February 19, 1920] 



NATURE 



665 



half-line sentence on Primula Winteri particularly 

 illuminating : " It is unfair to say that the name of 

 P. Winteri is a base and unpardonable pun, yet 

 true it is that in midwinter always seem to emerge 

 the crowded new rosettes of powdered, rounded, 

 toothed leaves on their firm footstalks, and in 

 their heart an interminable cabbage of these glori- 

 ous, wide, lavender-lilac flowers with their fringed 

 lobes and noble outline, succeeding each other for 

 many months, in a rivalry of beauty, against the 

 grey and mealy beauty of the robust leaves, if 

 only the weather will allow. There is no other 

 fault than this — which perhaps is merely due to 

 the plant's inexperience — to be brought against 

 this unparalleled introduction. ..." A barren 

 superfluity of words indeed ! 



Many extracts from this riot of verbiage might 



real compendium of sound information and learn- 

 ing, though unduly biased in certain respects. On 

 the genus Primula, for instance, which occupies 

 nearly loo pages, and on Saxifrage and many 

 other genera, Mr. Farrer speaks as an authority, 

 and we welcome his useful marshalling of infor- 

 mation. Why he should dismiss Rhododendron in 

 half a page because he says it " asks for a book " 

 we fail to see. He appears to forget both here 

 and elsewhere that only certain species in a genus 

 are rock or Alpine plants. In a few pages ample 

 accounts could have been given of Rhododendron 

 intricatum, R. fasti^iatum, R. hippophaeoides, 

 and the few other Alpine forms, whereas he alludes 

 to R. praecox, R. daiiricum, and R. ciliatum, 

 which are certainly not " rock-garden " plants in 

 the usually accepted sense. 



i 



%4^. 





"Fig. I. — Geniiana Farreri. From "The Euslish Rock-Garden.' 



be made, but only one or two can be given. Of 

 "the moonlight radiance of Roscoea cantlioeides," 

 Mr. Farrer remarks : " Its nearest match is in the 

 lucent citrons of Meconopsis integrifolia, but here 

 the tone is yet blander and more serene, shining 

 with a solemn and unearthlv radiance as the blos- 

 soms, like ghostly butterflies of light, hover pale 

 and vivid upon the background of dark pine- 

 branches. " 



Then, again, when he speaks of Aster lichian- 

 f^ensis as "a bonus of the gods," or of Anemone 

 alpina, almost bla.sphemously, as " the Great King 

 of Glory," or of a double form of this species as 

 "windmill-whirling," one feels tempted to rele- 

 gate the book to " the dust and silence of the 

 upper shelf. " 



Yet despite these adverse criticisms, which per- 

 force bulk largely in a notice of the book, it is a 

 NO. 2625, VOL. IC4] 



The book is admirably illustrated with an 

 excellent series of some 200 photographs. In 

 reproducing the picture of Gentiana Farreri, 

 a plant for the introduction of which gar- 

 deners will always hold Mr. Farrer's name in 

 giateful remembrance, we cannot refrain from 

 quoting his exuberant description : " G. Farreri, 

 which sends out many flopping, slender shoots 

 from the stock, clad in very narrow foliage, and 

 ending each in a single huge, up-turned trumpet 

 wide-mouthed, and of an indescribably fierce, 

 luminous Cambridge blue within (with a clear 

 white throat), while, without, long Vandykes of 

 periwinkle-purple alternate with swelling panels of 

 nankeen, outlined in violet, and with a violet 

 median line." Non equidem invideo : miror 

 niasis ! 



The publishers have also assisted to increase 



