PART II.] 



ALPINE FLOWERS FOR GARDENS 



213 



solitary white flowers about \ an inch 

 across, with yellow stamens the whole 

 plant being often under 2 inches high. 

 A native of N. Europe and N. America, 

 on high mountains or in arctic lati- 

 tudes, flowering in summer, and most 

 easily increased from seed. 



DICENTRA (Bleeding Heart). 

 Graceful perennials of the Fumitory 

 Order, including about half a dozen 

 cultivated species, of which the follow- 

 ing are the finest : 



Dicentra chrysantha. A handsome 

 plant, forming a spreading tuft of 

 glaucous foliage, from which arises a stiff 

 leafy stem, 3 feet to 4 feet high, 

 bearing long panicles of bright yellow 

 blossoms, each about 1 inch long. It 

 flowers in August and September ; the 

 seedlings do not bloom till the second 

 year. California. 



D. eximia combines the grace of a Fern 

 with the flowering qualities of a good 

 hardy perennial. It grows from 1 foot to 

 li feet high, and bears its numerous 

 reddish-purple blossoms in long drooping 

 racemes. Thrives in a rich sandy soil, 

 but it will grow anywhere. N. America. 

 Division. 



D. formosa is similar to the preceding, 

 having also Fern-like foliage, but is 

 dwarfer in growth, the racemes are 

 shorter and more crowded, and the colour 

 of the flowers is lighter. California. 



D. spectabilis is a beautiful plant, too 

 well known to need description, nearly 

 every garden in the country being em- 

 bellished with its singularly beautiful 

 flowers, which open in early summer, 

 gracefully suspended in strings of a dozen 

 or more on slender stalks, and resemble 

 rosy hearts. It succeeds best in warm, 

 rich soils, in sheltered positions, as it is 

 liable to be cut down by late spring frosts. 

 Besides a position in the mixed border, 

 it is of such remarkable beauty and grace 

 that it may be used with the best effect 

 near the lower flanks of the rock-garden, 

 or on low parts where the stone or 

 " rock " is suggested rather than exposed. 



There is a " white " variety, by no means 

 so pretty as the common one. Propagated 

 by division in autumn. 



Dicentra cucullaria (Dutchman's 

 Breeches) and D. thalictrifolia are less 

 important, belonging more to the curious 

 garden. 



DIPHYLLEIA CYMOSA. An in- 

 teresting perennial of the Barberry 

 family, about 1 foot high, having large 

 umbrella-like leaves in pairs. Flowers 

 white, in loose clusters in summer, 

 and succeeded by bluish-black berries. 

 N. America, on the borders of rivulets 

 and on mountains, thriving in peat 

 borders and fringes of beds of American 

 plants, in the most moist spots. 

 Hitherto only seen as single weak 

 specimens, this plant, if more plenti- 

 ful, might be made good use of in a 

 rock-garden. Division. 



DODECATHEON (American Cow- 

 slip). Graceful and distinct per- 

 ennials, quite hardy and charming 

 for the rock-garden, where they 

 usually grow well in soils of an open 

 nature. They are plants of wide 

 distribution in North, Western, and 

 Eastern America, and also the Pacific 

 coast, and they vary without end, 

 according to the region. They are 

 very often found towards the arctic 

 circle, and also on the high moun- 

 tains and even the islands of the 

 Behring Straits. The American 

 botanists consider these plants to be 

 varieties of the same, but this, from 

 the garden point of view, is of little 

 moment, as there is considerable 

 distinction among them when culti- 

 vated. There are a number of cross- 

 bred forms, whith are pretty. 



The American Cowslips are per- 

 ennial and hardy, requiring a cool 

 situation and light, leafy, or open 

 sandy soil. In cool spots on the 

 rock-garden, where Primulas and Sol- 



