RAMONDIA. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



RANUNCULUS. 



793 



forms a tree 3 to 5 ft. in diameter of stem, or, 

 at higher elevations, is reduced to a shrub. It 

 has pretty spiny-toothed dark green leaves, 

 somewhat golden on the under surface, and in 

 its native country it is a beautiful evergreen 

 tree. 



Q. cocciFERA. — A dense bush with small 

 spiny dark green leaves, and very small acorns, 

 often hardly larger than a pea, which now and 

 then ripen in Southern England. S. Europe. 



Q. DENSIKLORA.— A tree 50 to 60 ft. high, 

 in some positions often a shrub. At Kew this 

 grows freely in rather sheltered places, and 

 produces fine leathery leaves of a dark green 

 colour, in outline somewhat like those of a 

 small Spanish Chestnut. iNIountains of Cali- 

 fornia. 



Q. GLABRA. — A Japanese Oak, with large 

 handsome leaves, the acorns borne in upright 

 spikes. Several varieties are mentioned in 

 catalogues, but they are hardly distinct. At 

 Kew the species makes a large bush and is 

 thoroughly hardy. 



Q. ILEX. — The best-known of Evergreen 

 Oaks, and the most valuable for Britain. Old 

 trees, which have been allowed plenty of space 

 and have been allowed to grow naturally, 

 resemble in form the Olive trees of the Italian 

 coast and of the Riviera. It is one of the 

 most variable of Oaks, but few of the named 

 varieties — and there are many — are so beauti- 

 ful as the wild kind. 



Q. SUBER {Cork Oa^).— The Cork Oak, 

 which, except for the curious growth of its 

 bark, hardly differs in effect from the Holm 

 Oak. There are fine old trees of this at Mount 

 Edgcumbe, Goodwood, and other places, 

 though the Cork Oak is not hardy enough for 

 our climate generally. 



Q. viRENS {Live Oak) is in its native 

 country a tree of the first economic value, 

 and deserves all the encomiums passed on 

 it by Cobbett in his Woodlands. All the 

 trees in England I have seen under this 

 name are, however, forms of Q. Ilex, and I 

 doubt there being any fine trees of the true 

 Q. virens in cultivation in this country. — N. 



RAMONDIA {Rosette Mulliejt).~R. 

 pyrenaica is an interesting Pyrenean plant, 

 with leaves in rosettes close to the ground, 

 the flowers purple-violet colour, with 

 orange-yellow centre, i to i^ in. across, 

 on stems 2 to 6 in. long, in spring and 

 early summer. There has been a good 

 deal of writing about its cultivation, but it 

 is really not difficult except in soils much 

 charged with lime ; growing in cool peat 

 borders on the lower ledges of the rock- 

 garden, or in moist yet well drained 

 chinks. It is found in the valleys of the 

 Pyrenees, on the face of steep and rather 

 shady rocks. There is a rare white 

 variety which does well in borders of 

 American shrubs in peat soil, and a more 

 rosy form has also appeared quite re- 

 cently. Less known, but more easily 



grown, is R. serbica from the Balkan 

 Mountains, a rather taller plant, in which 

 the leaves are covered with soft brown 

 hair, and the flowers are pale blue or 

 mauve coloured. A form of this from the 

 Carpathian Mountains, Nathalicc, is per- 



Ramondia pyrenaica 



haps the best of all, though still scarce. 

 Its flowers are darker, with bright orange 

 anthers, and come rather earlier and 

 more freely than in other kinds. This 

 too, however, is not happy where there is 

 much lime in the soil. Seed and division. 

 Gesneracece. 



RANUNCULUS {Crowfoot Buttercup). 

 — Mountain, meadow, and marsh herbs, 

 many of them weeds, while others are 

 among the choicest of alpine flowers and 

 perennials for borders. They are for the 

 most part of the simplest culture ; only 

 R. asiaticus and its many varieties re- 

 quire special treatment. 



R. aconitifolius.— A mountain pasture 

 herb. The double-flowered variety which 

 is known as Fair Maids of France is a 

 pretty garden plant about 18 in. high, 

 covered for several weeks in early 

 summer with small rosette-like white blos- 

 soms. It is a charming plant in deep 

 moist soils, especially the large-flowered 

 form grandifiorus. The single wild plant 

 is worth a place in collections. 



R. acris {Bachelors' Buttons).— The 

 pretty double form of this plant is also a 

 useful kind, its rich yellow blossoms borne 

 in button-like rosettes : a border plant, 

 and good in moist soil, flowering twice in 

 the year. 



R. alpestris {Alpme Buttercup).— K 

 native of the alpine regions of Central 



