PART III 



Indispensable Rock-Garden Flowers 



CHAPTER XVIII 

 Androsace (Rock Jasmine) 



THE members of this family have been described 

 as the most alpine of alpine plants, and they may 

 be taken as the most completely characteristic type of 

 the flora of the high mountains. They are all of low 

 stature, very pretty, and as in season they are covered 

 with beautiful flowers they enliven the rocky masses 

 and stony places in the Alps. In the Pyrenees A. Laggeri 

 forms quite a turf, short and spreading, completely taking 

 the place of grass, producing in spring broad stretches 

 of pretty pink flowers. Regarded from the point of 

 view of the gardener, the Androsaces (natural order 

 Primulaceae) consist of two groups. The first group is 

 represented by A. carnea from the European Alps, 

 and A. sarmentosa from the Himalayas, which grow 

 naturally in turf or on steep stony slopes. Those of 

 the other group, represented by A. helvetica, grow in 

 rocky fissures, and form the saxatile (rock-loving) 



section. 



in 



