184 ALPINE PLANTS 
there may we also succeed with the Shortias, and they are 
most admirable companions for each other. 
The foliage of Shortia galacifolia is beautiful enough 
without its blossoms to ensure it a safe place in the affec- 
tions of alpine plantsmen. To describe its colours, its 
netting and mottling, and the glistening metallic sheen 
that overlays the whole, might well be a task for poets 
of flowery eloquence, whilst the chastity and wax-like 
refinement of the blossoms is but the crowning glory ofa 
bewilderingly beautiful plant. S. uniflora is another 
irresistibly charming variety with pink flowers of a pearly 
scintillating shade. Both are superb for pot culture 
or, better still, for broad-surfaced pans in which three or 
four plants may be grown together. 
It is unwise to frequently disturb Shortias for the sake 
of increasing the number of plants, but it is better to 
carefully top-dress from time to time with a mixture of 
sifted peat, silver sand and charcoal to encourage the 
strengthening of the central crowns and the development 
of young offsets. 
SISYRINCHIUM.—Akin in character of growth to slender- 
growing irises, the plants of this genus are possessed of 
a quiet type of beauty, and are admirable for receding 
positions where surrounding stones or shrubs will protect 
the fragile blossoms from boisterous winds. The purple 
S. grandiflorum and its white form are the best, but S. 
angustifolium and S. bermudianum are others that may 
well be grown. 
SILENE.—Here again we have a large genus that con- 
tains among something like half a hundred species many 
