The Garden of British Wild Flowers. 201 



once seen this firmly established in cultivation. 

 Few people who admire what are called American 

 shrubs can have failed to notice from time to time 

 the beautiful St. Daboec's Heath (Menziesia poli- 

 folia), a plant found rather abundantly on the 

 heathy wastes of the Asturias and in south-western 

 France, and also in some abundance in Connemara, 

 in Ireland. It is usually associated with American 

 plants in our nurseries and gardens, preferring peat 

 soil and the treatment given to such subjects. It is 

 an elegant and beautiful plant in every way, and 

 should be in every garden. The flowers are usually 

 of a rich pinkish colour, but there is a pure white 

 variety equally beautiful, while quite distinct from 

 the commoner one. It is grown in every nursery, for 

 its great beauty, and is therefore to be had without 

 trouble. The very rare blue Menziesia of the Sow 

 of Athol, in Perthshire, is also very desirable if you 

 can get it, and I think it is sold in the Edinburgh 

 nurseries. 



The Pyrolas, or Winter-greens, are charming 

 native plants, some of them deliciously fragrant, 

 and all interesting, but they are difficult to culti- 

 vate. P. rotundifolia and P. uniflora are among 

 ,the best, and both are rare. Should any reader 

 attempt their culture, it will be well to bear in mind 



