62 WOOD AND GARDEN 



ground, while the fern-roots are much deeper, the two 

 occupy their respective strata in perfect good fellow- 

 ship. The neat little Smilacina is a near relation of 

 the Lily of the Valley ; its leaves are of an even more 

 vivid green, and its little modest spikes of white flower 

 are charming. It loves the poor, sandy soil, and in- 

 creases in it fast, but will have nothing to say to clay. 

 A very delicate and beautiful North American fern 

 {Dicksonia punctilobulata) proves a good colonist in the 

 copse. It spreads rapidly by creeping roots, and looks 

 much like our native Thelijpteris, but is of a paler green 

 colour. In the rock-garden the brightest patches of 

 bloom are shown by the tufts of dwarf Wallflowers ; 

 of these, Qheiranthus alpinus has a strong lemon colour 

 that is of great brilliancy in the mass, and C. Marslialli 

 is of a dark orange colour, equally powerful. The 

 curiously-tinted C. mutabilis, as its name implies, 

 changes from a light mahogany colour, when just 

 open, first to crimson and then to purple. In length 

 of life C. alpinus and C. Marshalli are rather more 

 than biennials, and yet too short-lived to be called 

 true perennials ; cuttings of one year flower the next, 

 and are handsome tufts the year after, but are scarcely 

 worth keeping longer. C. mutahilis is longer lived, 

 especially if the older growths are cut right away, 

 when the tuft will generally spring into vigorous new 

 life. 



Orobus aurantiacus is a beautiful plant not enough 

 grown, one of the handsomest of the Pea family. 



