from the Eastern .'. oducing whito 



flowr: so. 



I little hybrid from ihe 



>n for one parent, and S. cumifolia for the 



other. The result is one of the daintiest of .-mall jewels, often quoted 



in cat - but not there to be trusted. It grows readily in any 



il and light, making neat rosettes of spatulate 



with an edging of grey cartilage derived 



from lossom-shower is delicate and dainty as in 



8. euntjclia. and of about the same stature- — .some 5 or 6 inches. But 



nd the flowers are stars of white with 

 orange anthers, uniting the elfin grace of S. cuneifolia with the hand- 

 somer foliage due to the influence of S. aeizoon. lying: down in neat and 

 overlapping-leaved re Eter the Aeizoo:. at much broad- 



ened at the end, and of that characteristic leathern pallor of green. 



Scabiosa, — This race, as a rule, is large and weedy for the rock 



_ . be annual species to be admitted, while the larger 



offered in catalogues. Of smaller kinds, S. gra- 



nost beautiful and a pure ]oy on a ledge of the rock 



in dry. well-drained soil, warm and limy, in a hot and sunny place. 



S uthern Alps, woody-rooted and forming wide 



- : long narrow leaves, like swathes of soft grass, pale-green 



-iiimmering with a close coat of silver ; over this, on bare stems 



of 6 or 9 inches, play rich wide flower-heads of lilac -lavender all the 



summer through, making a lovely effect above the silver mass. In 



..me line of beauty are also S. silent 'folia (violet), S. lucida (more 



ordinary, with feather-cut leafage and pinkish flowers), and S. vt 



3 about a foot or 18 inches high, and has 



a heads of ] ' ategrifolia is but half a foot, with tight 



heads of yellow ; and S. Webbiana, from Ida, is 



- ; kled roundish root -leaves in cushions, and heads 



of white blossom on stems of 6 or 9 inches through later summer. Very 



beautiful and very rare though is S. sphaciotica, from the wood-limits 



of Cretan Ida, and the mountain-tops, in sandy places. It is per: 



dwarf — a rosette of practically undivided silver leaves, narrow and 



oblo: i - me length as the many rather weakly short stems 



which each carry a head of pink flowers. (This is also Pterocephalus 



. times called Scabiosa.) And, finally, 



larger and looser habit, with feathered silver 



foliage and larg -r blue-lavender fi - than our own wide and 



flat-:. baria, which is,so beautiful as a native rock-plant, 



in cr the limestone cliffs. All these bloom through later 



326 



