304 



ALPINE FLOWERS FOR GARDENS 



[PART II. 



Scotland, the north of England, and some 

 parts of Ireland, in wet places, by the 

 sides of mountain rills, and often descend- 

 ing along their course, into the low 

 country, bearing at the end of summer 

 or autumn bright yellow flowers, half 

 an inch across, and dotted with red 

 towards the base. Although a moisture- 

 loving mountain plant, it is quite easy to 

 grow in lowland gardens, doing best in 

 moist ground. Wherever a small stream- 

 let is introduced to the rock-garden or its 

 neighbourhood, it may be planted so as to 

 form spreading masses, as it does on its 

 native mountains. Division, or by seed. 

 When the leaves are sparsely ciliated, it 

 is, according to Mr Syme, the S. 

 autumnalis of Linnaeus. 



Saxifraga aizoon (Aizoon Rock/oil). 

 Not a showy kind, having a greenish- 

 white bloom, but it spangles over many 

 a low mountain-crest and high alp-flank 

 in Europe and America with its silvery 

 rosettes, and in our gardens these form firm 

 and roundish silvery tufts in any common 

 soil. Plants of it established two or three 

 years form grey-silvery tufts, a foot or 

 iiiore in diameter, and about 6 inches 

 high. As to its culture, nothing can be 

 easier ; it grows as freely as any native 

 plant, and best when exposed to the full 

 sun. Easily increased by division. There 

 are several varieties. 



S. Andre wsii (Andrew's Rock/oil). 

 This British plant is considered by some 

 botanists to be a garden hybrid, and with 

 pretty good reason, judging by the leaves 

 and flowers ; but nothing more has been 

 ascertained about its history. Mr 

 Andrews found it first in Ireland, but 

 it has not since been discovered. Among 

 the green-leaved kinds there is no better. 

 Its flowers are large, but I never could 

 see any good seed 011 it. The leaves are 

 long, firm in texture, and with a 

 membranous margin ; the prettily spotted 

 flowers being larger than those of S. 

 umbrosa, and the petals dotted with red, 

 which, with other slight characters, points 

 to the probability 01 its being a hybrid 

 between a London Pride and one of the 

 Continental group of encrusted Saxifrages. 

 It does quite freely on any soil, merely 

 requiring to be replanted occasionally 



when it spreads into very large 

 tufts. 



Saxifraga aretioides (Aretia Rock/oil). 

 A gem of the encrusted section, forming 

 cushions of little silvery rosettes, almost 

 as small and dense as those of Androsace 

 helvetica, and about half an inch high. It 

 has rich yellow flowers in April, on stems 

 a little more than an inch high. The 

 stems and stem-leaves are densely clothed 

 with short glandular hairs like those of a 

 Drosera. It is not difficult to grow, but 

 requires a moist and well-drained soil, 

 and being so dwarf, must be guarded 

 from overrunning by coarser neighbours. 

 Pyrenees ; increased by seed and careful 

 division. 



S. aspera (Rough Rock/oil). A small 

 grey, tufted, prostrate plant, with ciliated 

 leaves, with few flowers, rather large, of a 

 dull white colour, on stems about 3 

 inches high. S. bryoides is considered a 

 variety of this, and forms a densely tufted 

 diminutive plant, with pale yellow flowers, 

 the rosettes of leaves being almost globular, 

 and the plant not forming stolons or 

 runners like the preceding. Both are 

 natives of the Pyrenees ; S. bryoides in the 

 most elevated regions. Both are easy of 

 cultivation, growing freely in the open 

 air, even in London, but rarely flowering 

 there. 



S. biflora (Two-flowered Rockfoil).A 

 beautiful dwarf kind, allied to the British 

 species, S. oppositifolia, but larger, and 

 distinguished by producing two or three 

 flowers together, and by having its leaves 

 thinly scattered, and not packed on the 

 stems like those of that species. It is also 

 a much larger plant, and has larger flowers, 

 rose-coloured at first, changing to violet. 

 I found it in abundance on fields of grit and 

 shattered rock, in the neighbourhood of 

 glaciers on the high Alps, in company with 

 Campanula cenisia ; and just without the 

 margins of the vast fields of snow, under 

 which, even in June, lay numberless plants 

 waiting for an opportunity to open when 

 the snow had thawed. It grew entirely in 

 loose grit, so that, with a little care, masses 

 of the branched imbedded steins and long 

 fine roots could be taken up, entire. 



It grows freely in gritty or sandy soil, 

 in well-drained positions in rich light 



