PART II.] 



ALPINE FLOWERS FOR GARDENS 



29? 



or boxes filled with peat and coarse grit in 

 equal parts, stood in a cool place on the 

 north side of a wall, watered well, and 

 covered with a sheet of glass. 



To English growers, the most interesting 

 experience is that of Mr Bartholomew, 

 Park House, Reading, who has grown 

 this plant well. His plant was on the 

 north side of a summer-house, in 2 feet 

 of soil, chiefly peat, which was liberally 

 watered all through the summer. When 

 it died down in the autumn, a little 

 cocoa-nut fibre was placed over the crowns, 

 and, with a view to saving the plant as far 

 as possible from alternate freezing and 

 thawing, a sheet of glass, raised on bricks, 

 was placed over it. It flowered freely and 

 ripened seed at Reading. It also bloomed 

 for three years in succession in a Nursery 

 at Aberdeen, the seedlings having been 

 raised there. 



Ranunculus montanus (Mountain 

 Buttercup). A dwarf compact plant, with 

 tufts of deep green, glossy leaves, covered 

 in spring with many yellow flowers, some- 

 what larger than those of our common 

 Buttercup. Although like the Buttercups 

 in colour, it is unlike in its dwarf, close 

 habit, usually flowering at 3 inches high, 

 and, though growing freely enough, not 

 spreading about with the coarse vigour of 

 many of its fellows. It is a native of 

 alpine pastures on the principal great 

 mountain-chains of Europe, growing 

 freely in moist, sandy soil, and should 

 be planted so as to form spreading tufts, as 

 it represents in a modest way the beauty 

 of yellow kinds too vigorous for the rock- 

 garden. Readily increased by seed or 

 division. 



R. Parnassifolius (Parnassia-Leaved 

 Buttercup). Distinct, with beautiful white 

 flowers, from one to a dozen or more 

 being borne on each stem, which grows 

 from 3 inches to 8 inches high, and is 

 somewhat velvety, and of a purplish hue. 

 The leaves are of a dark brownish-green, 

 sometimes woolly along the margins and 

 nerves. It is rare in gardens, though 

 abundant in many parts of the Alps on 

 calcareous soils. No plant is more worthy 

 of culture in the rock-garden in sandy, 

 well -drained loam. There is a variety 

 with narrow leaves. 



Ranunculus pyrenaeus (Pyrcman 

 Buttercup). A slender - leaved plant, 6 

 inches to 10 inches high, and from the Alps, 

 as well as the Pyrenees, where it abounds. 

 R. plantagineus from the Piedmont, and 

 R. bupleurifolius, usually found in moist 

 valleys in the Pyrenees at a much lower 

 altitude, are varieties of the species. All 

 have white flowers, and are of easy culture. 



R. rutsefolius, syn. callianthemum 

 (Rue Buttercup). This, with deeply 

 divided leaves, reminding one somewhat 

 of those of a very dwarf Columbine, and 

 white flowers with orange centres about 

 an inch across, on stems from 3 inches 

 to 6 inches high, bears from one to three 

 flowers, sometimes rose-tinted on the 

 outside. A native of high and cool parts 

 of the granitic continental ranges ; 

 increased by seed or division. 



R. Seguieri (Seguir's Buttercup). 

 Like the Glacier Buttercup, about 6 inches 

 high, with three-parted leaves, though 

 distinct. Usually the flowers are 

 solitary, and rarely as many as two or 

 three on each stem. The flowers are 

 white, with distinctly rounded petals. 

 Native of the calcareous Alps of Provence, 

 Dauphiny, and Carniola. 



R. Thora (Venom Buttercup). The 

 roots of this, like small Dahlia tubers, 

 and said to be poisonous, were formerly 

 used by the Swiss hunters to poison their 

 darts. It is yellow-flowered, with very 

 smooth leaves. R. Thora, distributed 

 through Switzerland, the Carpathian, 

 and other mountain chains on rocks 

 and in pastures near the snow-line, 

 thrives in gritty loam. 



RAPHIOLEPIS OVATA. (Jap- 

 anese Hawthorn). A Japanese ever- 

 green shrub, hardy in the southern 

 counties at least, with thick dark 

 evergreen leaves and large white and 

 sweet-scented flowers, borne in 

 clusters at the ends of the young 

 branches. It is a low spreading bush, 

 and should not be crowded with other 

 shrubs. Some of the other species, 

 such as R. indica and R. salicifolia, 

 both from China, are not hardy enough , 

 for the open air. 



