SARRACENIA. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



SAXIFRAGA. 



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border in April, or earlier in heat if bloom 

 is required early in the season, in rich 

 sandy loam. 



S. LUTEA. A little rock plant, 3 to 6 

 inches high, with narrow leaves like those 

 of the Alpine Catchfly and a neat tufted 

 habit. The pale yellow flowers come as 

 close woolly heads in early summer. 

 Italy. 



S. OCYMOIDES. A trailing rock plant, 

 with prostrate stems, its rosy flowers com- 

 pletely covering its leaves and branches in 

 early summer. It is most valuable for 

 clothing arid parts of the rock garden, 

 where a trailing plant is desired, as the 

 shoots fall over the face of the rocks and 

 become masses of rosy bloom. It is also 

 excellent for old walls, and the seed should 

 be sown in mossy chinks where a little soil 

 has gathered. It thrives in ordinary soil, 

 and is often a good dwarf border plant. 

 Two or three garden varieties are now 

 grown, the best being splendens, with 

 much brighter flowers, alba, with pale 

 flowers, best in partial shade. Seeds and 

 cuttings. S. and C. Europe. 



S. OFFICINALIS (Soapwort). This is a 

 stout native plant about 2 to 4 feet high, 

 with large fragrant blossoms, usually rose- 

 pink, the double variety being best. A 

 third-rate plant, it should not be planted 

 in select borders, but is pretty for rough 

 places in the hedgerows and wild garden, 

 growing in any soil. Division. 



SARRACENIA (Huntsman's Horn). 

 This singular plant, 5. purpurea, 

 belongs to a family of Pitcher-plants, 

 natives of N. America, it being 

 the hardiest, and handsome when well 

 grown. Its curious leaves, hollowed 

 like a horn, are blood-red in colour, 

 and form a compact tuft i foot or 

 more in height and the same in 

 breadth ; the flowers, singular in 

 shape, are not very showy. It is a 

 good plant for the bog garden or for 

 damp spots in the rock garden, in an 

 open and fully-exposed position with 

 the choicer bog plants, in fibrous peat 

 well mixed with Sphagnum Moss, which 

 is common in marshy places. A layer 

 of living Moss should be placed round 

 the plant to keep it moist. The plant 

 is hardy under these conditions, but 

 precautions should be taken to pre- 

 vent birds from disturbing the soil 

 and exposing the roots. 5. flava, the 

 hardiest species next to S. purpurea, 

 is rarely satisfactory in the open air, 

 but does well in favoured spots. 

 Other species, including Drummondi, 

 psittacina, rubra, and variolaris, do 

 well in the open air in some parts of 

 Ireland if covered with a thick layer 

 of moss in hard weather. 



SASSAFRAS (Ague Tree).S. offici- 

 nale is a distinct and remarkable tree, 

 sometimes growing over 100 feet high, 

 with a trunk 6 feet or more in dia- 

 meter, and a rough aromatic bark in 

 sandy soils in New England, Canada, 

 and westwards and southwards. The 

 leaves are three-lobed, and vary much 

 in shape. In our country this plant 

 is best in warm soils similar to those in 

 which it grows in its own, as our cool 

 summers are less likely to ripen the 

 wood. Syn., Laurus sassafras. 



SAXEGOTH(EA CONSPICUA (Prince 

 Albert's Yew), A Chilian evergreen 

 tree of the Pine order. Some in the 

 south-western counties grow 40 feet 

 high or more, but it is not a tree for 

 our country. 



SAXIFRAGA (Rockfoil). This genus 

 includes perhaps more true Ulpine 

 flowers than any other. In the Arctic 

 circle, in the highest alpine regions, on 

 the arid mountains of S. and E. Europe 

 and N. Africa, and throughout the 

 length and breadth of Europe and of 

 N. Asia, they are found in many inter- 

 esting varieties of form and colour. 

 One might expect them to be as dim- 

 cult of cultivation as most alpine 

 plants, but they are the easiest to grow 

 of all. The most ordinary form is the 

 Mossy or hypnoides section, of which 

 there are many kinds in cultivation. 

 They are admirable for the fresh green 

 hue with which they clothe rocks and 

 banks in winter. Next to these we 

 may place the very extensive silvery 

 group. These have their greyish 

 leathery leaves margined with dots of 

 white, so as to give to the whole a 

 silvery character. This group is repre- 

 sented by such kinds as S. aizoon and 

 the great pyramidal-flowering 5. coty- 

 ledon of the Alps. The London Pride 

 section is another of some beauty, the 

 plants thriving under ordinary con- 

 ditions in lowland gardens, and soon 

 naturalising themselves in lowland 

 woods and copses. But the most 

 brilliant are the purple Saxifrage 

 (S. oppositifolia) group and its near 

 allies. Here we have tufts of splendid 

 colour in spring with dwarfness and 

 perfect hardiness. The large leathery 

 leaved group, of which the Siberian 

 S. crassifolia is best known, is also of 

 much importance, the plants thriving 

 in ordinary soil and on the level 

 ground. There are various minor 

 groups. Such of the smaller and rarer 

 alpine species as require any particular 

 attention should be planted in moist 



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