2 THE BOOK OF THE CARNATION 



cultivation. Indigenous to the Austrian Alps, it was first 

 brought to England in 1759, but for a long period was 

 found in botanic gardens only, its lowly, unassuming 

 habit unfitting it for a place in eighteenth-century flower 

 gardens. It is figured in the Botanical Magazine, t. 1205. 

 The plant where it thrives spreads into large masses, the 

 flowers rising just above the foliage, and two to four inches 

 above the soil. The foliage is a shining dark green, which 

 in June and July is completely hidden by the flowers. 

 The flowers are rose-coloured, spotted with crimson, 

 with an inner ring or " eye," the margins of the petals 

 being crenated. A variety of soils suited to the plant, 

 ranging from peat to loam, has been prescribed by culti- 

 vators. It is certain it favours a deep soil always moist, 

 but the plant itself to be so placed as to escape damp or 

 stagnant moisture settling among the minute cushiony 

 foliage. As a pot plant it is easy to manage, and those 

 who experience a difficulty in doing it well on the rockery, 

 should try it, as also neglectus, caesius, and others of the 

 same type, which, cultivated thus, succeed in cold pits 

 or garden frames. The plant fortunately is not shy of 

 increase, cuttings slipped off with a heel and inserted in 

 a sandy compost in properly drained flower-pots emitting 

 roots with fair success. The cuttings must be kept closely 

 shut up in a cold frame till roots have been formed. D. 

 a. ruber is a supposed hybrid between D. neglectus and 

 this species. 



D. arenarius. A dwarf European species of no great 

 beauty. It is figured in the Botanical Magazine, t. 2036. 



D. asper. This is a pale-flowered low-growing species, 

 introduced from Switzerland in 1882. (Syn. D. scaber.) 



D. atro-rubens. A small-flowered species . that grows 

 about a foot high. It carries very dark-red flowers in 

 heads, and was introduced from Italy in 1802. A figure 

 will be found in the Botanical Magazine, t. 1775* 



D. barbatus. The type from which the Sweet William 



