224 The Wild Garden 



a plant of fine habit, growing 5 or 6 feet high. The 

 best of the Mallows is the Musk Mallow (M. Moschata), 

 which has showy flowers, and is a charming native flower 

 by streams and on banks : it is a very good garden plant, 

 especially the white form. 



The St. John's Worts (Hypericum) have some beauty, 

 and might find a place among low shrubs ; the best 

 perhaps is H. calycinum, or ' St. John's Wort,' a kind 

 which is not perhaps truly British, but which is now 

 naturalized in parts of England and Ireland. The 

 showy flowers of this and its habit fit it for the garden ; 

 and it is particularly adapted for rough banks, or will 

 crawl freely under and near trees, though it will best 

 show its beauty when fully exposed to the sun and air. 

 It should not be used as a 'carpet' under old or 

 favourite trees, as it will sometimes starve and kill trees. 



In the Geraniuni order there are a few pretty plants 

 for the garden — notably, G. pratense, G. sylvaticum, 

 and G. sanguineum, with its fine variety G. lancastriense. 

 This variety was originally found in the Isle of Walney, 

 in Lancashire, and some writers have made it a species 

 under the name of G. lancastriense. Both plants are 

 well worth growing in a garden. G. sanguineum makes 

 a very pretty border plant, or for forming groups 

 between shrubs. The stubwort (OxaUs Acetosella) 

 is the prettiest among its British allies; and a chaste 

 little plant it is, too, when seen in shady, woody places, 

 along hedge-banks, and over mossy stumps ; in gardens 

 where there is a little diversity of surface, or half shady 



