192 ALPINE FLOWERS AND ROCK GARDENS. 



ADONIS VERNALIS.—A useful and showy plant, 

 with finely cut whorled leaves and large yellow flowers. 

 This is in no sense a choice flower, but it is one that 

 the rock gardener is very glad to have, because it is one 

 of those cheerful, breezy, hardy things that will thrive 

 almost anywhere, and when full of bloom it makes a 

 very bright patch, for the flowers are both numerous 

 and large. It is easily propagated by seed, which may 

 be sown late in spring. Pyrenaica is a finer plant than 

 vernaliSy but too large for small rockeries. 



AETHIONEMA PULCHELLUM.—A charming 

 plant, well worth planting on any rockery to bloom in 

 May, when its purplish flowers are very pretty. It is one 

 of the most charming things of its season in the rock 

 garden at Kew. It thrives in sandy loam and may be 

 propagated by division in winter. The Aethionemas 

 are a somewhat numerous genus, widely distributed 

 in nature. A. grandiflorum is a good plant, resembling 

 pulchellum, but with larger flowers, and is worth adding 

 to a collection. It has glaucous leaves and pink flowers. 



AJUGA REPTANS (Creeping Bugle).— A British 

 plant, not of the first rank, but useful owing to its 

 dark foliage. It may be given a place on a large 

 rockery, where it will thrive in ordinary soil, and may 

 be increased by division. There is a variety with 

 variegated foliage which is good for carpeting. 



ALYSSUM SAXATILE COMPACTUM (Com- 

 pact Rock Madwort or Gold Dust). — This is a 

 close-growing variety of one of the most popular of 

 our hardy perennials. It is grown in almost every 

 rock garden, and is often planted in the border, where 



