3l2 THE ALPINE FLORA 



Spiraea 



Eng. : Goat's-beard or Meadowsweet ; Fr. : Reine des Bois ; 

 Ger.: Geissbart. 



S. Aruncus. A strong, erect plant, often exceeding five 

 feet with large three-foliate leaves. The yellowish-white 

 flowers are individually small but very numerous and 

 united into a huge, pyramidal panicle of great beauty. 

 Though a shallow rooter it is grateful for deeply trenched 

 soil, which should contain peat and such like retentive 

 material, but at the same time the position should be 

 sunny and away from shrubs or trees. It is most effective 

 in bold, isolated clumps. May-June, in moist mountain 

 copses. 



Potcntilla 



Eng. : Cinquefoil ; Fr. : Potentille; Ger. : Fingerkraut. 



A genus containing many species with a persistent calyx 

 of eight to ten lobes in two whorls, five (sometimes four) 

 entire or emarginate petals and many stamens. It has been 

 so much improved under cultivation that, for beauty, the 

 garden hybrids are much to be preferred, but several 

 natural species are useful border plants and a few worthy 

 of a rockery, great care being taken to prevent them run- 

 ning wild. The best are alba, atrosanguinea, aurea, Tenzlii, 

 nepalensis, nitida, reptans* (var. plena), verna*. In many 

 the real charm often lies in the foliage, so that care must 

 be taken, while giving the open and elevated position 

 congenial, not to place them too high to be effective. The 

 soil should be gritty loam, not over-nourishing, and the 

 runners call for regular topdressing. 



The chief European alpines are : 



P. aurea (PJ. XXX IV). Dwarf plant; stems slender, 

 horizontal, leaves with five oval leaflets of shining green, 



