ig6 ROGK GARDENING FOR AMATEURS 



vernalis, A. pyrenaica and A. amurensis and its double- 

 flowered variety. The latter come from the Amoor River 

 district. 



Aethionema (Lebanon or Persian Candytuft) The 

 numerous Aethionemas are pretty rock-garden plants, 

 near relatives of the common garden Candytuft, and 

 belonging to the Wallflower family (Cruciferae). They 

 are natives chiefly of the Eastern Mediterranean district. 

 They vary in height from a few inches to a foot. Several 

 of them are very attractive, and blossom most freely 

 from April to July ; they are almost shrubby in character, 

 having wiry stems and a loose habit of growth. They 

 are improved by being cut back slightly after flowering ; 

 without this attention the plants are apt to become 

 straggling and untidy. Stony, sandy loam is suitable 

 soil, and a dry sunny spot where the trailing stems 

 may fall over the face of a rock the best place for them. 

 They do well also in a moraine. The usual means of pro- 

 pagation is by cuttings formed from the fresh growths 

 that develop after the flowering season is over. They 

 should be some two inches long, and, if inserted in sandy 

 soil in a closed, shaded frame, soon take root. Seeds 

 may also be sown either in September or early spring. 

 There are some forty species, but the two most attractive 

 are Aethionema pulchellum and A. grandiflorum ; the 

 former has pink, and the latter rose-coloured blossoms. 

 Aethionema coridifolium, pink-flowered, and A. iberidi- 

 folium, white, are two others that should be in every 

 collection, while A. armenum, rose, is also very showy 



