My Garden in Spring 



and are very interesting because it regularly happens that 

 the first to open has eight perianth segments and anthers 

 to match, the next few have the normal six of a liliaceous 

 plant, but towards the end of the flowering it can only 

 afford the last few flowers four each. The true Linaria 

 hepaticaefolia is pretty running all about the level bed ; its 

 tiny leaves are those of Cyclamen ibericum in miniature, and 

 are similarly banded with white zones ; the little white 

 flowers are scattered among them very close to the ground. 

 Climbing about on the shady side of a rocky slope close 

 by is L. aequitriloba, which in many lists bears the name of 

 the other. It has purple flowers, and leaves, as the name 

 implies, of three distinct equal divisions like those of the 

 Ivy-leaved Toad-flax L. Cymbalaria, which it closely re- 

 sembles but on a much smaller scale. Now on our right 

 we get a brilliant mass of mixed Aubrietias, the result of 

 self-sown seedlings. Originally I planted Dr. Mules and 

 Bridesmaid here, and they both exist, but as grandparents 

 now among their descendants ; any objectionably violent in 

 colour were pulled up, and the rest left to fight it out or 

 agree amicably as they chose. Behind them Erysimum 

 Allionii sows itself freely among various dwarf Cytisus 

 bushes on the ridge, and its vivid orange is very good here 

 among several dark-leaved plants and against a flowering 

 mass of the pale lilac Veronica circaeoides. Near these 

 are the wonderful leaves of Allium karataviense, var. Ellisii; 

 their wonder consists in the extraordinary metallic colour- 

 ing they show when young, purple-violet on the under 

 side and steel-blue above with a deep red edge. They are 

 especially lovely when a few raindrops are caught in their 

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