224 ALPINE FLOWERS AND ROCK GARDENS. 



seed which may be sown under glass in spring. 

 It forms the subject of one of the coloured plates, 

 and appears in another in association with Gentiana 

 acaulis. 



EPIGAEA REPENS (May Flower).— The visitor to 

 summer flower shows where hardy plants are well repre- 

 sented sometimes has his attention attracted by a small 

 trailing plant with racemes of white, pink-tinted flowers 

 which emit a delicious spicy odour. It is Epigaea 

 repens, the North American " May Flower." It is 

 an evergreen plant, pretty as well as fragrant. It is 

 not much grown in Great Britain, probably because 

 flower-lovers find it apt to die away from their 

 rockeries. This is due to sun and drought as a rule. 

 The May Flower likes coolness and shade. Those who 

 wish to grow it should give it shade and peaty soil, 

 well lightened with sand. 



EPILOBIUM (Willow Herb). — Flower-lovers who 

 see the Willow Herbs rising three or four feet high at 

 the waterside have no temptation to think of them as 

 rockery plants, and certainly so far as such popular 

 species as angustifolium and hirsutum are concerned 

 they are quite out of the question. There are, however, 

 two dwarf species which could be pressed into service, 

 namely, Dodonae and ohcordatum. The former grows 

 a foot to eighteen inches high, and the latter about 

 nine inches. The former has purple, the latter rose 

 flowers. Ohcordatum is an excellent rockery plant, 

 and thrives in ordinary soil. It is a true Alpine. 

 Propagation may be effected by division between 

 autumn and spring. 



