OUR SAXIFRAGES 157 



ivy-leaved. The first is distinctly rare and very 



charming in its delicacy of form and colour ; the 



flowers are white, tinged and lined with purple and 



pale yellow, and slightly scented. It seems to prefer 



a chalky soil, and if in the neighbourhood of the 



sea so much the better ; we have had it for awhile, 



but failed to make it feel at home with us. The 



ivy-leaved toadflax was originally an introduction 



from South Europe, but has now thoroughly settled 



down with us. It thrives on old walls, and those, 



preferably, in a rather damp situation, down which 



its long and slender stems trail freely. It may be 



readily identified by its little ivy-like leaves, dark 



green above, often purple beneath, and of a rather 



fleshy texture. The flowers are of a pale lilac 



colour, the palate, the part that closes the tube, 



being yellow. Though small it is one of the most 



attractive of wall-plants. 



A rock-garden without a liberal sprinkling of 

 saxifrages is scarcely thinkable. The British species 

 are some fourteen in number, and almost all of 

 them available, but if we like to stray further afield 

 an enormous number of species is at once at our 

 service. They are, as a rule, plants that form com- 

 pact cushions of finely cut foliage some three or four 

 inches high, sometimes bearing flowers that rise 

 little if at all from the mass of leaves, and at other 

 times borne on footstalks that project distinctly 

 from the tuft or rosette of foliage. They frequently 



