CASSIOPE 305 



than anything their natural winter covering of snow. They are excited 

 into premature growth by our mild winters and early spring, only to suffer 

 by severe weather later in the year. For this reason C. hypnoides and 

 C. fastigiata are frequently grown in cold, damp frames in winter. They 

 should have a peaty soil surfaced with sphagnum moss, and never be 

 allowed to get dry at the root. The Botanic Garden of Edinburgh and 

 the neighbouring nursery of Messrs Cunningham & Fraser have long 

 been famous for their success with these interesting and dainty plants. 

 Propagated by layers and by cuttings. In the open they should have 

 an airy but semi-shaded and damp position. 



Sometimes, but rarely, there is seen in cultivation C. MERTENSIANA, 

 Don (Andromeda cupressina, Hooker], a native of California and the 

 Pacific coast. It has erect branches 6 to 12 ins. high; leaves smooth, 

 J in. long, keeled at the back (not grooved there as in C. tetragona), the 

 points incurved but not appressed. Corolla \ to \ in. wide. 



C. FASTIGIATA, D. Don. HIMALAYAN HEATHER. 



(Bot. Mag., t. 4796 ; Andromeda fastigiata, Wallich.} 



A dwarf evergreen, 6 to 12 ins. high, forming dense tufts in a state of 

 nature ; stems erect, squarish, densely clothed and completely hidden by four 

 rows of closely overlapping leaves. Leaves stalkless, ^ in. long, lance-shaped, 

 deeply furrowed at the back, dark green, but with thin, silvery, membranous 

 margins edged with fine hairs. Flowers produced in April and May singly 

 from the leaf-axils. Corolla widely bell-shaped, f in. across, white ; calyx of 

 five narrow, lance-shaped, pointed divisions ; flower-stalk decurved, \ in. long, 

 downy. 



Native of the Himalaya, common at elevations of 10,000 to 14,000 ft. ; 

 introduced about 1849. I* is similar in general aspect to the commoner 

 C. tetragona, but its leaves are not so closely flattened to the stem, and its 

 flowers are larger, wider, and more open-mouthed. It is the prettiest of the 

 Cassiopes, but rare. 



C. HYPNOIDES, D. Don. 

 (Andromeda hypnoides, Linncew ; Bot. Mag., t. 2936.) 



A tiny evergreen, heather-like shrub, from I to 3 ins. high, with prostrate, 

 slender stems completely covered with closely set leaves. Leaves \ in. long, 

 linear, overlapping, somewhat erect, but not flattened against the stem. 

 Flowers solitary on slender, erect, reddish stalks \ to \ in. long, produced at 

 the end of the shoot ; corolla nodding, white, bell-shaped, \ in. long, with five 

 rather deep, rounded lobes ; calyx red. 



Native of the Arctic and sub-Arctic parts of Europe and N. America, and 

 of the mountain tops of more southern latitudes ; introduced in 1798. It is 

 quite distinct from the other two species here mentioned, being dwarfer in 

 habit and more slender in its stems, and the leaf arrangement is not four-sided. 

 The flower, too, is terminal, and on a proportionately longer stalk. 



C. TETRAGONA, D. Don. 

 (Andromeda tetragona, Linnceus ; Bot. Mag., t. 3181.) 



A dwarf, evergreen shrub growing 4 to 10 ins. high in gardens ; stems 

 erect, much-branched, quite hidden on the younger parts by closely overlapping 



U 



