Part II. ANDkOSACE. 131 



considerable care in cultivation, perfect exposure to sun, and a 

 thoroughly' well-drained position on a well-constructed rockwork. 

 It should be placed between and tightly pressed by stones about 

 the size of the fist, which will guard it against danger from 

 excessive moisture, and at the same time permit of the roots 

 passing into the good loam and -peat in the crevices of the 

 larger rocks. 



ANDEOSACE IMBRICATA.— A/z'^ry A. 



This interesting species differs from the Pyrenean and Swiss 

 Androsaces in having the rosettes of a beautiful silvery white 

 colour. The pretty white flowers are without stalks, and rest 

 so thickly on the rosettes as often to overlap each other. It 

 wiU grow freely in rich loamy soil in narrow well-drained 

 fissures of rockwork. A native of the Pyrenees, the Alps of 

 Dauphiny, Switzerland, and North Italy. Flowers . in summer, 

 and is propagated by seeds and division. = A. argentea. 



ANDEOSACE LANUGINOSA— /fma/aya« A. 



The European species of this diminutive family usually have 

 their leaves in tufts more compact than the very mosses and 

 lichens, and if they do in several instances throw out short run- 

 ners it is in an underground and very careful sort of way. This 

 kind is distinguished by its spreading and even sometimes, 

 when in vigorous health, long stems, branched, and bearing 

 umbels of flowers of a pleasing and delicate rose, with a small 

 yellow eye ; the leaves nearly an inch long, and covered with 

 silky hairs. When growing freely, it is a lovely plant, but it is 

 very rarely seen in good health. I have never seen it in such a 

 perfect state as with Mr. John Bain, in the College Botanic 

 Garden, at Dublin, where it grew on a narrow border, on the 

 sunny side of a glass-house in very sandy deep soil. There it 

 was perfectly' hardy, and grew into luxuriant silvery tufts 

 covered with flowers. It is very probable that many parts of 

 the country are 'too cold for this plant, and that the southern 

 and western counties, or warm and genial places near the sea, 

 are those in which it may be grown with most success. It is, 

 however, so distinct and pretty that in cold and dry places it 

 will be well to preserve it over the winter in dry pits or frames, 

 and plant it out in summer. The most suitable position for it 



K 7. 



