THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



ARAL1A. 



443 



Europe ; Gebleri, Europe ; glandiilosa, Siberia; glauca. 

 Himalayas; grata, Europe; Haynaldi, Europe 

 H uteri, Europe ; Jonesi, N. America ; Kareliniana 

 Hab ? Kitaibeli, Armenia ; lacti flora, Siberia 

 leptoccras, Siberia ; longiscpala, Europe ; longissima 

 N. America; lutea, Hab? lutesccns, Europe ; macro 



Siberian Columbine. 



centra, Europe ; inollis, France ; Moorcroftiana 

 Himalayas ; nemoralis, France ; nevadensis, Spain 

 olympica, E. Europe ; orthantha, Europe ; Ottonis 

 Greece ; oxysepala, E. Asia ; parvijtora, Siberia 

 pubiflora, E. Indies ; pycnotricha, Europe ;pyrenaica 

 S. Europe ; ruscinonensis, France ; Schotti, Europe 

 sibirica, Siberia ; sinensis, China ; Skinneri, Mexico 

 stenopetala, Europe ; sulphured, Europe ; Szaboi 

 Europe ; viridiflora, Siberia ; volubilis, Manchuria 

 vulgaris, Europe. 



ARABIS (Rock Cress). A large family 

 of hill-plants, few of which are grown, 

 though some are worth a place. A. albida 

 (White Rock Cress) is a popular plant 

 in gardens, and on the barrows of every 

 London flower-hawker in spring. It will 

 grow in any soil, where its sheets of 

 snowy bloom may open in early spring. 

 It is easily increased by seed or cut- 

 tings, and is useful for the mixed 

 border, the spring garden, and for 

 naturalising in bare or rocky spots. It is 

 closely allied to the alpine Rock Cress 

 "or Bee Flower (A. alpina] so widely distri- 

 buted on the Alps, but is distinct, and by 

 far the best kind. A variegated form is 

 the dwarfest and whitest of the Rock 

 Cresses. A. blepharophylla (Rosy Rock 

 Cress) is not unlike the white Arabis, 



but the flowers are rosy purple. It 

 varies a good deal, but there is no 

 difficulty in selecting a strain of the deepest 

 rose, its healthy tufts being effective in 

 April. There are variegated forms of the 

 commoner species, the prettiest of them 

 being A. lucida variegata, but none have 

 much value. A. arenosa, from the south of 

 Europe, is a pretty annual in the spring 

 garden or naturalised on old ruins or dry 

 bare banks. A.petrcea is a neat sturdy little 

 plant, with pure white flowers ; it is a native 

 of some of the higher Scottish mountains, 

 rare, but very pretty when well grown on a 

 moist well-exposed spot on the rock-gar- 

 den. A. Stelleri, a Chinese species, is a 

 much freer flowering plant than A. 

 blepharophylla, ripening seed freely, and 

 easily grown in the rock-garden. 

 Crucifercs. 



AEALIA. Shrubs, or stout her- 

 baceous plants of the Ivy order, of diverse 

 aspects, few fitted for open air, except A. 

 canescens and A, spinosa, which thrive in 

 our gardens, and which in size and beauty 

 of leaf are far before many " fine-foliaged 

 plants" carefully grown in hothouses. 

 The Aralias described are now placed 

 under Fatsia, but we retain the older name 

 as better known in gardens. A.papyrifera 

 (Chinese Rice-paper Plant), though a 

 native of the hot island of Formosa, is 

 useful for the greenhouse in winter and 



Aralia chinensis. 



the flower garden in summer. It is hand- 

 some in leaf, but is only suited for 

 southern or very warm gardens. 



