediterranean, where they drop out of sun-baked ledges 
in a profusion of rich colour. For,-almost alone of their 
race, they have flowers in varying warm shades of pink ; 
whereas the utmost that the generality of Crucifers can 
do in the way of effect is pale purple, their attempts at 
red tones being apt to turn out rather weak lilacs and 
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