172 



ALPINE FLOWERS FOR GARDENS 



[PART II 



zerlaiid, and should be placed on a rather 

 high ledge. 



Arenaria montana (Mountain Sand- 

 wort). A handsome plant, having the habit 

 of a Cerastium, and large white flowers. 

 It forms spreading tufts, on which the 

 flowers come so thickly in early summer 

 as to obscure the foliage. It is one of 

 the prettiest early summer flowering 

 plants, succeeding the white evergreen 

 Candytufts and like flowers. S. Europe. 



A. grandiflora is a large-flowered form 

 of A. montana. 



A. multicaulis. From the south of 

 Spain, resembles A. balearica, but has 

 more ovate leaves, its flowers higher 

 above the foliage and larger. 



quence of the prostrate habit of both 

 shoots and flowers, the plant is seen to 

 much greater advantage when placed on 

 some little bank above the eye. It is a 

 native of the northern parts of Great 

 Britain, and is readily increased by 

 seed. 



Of other Arenarias in cultivation, the 

 best and most interesting are A. ciliata, 

 a rare British plant ; A. triflora, a neat 

 species in cultivation in some curious 

 collections ; and A. graminifolia. These, 

 however, and many others are scarcely 

 worth growing, except in botanical col- 

 lections. 



Some of the species above-named will 

 be found in some books under Alsine. 



Arenaria laricifolia. 



A. purpurascens (Purplish Sandwort). 

 Distinguished from other kinds by 

 its purplish flowers on a densely-tufted 

 mass of smooth, pointed leaves. It is 

 frequent over the Pyrenean Chain ; and 

 it should be associated on the rock- 

 garden with the smallest Kockfoils and 

 plants which, though dwarf, are not slow 

 growers. 



A. tetraquetra (Square-stemmed A.). 

 This forms compact and singular- 

 looking tufts, in consequence of the 

 leaves, each with a white cartilage along 

 the margin, being in four rows. The 

 sepals are also margined. It is worth a 

 place where the other small Sandworts 

 are grown. 



A. verna (Vernal Sandwort). Grows in 

 prostrate tufts, covered in April and 

 May with multitudes of starry white 

 flowers with green centres. In conse- 



Syn., Alsine laricifolia. 



ARETHUSA BULBOSA A beauti- 

 ful American hardy Orchid, which 

 grows in wet meadows or bog-land, 

 blossoming in May and June. Each 

 plant bears a bright rose-purple flower, 

 showy on its bed of Sphagnum, Cran- 

 berry^ and Sedge. The little bulbs 

 grow in a mossy mat formed by the 

 roots and decaying herbage of plants 

 and moss. In cultivation it requires 

 the same soil in a shady moist spot, 

 with a northern exposure, the soil a 

 mixture of well-rotted manure and 

 Sphagnum. During winter, protect 

 the bed with some cover, for it is not 

 so hardy in gardens as in its marshy 

 home. Newfoundland to Ontario and 

 southward to N. Carolina. 



