THE ALP[NE FLORA 



A. Kva Ursi (PI. LXVI11). Low shrub, with long, 

 divided branches, trailing as much as 40 in. along the 

 ground ; leaves ovate, thick, leathery, dark shining green ; 

 flowers small, clear pink, in a short raceme; berry round, 

 bright red. Common in the Alps and Jura; rocky, 

 sunny places. It is a fine plant for rockwork and alpine 

 gardening, suitable for dry banks and similar situations. 

 Medicinally it is astringent. 



Jl. alpina* differs in deciduous leaves, which turn to 

 red in autumn and then wither ; they are toothed, with 

 netted nerves, pale beneath, ciliate at the base ; flowers 

 small, white ; the large jet-black berries are quite distinct. 

 Alpine zone from i 5oo-2ooo m. 



Rhododendron 



"Eng. : Rhododendron ; Fr. : Rosage, Laurier des Alpcs ; 

 Ger. : Alpenrose. 



No words of recommendation are needed for these 

 charming shrubs. The dogged perseverance of their 

 slow growth, their utter hardiness, and the vivid 

 splendour of their flowers are all marks of the truest 

 Alpine. Yet by a somewhat paradoxical perversity, 

 while they succeed readily in England, in Swiss gardens 

 they are almost untractable, though once acclimatised in 

 the lowlands all goes well. Both the white and pink 

 varieties of hirsutum and ferrugineum which fill one of the 

 Floraire borders were raised in England. No garden 

 should omit the delightful dwarf from Tyrol, 7^. Chamx- 

 cistus, with exquisite cups of rosy purple and a good doer 

 in limestone fissures, packed with sandy peat. The 

 Asiatic racemosum (light pink) and J^amschatcicum (deep 

 crimson) are also essential. 



