90 ALPINES AND BOG-PLANTS 
duces astonishing differences in the flora. Androsace 
Chamaejasme is replaced by A. obtusifolia. Aster alpinus 
is abundant in the higher reaches, with Ranunculus pyre- 
naeus and Androsace carnea; and of larger things the big 
gentians are very abundant, every possible hybrid of 
purpurea occurring in every conceivable shade of colour, 
from dull tawny to claret. 
Androsace carnea is a pretty treasure, whose merit has 
been obscured by the greater merit of his major eximia, 
and his minor Laggeri. The type carnea is a thin and 
wiry-leaved species, quite dwarf, with a head of rather 
pale little Primula-flowers. Ewimia has much broader, 
solider, glossier leaves, with bigger flowers, more abundant, 
and of a much deeper pink. The type, however, is very 
well worth growing, and, with eaimia, has the strong 
recommendation of being perfectly easy to grow, quite 
trustworthy and robust, preferring a light, rich peaty 
soil, and needing no glass protection in winter, as do the 
downy-leaved species from the higher Alps and the 
Himalya. In point of fact, the cultivator can always 
tell the easier Androsaces by the fact that their leaves 
are thin, leathery, and devoid of down. 
Another in this blessed category is A. vitaliana—some- 
times called Aretia vitaliana—pardonably, too, as it is so 
unlike the other Androsaces. It makes a prostrate mat 
of dark green, furry branches, and then emits a quantity 
of brilliant golden-yellow flowers, in shape and almost in 
size recalling those of Jasminum primulinum. 'This plant, 
though perfectly easy and safe in any soil and any decent 
aspect, must yet be bought with caution. There is a thin- 
leaved, sparse-blooming, small-flowered form of A. vita- 
liana; and there is also a stalwart form, with leaves slightly 
broader, more robust-looking, hemmed with a ciliation of 
white down, which produces a splendid abundance of big 
flowers, whose colour is of the richest, softest, imperial 
