Part II. ANEMONE. 13S 



ANEMONE iJJSTSh-— Alpine Windflower. 



This is almost too stately to be classed with the dwarf 

 plants that we usually term alpines. But high on nearly every 

 great mountain range in northern and temperate climes, it is 

 one of the most frequent and well-marked plants. Cross a 

 snowy range, and you will find it a few inches high and humbly 

 holding up its velvety cups ; in descending through the rich 

 green meadows to reach again the roofs of men, you will brush 

 against many of its stems nearly as tall as the knee, each bear- 

 ing a large, soft, round head of silken-bearded seeds. It may be 

 seen in every stage on the same day, and on the lower terraces 

 of the great mountains and in the green slopes of the valleys 

 it assumes somewhat about the same proportions as in our gar- 

 dens. It is entirely distinct from most of its cultivated brethren 

 in its large and much cut leaves, its size, and the very soft down 

 on the exterior of its flowers. The interior of the flower is white, 

 the outside being frequently tinted with pale purplish blue. . It 

 grows from four to eighteen inches and even two feet high. 

 Being of a strong rooting and vigorous character, it should, if 

 placed on rockwork, have a level spot with abundance of soil to 

 grow in, and being also tall, it would be the better of close asso- 

 ciation with neat shrubs, plants of the stature of the vernal 

 Adonis, Primula cortusoides, and the better kinds of Aquilegia. 

 They would afford each other protection. Where the soil is 

 good, it grows quite freely as a border plant. Flowers in its 

 native couijtry as the snow disappears, and in our gardens in 

 the end of April or beginning of May. When plants are well 

 established in good soil, they may be taken up and readily 

 divided with advantage to themselves ; it may also be raised 

 from seed. Visitors to the Alps might bring home quantities 

 of the seed, which ought to be sown as soon as possible after 

 being gathered. Sometimes the flowers are yellow, in which 

 state the plant is often known as A. sulphur ea. 



ANEMONE ANGXJLOSA.— Cr^a;/ Hepatica. 



Every one who knows the charmingly bright flowers of the 

 variously coloured varieties of the common Hepatica — the very 

 bravest of our early spring flowers — will welcome this species, 

 full twice the size of the common Hepatica in all its parts, with 



