ANDROSACE. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



435 



they mature. This .is one of the best of the 

 Indian kinds, quite hardy, and growing well 

 upon mounds of granite soil packed with 

 stones. Kashmir and Western Thibet, at 

 ii,ooo feet. 



A. septentrionalis. — A biennial species and 

 another of the few kinds found at lower levels 

 among the eastern Alps. Small flowers of 

 white or pink, with yellow throat. 



A. strigilosa. — Dense rosettes of rigid, spiny 

 leaves, and heads of pretty pink flowers in 

 May. It yields no runners and few offsets, 

 but may be raised from seed and grown in rich 

 peaty soil, well drained and in full sun. 



A. villosa. — A plant of wide range, from 

 the Alps and Pyrenees eastward to Kashmir 

 and the Himalayas, where it 

 grows at elevations of 12,000 

 to 1 7,000 feet. The western 

 form is dwarf, with neat 

 rosettes of shaggy leaves so 

 thickly set with white or pale 

 pink flowers that for the time 

 the plant lies hidden. The 

 Indian variety is of larger 

 growth and blooms later, its 

 leaves silvery with long white 

 hairs, and loose heads of 

 flowers with a raised ring of 

 darker colour at the centre. 

 Plant in good free soil, 

 with lime rubble and sand- 

 . stone fragments to keep it 

 well drained. The downy 

 leaves need shields of glass 

 in winter. Syns. A. cap it at a 

 and penicillata. Seed and 

 runners. 



A. villosa var. Chavuc- 

 jasme. — A beautiful alpine 

 plant known as the Rock 

 Jasmine, inhabiting a vast 

 range through Europe, Asia, 

 North Africa, and the Arctic regions. Though 

 like villosa in flower it differs from it in leaf 

 and habit, with a branching rootstock, spread- 

 ing clusters of fringed leaves, and stout flower 

 stems several inches high bearing three to six 

 flowers. These change from white to yellow, 

 pink, and crimson, opening from May to June, 

 and borne in long succession. It is one of the 

 best and easiest of rock plants to grow in open 

 soil, mixed and surfaced with broken lime 

 rubbish or slate dust, thriving in full sun. It 

 flowers well in pots in a cool house, and should 

 be watered freely in dry weather to keep away 

 red-spider. There are several distinct forms : 

 — Unijlora, from the Himalaya, has only 

 one or two flowers upon its short stems ; 

 and coronata, from a height of 16,000 or 

 17,000 feet in Western Thibet, differs in its 

 dwarfed growth, and flowers with a dark eye. 

 Seeds. 



A. vitaliana. — This is now known as 

 Douglasia ; but its changes from Aretia to 

 Primula, Gregoria, and other groups have 

 been so many that it is doubtful whether this 

 newest name will last. It is a pretty rock- 



plant, like a tiny Furze bush hardly an inch 

 high, with silvery leaves dusted over with white 

 powder, and many flowers borne singly — large 

 for so small a plant — in March or April, of a 

 fine yellow. It is useful with plants of this 

 group, thriving under the same conditions, and 

 distinct in colour. Disliking dry or heavy soils, 

 it does best in full sun, set in buried stones 

 and free sandy loam mixed with pebbles and 

 heath soil. Runners, and seeds. Alps, Pyre- 

 nees, and sierras of Spain. 



A. wiilfeniana. — A scarce plant with densely 

 hairy leaves and deep rosy flowers upon short 

 stems just topping the leaves and completely 

 covering the dense cushion-like mass. Soil, 

 sand and leaf-mould in half-shade ; should be 



Androsace Villosa. 



freely top-dressed at intervals. Granite rocks 

 of the Tyrol. Seeds. 



ANDRYALA.— Small plants of the 

 Dandelion order ; some with woolly leaves. 

 The shrubby yi. niogadorensis forms snowy 

 masses on a little islet on the Morocco 

 coast, and has not been found elsewhere. 

 It bears flowers as large as a half-crown, 

 of a bright yellow, the disc being bright 

 orange. Little is known of its culture 

 and hardiness. A. lanata has woolly 

 silvery leaves, and grows well in any soil 

 not too damp. 



ANEMONE {Wi7tdflowe7-).—K noble 

 family of tuberous alpine meadow and 

 herbaceous plants, of the Buttercup 

 family, to which is due much of the beauty 

 of spring and early summer of northern 

 and temperate countries. In early spring, 

 or what is wanter to us in Northern Europe, 

 when the valleys of Southern Europe and 

 sunny sheltered spots all round the great 

 rocky basin of the Mediterranean are 

 F F 2 



