SOLDANELLA. 



had its ironical result precisely and solely upon such races as had 

 beautiful and not ugly generics of their own to start with. No 

 eminent person has yet coined a Wardour Street lluskinianism for 

 Smelowskya, Boenninghausonia, Tchihatchewia, where such might 

 have been useful and admitted ; while the beautiful grace, aptitude, 

 and euphony of " Saxifrage," " Anemone," " Campanula," and 

 " Soldanella " cry shame upon the ancient effort or far-fet preci- 

 osity of "Moonwort," "Bell-flower," " Windflower," and that most 

 fatuous of all affectations, " Rockfoil." Fortunately these quirks 

 have long since faded out of favour, and even catalogues only do 

 them rare lip-service sometimes at the heading of a race, but in 

 the body of the page follow the fashion of all sensible poople, among 

 whom such nonsense is never heard : everyone who is able to grow 

 a Soldanella or a Saxifrage being able also to call it by its own 

 easy, simple, and beautiful name. The Soidanellas, then, are all 

 of the easiest growth in the conditions described ; often prospering 

 mightily in the open border in alpine climates, and filling the bed 

 with their massed little round and glossy leaves like shining emerald 

 leather. If they would do as much with their flowers all would 

 be well. In point of fact, if they are shy of blossom, I think the 

 fault may often lie outside their own responsibility. Every winter 

 shows the curled bloom-spikes nestling freely down among the bases 

 of the leaves, and rejoices the heart of the gardener with their appear- 

 ance. And it may be that they also rejoice the eyes of slug or mouse, 

 whose passion for such a tit-bit may be the reason why spring still 

 shows the gardener nothing more than foliage, and the promise has 

 evaporated into greenness unmitigated. Or it may be the changes 

 and chances of our English winter. In any case the buds are far more 

 often formed than developed, and far more often formed than 

 despairing cultivators believe. It would be as well, therefore, to keep 

 the Soidanellas protected against the whiter rains with slabs of glass, 

 and also to keep a careful eye open for depredators, who seem to look 

 on the youngling buds in their earliest stages as we on whitebait. 

 In the race there are six species, and many hybrids ; the species shall 

 first be dealt with, and then their crosses. 



S. alpina (8. Clusii, Schm. ; S. occidentalis, Vierh.) is, of course, 

 the best known, thanks rather to its name than to its habits, for it is 

 hardly the member of the race best worth knowing. And yet it is a 

 plant of overwhelming beauty as you see it veiling all the margins of 

 the melting snow with wide films of violet, spreading day by day, till 

 the whole dank brown earth, dark and sodden, becomes a sweep of shot 

 silk in shades of blending umber and amethyst. It is essentially an 



(1,996) 369 II.— 2 A 



