PAROCHAETUS COMMUNIS. 



whole race, white-flowered or yellow ; but it is by no means the easiest 

 to grow or keep, succeeding best, as a rule, among coarsish herbage 

 in the bog. The rest are rarer, and many of them really lovely, all 

 asking for abundant water flowing underground. 



P. itlpestris or alplna is a form or sub-species of P. palustris which 

 may be found in the Alps, and stands pre-eminent above the type, 

 not only in its taller stature and larger more copious blossom, but 

 also in its much greater readiness to show them in the garden, and form 

 widening healthy tufts from year to year. Like all the rest it can be 

 d from seed, though the method is chancy, and collected tufts 

 or divided clumps are the best methods of multiplying your stock ; 

 but, unlike the rest, it tends to bloom a little earlier in the season, 

 towards the end of June or middlo of July — its blooming-time being 

 prolonged till the rest are well hi flower. 



P. fimbriate, is one of the best — a stalwart hearty grower from the 

 damp alpine places of the Rockies, of ready good-temper in cultivation, 

 and very line large white flowers, most beautifully fringed at the base 

 <>f the petals. And other American species of merit are : P. asarifolia, 

 P. caroliniana, P. grandijlora. P. rivularis is P. fimbriate ; and 

 P. Kotzebui is a tiny 3-inch Arctic plant, to match the tiny pusilla 

 variety of P. ovata, on the high Alps of Sikkim and Kashmir. 



P. mysorensis and P. parviflora, the one Indian and the other 

 American, are of but little worth, the flowers in either case being small. 



P. nubicola, however, is a notable species from the heights of 

 Sikkim and Kashmir, growing from 4 inches to 18, with flowers an 

 inch across, hardly clawed at all, with ovate-oblong leaves, heart-lobed 

 at the base. It is like a larger stouter version of the same-flowered 

 P. ovata, which is only some 3 to 8 inches high, and altogether smaller. 



P. Wightiana, which ranges from the Nilghirrics into Yunnan, is a 

 foot or more in height, with flowers of pale yellow. 



Parochaetus communis runs about all over the place like a 

 rather lush green clover, but from the tangled long-armed mass there 

 emerge- all through the late summer an indefatigable flight of big Pea- 

 dowers, each borne lonely on its separate stem of 2 or 3 inches, and 

 of a most brilliant azure-blue, tinged with something of that same 

 Eaint touch of yellow which gives its ferocity of tone to Gentiana 

 - r and lighter and softer, and fading into a dozen 

 subtleties of emerald, opal, sapphire, and mild saci pink. Though 

 this wondt :• of the garden comes from the East Indies and the moun- 

 tains of Central Alii' b (so it is said), it may none the less be looked 

 upon as p >rfectly hardy in England in sheltered places, kindly climates, 

 and well-drained soil. H likes to grow in the sun, and shows especial 



42 



