PART II.] 



ALPINE FLOWERS FOR GARDENS 



191 



however, do not strike so freely as in 

 some of the other kinds. This attains 

 a lii*tght of about 6 feet ; it is a native of 

 South- Western Europe. 



Cistus Monspeliensis (Montpelier Rock 

 Rose). A species widely distributed 

 throughout the Mediterranean region ; is 

 very variable in size of its leaves and also in 

 stature of plant ; in some spots it hardly 

 grows more than 6 inches in height ; in 

 others it attains a height of about 6 feet. 

 The flowers are white, about an inch in 

 diameter, each petal bearing a yellow 

 blotch at the base. 



C. populifolius (Poplar-leaved Rock 

 Rose) is a robust kind, with large rugose, 

 stalked, Poplar-like leaves and medium- 

 sized white flowers, tinged with yellow 

 at the base of the petals. Varieties of 

 C. salvifolius are often misnamed C. 

 populifolius in Nurseries and gardens. 

 Amongst the numerous garden forms of 

 this species may be mentioned G. narbon- 

 nensis, with shorter flower-stalks, smaller 

 leaves altogether a smaller plant than 

 the type and 0. latifolius, another with 

 broader leaves. Southern France, in 

 Spain, and Portugal. It is an erect 

 branched shrub, 3 or 4 feet high. 



C. salvifolius (Sage-leaved Rock Rose). 

 This is a very variable kind, and of slender 

 habit, with Sage-like leaves and long- 

 stalked, white, yellow-blotched flowers. 

 In a wild state it is found all along the 

 Mediterranean, and a number of slightly 

 varying forms have received distinctive 

 names, but do not appear to have been 

 introduced to gardens. 



C. vaginatus is the largest of the red- 

 flowered section ; robust, with large- 

 stalked, hairy leaves, and large, deep 

 rose-coloured yellow-centred flowers. The 

 stamens are more numerous in this than 

 in, perhaps, any other Cistus, and form 

 a dense, brush-like tuft, overtopped by 

 the long style. It is a native of the 

 Canary Islands. For many years a fine 

 plant flowered freely against the wall of 

 the herbaceous ground at Kew, but the 

 severe winters of several years ago proved 

 too much for it. 



C. villosus, a widely-distributed Medi- 

 terranean kind, is a very variable plant, 

 an erect bush with firm-textured leaves. 



The flowers of all the forms are rose- 

 coloured, with long styles. G. undulatus 

 is a variety with wavy-margined leaves, 

 G. incanus represents what may be re- 

 garded as the common typical form. G. 

 creticus is another with deeper rose-red 

 flowers than those already mentioned. 



CLAYTONIA VIRGINICA (Spring 

 Beauty). A pretty American plant of 

 the Purslane family, sending up in 

 March and April simple stems bear- 

 ing a loose raceme of rose-coloured 

 flowers marked with deeper veins, 

 which, unlike the flowers of most of 

 the species of this family, remain 

 open for more than one day. Suited 

 for the rock-garden or borders, in 

 loam and leaf-mould. G. sibirica 

 and C. alsinoides, although only 

 biennials, or perhaps little better 

 than annuals, sow themselves freely 

 in crevices, and so often find a 

 place among alpine plants. 



CLEMATIS. Though the showy 

 hybrids of these climbing shrubs are 

 not the best fitted for the rock- 

 garden, I know nothing more graceful 

 about rocks than the Alpine Clematis 

 (C. alpina), and also the common C. 

 Viticella^ and any of the smaller 

 kinds. The winter-flowering Cle- 

 matises, which are so pretty along 

 the mild coast districts in Britain 

 in winter and early spring are excel- 

 lent for scrambling over rocks or 

 banks. These plants, which should 

 always be raised from seed and layers, 

 are more enduring than the hybrid 

 kinds, which are usually grafted, and 

 perish very quickly. 



COLCHICUM (Meadow Saffron). 

 Hardy bulbs of the meadows and 

 mountains of Europe and the East. 

 They have not the fine colour of the 

 Crocus, but some of the kinds intro- 

 duced of recent years are very inter- 



