ASARUM. 
garden, nor is any one of them really desirable or appropriate there, 
though in large territories the finely-cut tropical-looking foliage of 
A. crinitum at least is grateful in a hot deep corner ; though the same 
cannot be said for its big flowers of sombre violet, which stink so 
excessively as to make the garden unapproachable to anyone except 
the crowding flies that are allured by its promise of corruption. 
A. Dioscoridis pokes naked, almost stemless, weird flowers up through 
the bare earth of the Levant, and follows on with foliage as an after- 
thought ; but the whole race is Southern, demanding hot dry seasons 
and perfect drainage. They are not fitted for general culture in 
England, least of all in the rock-garden. (The same applies to sub- 
ordinate races, Biarum and Ischarum.) 
Asarum is a family of meek little tuft-forming Aristolochiads, 
far removed from the ramping huge traditions of their grand tropical 
cousins. They are little edging-plants, with more or less kidney- 
shaped leaves, often marbled in fantastic patterns that have enabled 
the enthusiasm of Japan to name some seventy varieties in A. Sieboldit 
alone. But for the rock-garden these glossy dwarfs have no charm 
but that of their evergreen quaintness, the flowers being not only of 
no value, but decently concealed beneath the foliage like those of 
Aspidistra, which they somewhat suggest. Some of them, however, 
A. caudatum, A. europaeum, A. Sieboldit, and so forth, may find an 
undisturbed place in some cool and worthless corner on the shady side 
of the garden, where their mottled sombre masses have a value. 
Asparagus.—Few things could possibly be more noble than the 
common Asparagus, but especially desirable for the rock-work is trailing ~ 
A. tenurfolius from Southern Europe, which is quite hardy in a well- 
drained fairly sheltered place, and has not only the charm of its trail- 
ing branches of fine emerald fur, but the profuse creamy stars of blossom 
diffuse the most penetrating and enrapturing scent of violets. There 
is also a pretty and hardy A. filicinus from the Himalaya. 
Asperula brings us back into the land of rocks. For though 
many of the Woodruffs are woodlanders indeed, like our own A. 
odorata, there is a large section of beautiful. small-tufted plants 
from the high cliffs of the South, that want nothing better than to be 
happy with us in light well-drained loam, or in the moraine, always 
asking for full sun and the proper precaution of sharp drainage 
against winter-wet. 
A. arcadiensis is incomparably the most important of all, and is 
always by nurserymen made a synonym of A. Athoa and A. suberosa, 
two names of one quite inferior (though lovely) species, with which 
it has nothing whatever to do. The genuine A. arcadiensis comes 
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