234 



ALPINE FLOWERS FOR GARDENS 



[PART II. 



of a conspicuous, order of beauty. In- 

 creased freely by seed. 



Geranium cinereum (Grey Cranesbill). 

 A beautiful dwarf plant, with five- or 

 seven-parted leaves, clothed with a slightly 

 glaucous pubescence, and bearing very 

 large and handsome pale pinkish flowers, 

 veined with red. A native of the 

 Pyrenees, 2 to 5 or 6 inches high, grow- 

 ing freely, and easily propagated by seeds. 

 On the rock-garden it is at home, and 

 fitted for association with the choicest 

 kinds. It seeds abundantly, and may be 

 easily raised from seed. 



G. sanguineum (Blood Cranesbill). A. 

 native plant, forming spreading close 

 tufts from 1 to 2 feet high ; the flowers 

 are large, nearly or quite 1^ inches across, 

 of a deep crimson purple. Its close habit 

 instantly distinguishes this plant from 

 any other Geranium, and the flowers being 

 more beautiful than those of any other, 

 it deserves to have a place in every rock- 

 garden, among the larger and more easily 

 grown plants. It grows on any soil, is 

 readily propagated by division or seeds, 

 and occurs in a wild state in some parts 

 of Britain, though not a common plant. 



There are two forms or varieties of the 

 Blood Geranium. One, the common or 

 " true " species, with ascending stems 

 matting into vigorous but compact tufts ; 

 the other more hairy, less vigorous in its 

 growth, and usually prostrate in habit. 

 This last form usually occurs on sandy 

 sea-shores. A form of this variety, with 

 pale pink flowers veined with red, was 

 found at Walney Island, in Lancashire, 

 and has been distinguished as a species 

 under the name of G. lancastriense, but it 

 differs only in colour from the sea-shore 

 variety. Both these forms, being smaller 

 and less vigorous than the common one, 

 are worth having for the rock-garden. 

 There is also a white variety, a good 

 plant. 



G. Striatum (Striped Cranesbill). An 

 old and charming plant, still to be seen 

 in many cottage gardens. "This beauti- 

 ful Cranes-bill," says Parkinson, writing 

 nearly three hundred years ago, "hath 

 many broad yellowish green leaves arising 

 from the root, divided into five or six 

 parts, but not unto the middle as the first 



kinds are : each of these leaves hath a 

 blackish spot at the bottom corners of the 

 divisions : from among these leaves spring 

 up sundry stalks a foot high and better, 

 joynted and knobbed here and there, 

 bearing at the tops two or three small 

 white flowers, consisting of five leaves 

 apeece, so thickly and variably striped 

 with fine small red veins that no green 

 leaf e that is of that bigness can show so 

 many veins in it, nor so thick running 

 as every leaf of this flower doth." It is 

 a native of Southern Europe, growing 

 very freely in warm sandy soils, and is 

 easily increased by seed or division. 



GEUM (Avens). Perennial her- 

 baceous plants with red or yellow, 

 rarely whitish, flowers, some of which 

 are too vigorous in growth for the 

 rock-garden. 



Geum montanum (Mountain Avens), 

 which is found on turfy declivities and pas- 

 tures on the Alps, Pyrenees, Apennines, 

 Carpathian Mountains, the Sudetic Kange, 

 and Mount Scardo, in Macedonia. The 

 plant has a thick root-stock and large 

 leaves of a cheerful bright green colour ; 

 the flowers are of large size, on stalks 

 from 4 inches to 10 inches high, and are 

 succeeded by a cluster of feathery awns 

 of a reddish-brown colour. It thrives well 

 on any kind of rock-garden, and also on 

 walls. 



G. reptans. A handsome kind, found 

 in clefts of rocks and in rocky debris on 

 the Upper Alps at an altitude of 2000 

 metres to 2500 metres, also on the 

 Pyrenees, the Carpathian Mountains, and 

 the high mountain ranges of Macedonia. 

 It is the rock form of G. montanum, and 

 requires to be grown in the full sun. 

 The flowers are very large (sometimes 

 nearly 2 inches across), and of a pale 

 yellow colour. The leaves are more 

 deeply incised than those of G. montanum, 

 ana are of a greyish-green colour, velvety 

 and not glistening. Moreover, the plant 

 sends out long thread-like runners, bear- 

 ing at their extremities small buds or 

 shoots, which take root often at a 

 distance of more than 10 inches from the 

 plant. 



