Tom Tiddler's Ground 



The purple Sloe looks rather dingy beside these two, 

 and the purple Euonymus europaeus atropurpureus is best 

 in its autumn coloration, and so far I have been rather 

 disappointed with a purple Acer campestre that has been so 

 only in name. The central gathering of silver variegation 

 is becoming very interesting to me as the collection grows, 

 and I can begin to reckon what main lines variegation 

 follows. It seems that but few plants have leaves naturally 

 and always marked with white in their typical form. Of 

 course there are the Lungworts, Lamium maculatum, and 

 the well-known Milk Thistle, and I have here, too, a smaller 

 Thistle with white markings which are evidently permanently 

 specific characters. It was sent to me by a good friend 

 who found it wild in Italy, and kindly remembered my 

 collection of such things. It is only an annual, but sows 

 itself most obligingly, and its autumn rosettes are very 

 charming. I have been trying to think of other hardy 

 plants with a regular design of white or grey marks on 

 their leaves as usual specific characters, and either my 

 memory is bad or their number is small. I recall Red 

 Clover, several Buttercups, all Crocuses, except such as 

 have struck out a line for themselves, and I hope you will 

 believe me when I say that until I had written that last 

 sentence I was quite unconscious of its punning sense, but 

 leave it as it is so absolutely true, for the two species with 

 semi-cylindrical leaves, Crocus carpetanus and C. nevadensis, 

 and the four- winged leaf of Scharojanii have dispensed with 

 the usual conspicuous white line of the rest of the family. 

 Scolymus hispanicus, Echium and Cerinthe in several 

 species have small, white spots. Cyclamen leaves, except 

 those of true Coum, vary from small spots to zones of great 

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