PHYTEUMA. 



the bellies of the bottles till they look indeed as if they had been 

 blown by fairies in some imperial factory of Myrrhine glass. And, 

 beautiful as are the fluffy sapphirine balls of Ph. hemisphaericum 

 upon the mats of its fine foliage, the prize of glory must go, I think. 

 to the more solemn-flowered clusters of Ph. pauciflorum, as you may see 

 it, for instance, on the crest of Malamot, threading Eritrichium in and 

 out with the ramifying tissues of its rootage, and combating the round 

 azure patches of the King with the serried battalions and dotted clumps 

 of its own blobbed violet darkness. In cultivation, however, neither 

 of these jewels is of easy temper, nor, indeed, any other of the 

 alpine " Plants " — to give them their invidious name, though the title 

 lacks precision. Abundance of stone, in the peaty, and for preference 

 most certainly non-calcareous mixture of their soil, is clearly to be 

 indicated ; the most perfect drainage also, and abundance of water 

 underground in the growing period, with dryness and rest in the winter. 

 There seems no reason why little growths so hearty and invasive at 

 home should not be as easy in cultivation as their kindly hearty cousins 

 from a little lower down. Especially as they bear no trace of wool 

 nor the slightest outward warning of danger, either in look or habit. 

 Yet so it is, the alpine Phyteumata are often hard to satisfy, though 

 amply worth the labour that their satisfying calls for. 



Ph. Scheuchzeri and Ph. orbiculare are larger species with big 

 graceful wild balls of blue, on bare foot -high stems in the summer. 

 The latter is a lime-craving native ; but Ph. Scheuchzeri is much more 

 generous in the habit and valuable all round, slender and delicate in 

 the abundant stems, but a very free grower and forming lavish masses 

 that are always attractive. Ph. Charmelii is a frailer, weaker thing 

 altogether, with the lowest leaves of all quite little and heart-shaped 

 and rounded, on long slender stalks; but the next are quite unlike them, 

 amply swordlike and drawn-cut ; while the heads of flowers are smaller 

 and the whole effect more puny, and the leaves of the saucer are 

 specially narrow and pointed. Ph. Balbisii is rarer still, and yet more 

 frail, making a fat root-stock in a hard cliff, and then trailing about 

 its gentle weak stems, with rather large heart-shaped pointed leaves, 

 coarsely toothed, and soft in texture, springing from the base on long 

 foot-stalks, while there are even one or two leaves, still of the same 

 ivy -pattern, on the floundering stalks that end in egg-shaped heads of 

 blue or pale-blue flowers. This species may occasional!}' be seen, 

 floating from the limestone cliffs about the Col di Tenda ; it is quite 

 impossible to collect, and there seems no reason why it should be any 

 less impossible to grow. 



Ph. Sieberi, on the other hand, may often be seen in the Eastern 



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