SARRACEMA. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



SAXIFRAGA. 



839 



good dwarf border plant. Two or three 

 garden varieties are now grown, the best 

 being splendens with much brighter flow- 

 ers, alba with pale flowers, best in partial 

 shade. Seeds and cuttings. Southern 

 and Central Europe. 



S. officinalis (Soapwort). This is a 

 handsome native plant about 2 ft. high, 

 with large fragrant blossoms, usually rose- 

 pink, the double variety being best. It is a 

 rambling plant, and soon spreads rapidly; 

 therefore it should not be planted in 

 select borders, but is pretty for rough 

 places in the pleasure-ground and wild 

 garden, as it grows in any soil. Division. 



Sarana. See FRITILLARIA. 



SARR ACENIA (Huntsmen* s Horn}. 

 This singular plant, S. purpurea, belongs 

 to a family of Pitcher-plants, natives of 

 North America, it being the hardiest, and 

 handsome when well grown. Its curious 

 leaves, hollowed like a horn, are blood- 

 red in colour, and form a compact tuft I 

 ft. or more in height and the same in 

 breadth ; the flowers, singular in shape, 

 are not very showy. It is a good plant 

 for the bog-garden or for damp spots in 

 the rock-garden, in an open and fully-ex- 

 posed position with the choicer bog- 

 plants, in fibrous peat well mixed with 

 Sphagnum Moss, which is common in 

 marshy places. A layer of living Moss 

 should be placed round the plant to keep 

 it moist. The plant is hardy under these 

 conditions, but precautions should be 

 taken to prevent birds from disturbing 

 the soil and exposing the roots. Some of 

 the hybrids between it and others may be 

 hardy. S.flava, the hardiest species next 

 to 6". purpttrea, is rarely satisfactory in 

 the open air, but does well in favoured 

 spots, as at Leonardslee, near Horsham. 

 Other species, including Drummondi, 

 psittacina, rubra, and variolaHs, do well 

 in the open air in parts of Ireland, if 

 covered with a thick layer of moss in 

 hard weather. 



SASSAFRAS (Ague Tree\S. offici- 

 nale is a distinct and remarkable tree, 

 sometimes growing over 100 ft. high, 

 with a trunk 6 ft. or more in diameter, and 

 a rough aromatic bark in sandy soils in 

 New England, Canada, and westwards 

 and southwards. The leaves are three- 

 lobed, and vary much in shape. In our 

 country this plant should have soils similar 

 to those in which it grows in its own, as 

 our cool summers are less likely to ripen 

 the wood. Syn., Laurus sassafras. 



SAXIFRAGA (Rockfotl). This genus 

 includes perhaps more true alpine flowers 

 than any other. In the Arctic circle, in 

 the highest alpine regions, on the arid 



mountains of Southern and Eastern 

 Europe and Northern Africa, and 

 throughout the length and breadth of 

 Europe and of Northern Asia, they are 

 found in many interesting varieties of 

 form and colour. One might expect 

 them to be as difficult of cultivation as 

 most alpine plants, but they are the 

 easiest to grow of all. They were com- 

 mon in collections of alpine flowers 

 where few other families were repre- 

 sented. Of late years many pretty species 

 have been introduced, and the variety 

 in the family is now so great that a very 

 interesting garden might be made of 

 Saxifrages alone. For the purposes of 

 cultivation some rough division is con- 

 venient, as Saxifrages are very different 

 in aspect and uses. The most ordinary 

 form is the Mossy or hypnoides section, 

 of which there are many kinds in cultiva- 

 tion. Their delicate Moss-like spreading 

 tufts of foliage, so freshly green, especi- 

 ally in autumn and winter, when most 

 plants decay, and their countless white 

 flowers in spring, make them very pre- 

 cious. They are especially suited for the 

 tasteful practice of carpeting the bare 

 ground beneath taller plants. They are 

 also admirable for the fresh green hue 

 with which they clothe rocks and banks 

 in winter. Next to these we may place 

 the very extensive silvery group. These 

 have their greyish leathery leaves mar- 

 gined with dots of white, so as to give to 

 the whole a silvery character. This 

 group is represented by such kinds as S. 

 aizoon and the great pyramidal-flowering 

 S. cotyledon of the Alps. Considering 

 the freedom with which they grow in all 

 cool climates, even on level ground, and 

 their beauty of flower and foliage, they 

 are perhaps the most precious group of 

 alpine flowers we possess. Anybody with 

 a cottage garden can grow them. The 

 London Pride section is another of great 

 beauty, the plants thriving under ordinary 

 conditions in lowland gardens, and soon 

 naturalising themselves in lowland woods 

 and copses. But the most brilliant, so 

 far as flower is concerned, are found in 

 the purple Saxifrage (S. oppositifolid) 

 group and its near allies. Here we have 

 tufts of splendid colour in spring with 

 dwarfness and perfect hardiness. The 

 large leathery-leaved group, of which the 

 Siberian .S. crassifolia is best known, is 

 also of much importance, the plants 

 thriving in ordinary soil and on the level 

 ground. There are various minor groups. 

 Such of the smaller and rarer alpine 

 species as require any particular attention 

 should be planted in moist sandy loam 



