PART II.] 



ALPINE FLOWERS FOR GARDENS 



157 



where, from too heavy soil or other 

 reasons, it does not thrive on the level 



Androsace lanuginosa in the Rock-Garden 

 at The Friars, Henley-on-Thames. 



ground, I find it grows between the stones 

 in a " dry " well. 



Androsace obtusifolia (Blunt-leaved A.). 

 This has rather large rosettes of leaves, 

 somewhat spoon-shaped, with stems clothed 

 with short down, from 1 to 4 inches high, 

 bearing sometimes one, but generally from 

 two to five white or rose-coloured flowers, 

 with yellow eyes. It seems to grow taller 

 and more vigorously than A. Chamcejasme, 

 and in a native state is often gathered by 

 handfuls, and placed in vases, with Gen- 

 tians and other alpine flowers. Widely 

 distributed over the European Alps, aiicl 

 usually flowering in midsummer ; but in 

 this country opening in spring. The 

 culture for A. Chamcejasme will suit this 

 plant. 



A. pubescens (Downy A.). Allied to 

 the Swiss and Pyrenean Androsaces in its 

 rather large solitary white flowers, with 

 pale yellow eyes, just rising above the 

 densely packed, slightly hoary leaves, the 

 surface of which is covered with stalked 

 and star-like hairs. The unopened blooms 

 look like small pearls set firmly in a tiny 

 five- cleft cup, and are held on stems barely 



rising above the dwarf cushion formed by 

 the plant. It may be distinguished from 

 its fellows by a small swelling on the 

 flower-stem close to the flower, and is an 

 exquisite little plant, widely distributed 

 over the Pyrenees, Alps, and other Euro- 

 pean ranges, flowering in July and August 

 in its native state, and in our gardens in 

 spring or early summer. It grows without 

 difficulty on sunny fissures in deep sandy 

 and gritty peat. 



Androsace ciliata (Fringed A.}. IB by 

 some considered a variety of the preceding, 

 with the flower-stems twice as long as the 

 leaves, which are glabrous on the surface 

 and ciliated at the margin, the old leaves 

 not forming a column beneath each rosette. 

 It is, however, distinct. A. cylindrica is 

 a variety with the stems rising to half an 

 inch high, with persistent leaves, which 

 form columns on the stems. It is by some 

 considered a species, bears pure white 

 flowers in spring, "and should be treated 

 like A. pubescens. 



A. pyrenaica (Pyrenean A.). This 

 forms a dwarf, compact, and cushioned 

 mass of tiny grey rosettes, something like 

 the Swiss Androsace, but the paper-white 

 flowers with yellowish eyes are not quite 

 so well formed, and the flower, instead of 

 being seated in the rosettes of leaves, rises 

 on a stem from a quarter to half an inch 

 high. The leaves are downy, and have a 

 keel at the back, and, like those of A. hel- 

 vetica, the old leaves are persistent, and 

 remain in little columns below the living 

 rosette. This plant was grown to great per- 

 fection by the late Mr James Backhouse, of 

 York, in fissures between large rocks, with 

 deep rifts of sandy peat and loam in them. 

 It will also grow on a level exposed spot, 

 but in that should be surrounded by half- 

 buried stones. 



A. villosa (Shaggy A.). A very dwarf 

 species, found on many parts of the Alps, 

 with leaves, and thickly covered with soft 

 white hair or down. The leaves are 

 mostly covered with the silky hairs on 

 the under side, united in a sub-globular 

 rosette, and bear in umbels white or pale 

 rosy flowers, with purplish or yellowish 

 eyes, on stems from 2 to 4 inches high. 

 It is more inclined to spread than any of 

 the nearly allied sorts, as it throws out 



