CHOICE PLANTS FOR ROCK GARDENS 141 
of this genus. One would not be doing wrong, even where 
space is limited, to introduce half a dozen sorts of Epi- 
mediums. The plants make compact, bushy clumps, the 
foliage being thin, fragile and dainty in appearance, but 
in reality, tough, strong and hard wearing In spring 
the young leaves are flushed with rosy tints, later becoming 
soft green with delicate veining or netting, and again in 
autumn, the hardened leaves assume tints of bronze, 
chestnut and amber, the colours lingering practically 
through the winter. From early spring to midsummer, 
light shimmering racemes of quaintly beautiful flowers 
are borne on slender, arching stems, so coy and dainty 
that they seem shyly to half hide themselves among the 
foliage. They do not, in fact, compel attention by their 
ostentatious display, but rather may be said to veil their 
delightful charms for those who will seek them, and 
submit them to close inspection. Of colours, we may 
have clear and distinct shades and unusual combinations, 
E. alpinum and E. rubrum being both bright crimson 
and clear yellow, the last named bearing the larger and 
stronger flowers. E. macranthum is pearly white, as also is 
musschianum, both species having varieties with coloured 
flowers, macranthum violaceum being violet and muss- 
chianum rubrum a bright red. E. pinnatum, and E, 
perralderianum are yellows, and both have particularly 
fine foliage. Deep soil, of a fibrous or spongy nature, 
suits the Epimediums better than a tenacious clay, and 
during the growing season, from March to September, 
the plants enjoy copious supplies of water. 
ERINUS ALPINUS.—A pretty plant with crimped-edged 
