RANUNCULUS. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



RAPHIOLEPIS. 



795 



Ranuncul' 



R. glacialis {Glacier Buttercup). — 

 This is the plant of the icy regions, 

 being found near to the mehing snow 

 on the loftiest 

 mountains. The 

 whole plant in- 

 voluntarily re- 

 minds one of 

 melting ice. 

 The thick fleshy 

 leaves of a dark 

 green, and deep- 

 ly incised, the 

 stem of a brown- 

 ish-red tint, 3 or 

 4 in. long, pros- 

 trate on the 

 gr r o u n d, and 

 bearing from one 

 to four flowers, 

 the petals of 

 which are at 

 first of a light 

 pink colour, pas- 

 sing into a bright 

 coppery - red — 

 everything 

 about this plant 

 has a glacial as- 

 pect. It thrives 

 on cool and moist but fully exposed ledges 

 of the rock-garden, in deep gritty soil with 

 white stones or sand on the surface to 

 keep it cool. Alps and Pyrenees. 



R. gramineus.— A pretty little plant 

 from the Pyrenees, with slender erect 

 stems of about a foot high, and narrow 

 grass-like leaves of a blue-grey colour. 

 Its golden flowers are produced in great 

 profusion during early summer. A use- 

 ful plant for the border or moist corner 

 of the rock-garden, and also quite happy 

 if treated as a bog-plant. 



R. lingua {Great Spearwort). — A 

 native kind, and a noble waterside plant, 

 its leaves rising boldly out of the water 

 to a height of 2 or 3 ft., with large yellow 

 and attractive flowers. Thrives in muddy 

 watersides, and the numerous and hand- 

 some flowers are good for cutting for the 

 house. 



R. Lyalli {Rockwood Lily). — A lovely 

 New Zealand plant ; in moist places in the 

 Southern Alps the plant has large rounded 

 leaves and very large handsome waxy white 

 flowers, not unlike those of Anemone 

 japonica, with delicate yellow stamens 

 in the centre. In some places in Britain 

 this plant is not hardy, but in others it 

 stands the winter well. A writer in The 

 Garden says of a plant at Kew : " It is 

 growing in a deep peaty bed, sheltered 

 from the north and east, and has been 



without protection of any kind for over two 

 years. To get the seed of this charming- 

 plant to germinate is difficult, as importa- 

 tions in recent years have failed, and like 

 many other similar plants it seems to do 

 best when let alone. It has flowered in a 

 few gardens, and would seem to require 

 cool rock-garden treatment so far as now 

 known." — W. K. 



R. monspeliacus {MontpeUer Butter- 

 cup). — A vigorous plant, growing about 

 18 in. high, with three-lobed woolly 

 leaves and large flowers like the Com- 

 mon Buttercup. It is hardy — at least in 

 Southern Britain. 



R. parnassifolius {Pamassia-leaved 

 Buttercup). — A singular-looking plant with 

 thick, entire leaves, woolly on the edges, 

 flowers large, of a pure white colour, borne 

 two or three together on a prostrate stem 

 in the month of May. In the Pyrenees 

 and on the French Alps it is rare to 

 find a flower of this handsome species 

 which possesses the full number of petals. 

 A rock-garden plant, requiring the same 

 treatment as the higher mountain species. 



R. rutaefolius {Rue- leaved Buttercup) 

 has Rue-like leaves and white flowers 

 with dark yellow centres. Coming from 

 the highest parts of the Alps, it requires 

 the same treatment as the higher alpine 

 plants, in a fully-exposed spot in moist soil 

 with plenty of grit in it. 



R. speciosus {Large Double Buttercup) 

 is a showy plant, with compact rosette- 

 like flowers of bright yellow in May, 

 succeeding in any light soil. In a full 

 collection, R. chcerophyllus., illyricus, and 

 fumnricefolius may be included. 



The above is but a selection from a 

 very large family in nature, many of which 

 are little known in 

 gardens, and many of 

 no garden interest. 



RAPHIOLEPIS 

 {Japanese Hawtliorn). 

 — R. ovata is a beauti- 

 ful Japanese shrub, 

 hardy in southern dis- 

 tricts, and with a little 

 winter protection may 

 even be planted in cold 

 parts. Its thick ever- 

 green leaves are of a 

 dark colour, and its 

 flowers, which are 

 large, white, and sweet- 

 scented, are in clusters 

 terminating the young- 

 branches. It is a low, 

 spreading bush, some- 

 what open and straggling, and should not 

 be crowded with other shrubs. Some of 



Raphiolepis indii 



