Part II. ANTHYLLIS. 145 



refinement in bedding out. It may be said to carpet the 

 ground with silver ; and, as it is barely an inch high, it requires 

 to be cut off from coarser plants by a line of some subject of 

 moderate size, or by a bare space, and to be planted in a 

 rather wide belt. It is somewhat like our own little mountain 

 Antennarias in size and aspect, but whiter and brighter. I had 

 it from Mr. Niven, of the Botanic Gardens, Hull, about five 

 years ago, and have found it easy of propagation. For the 

 following note with respect to its origin I am indebted to 

 Mr. Niven : — " It is a native of the Rocky Mountains, from 

 which it was sent along with another very pretty silvery-leaved 

 species — even dwarfer, if that be possible — about the year 

 1848. We never had a specific name for either of them, and I 

 find, on referring to my notes, that I could not identify either 

 species with any described in De CandoUe. So I was obliged 

 to christen it myself." The flowers of this plant are not at- 

 tractive, and whether on rockwork or in neat bijou arrangements 

 in the flower-garden, it will be grown for the sake of its sheets 

 of leaves ; it is best to remove the flowers when they appear. 

 It is hardy on soils of ordinary warmth, but on low heavy 

 clay ground I have noticed it perish in winter ; where grown 

 for summer gardening, annual division and replanting will be 

 desirable. On flat parts of rockwork exquisite effects might 

 be produced by using it as a carpet, and then placing singly 

 or in groups upon it plants with some length of stem, say, for 

 example, the dwarf scarlet Lily, some graceful bulb like the 

 autumnal Acis or the Atamasco Lily. Like combinations may 

 be made in the flower-garden. One of the illustrations in 

 Part I. shows how it has been used to give the effect of distant 

 snow on the tops of miniature hills. 



ANTHYLLIS MON'SKHrUQ.— Mountain Kidney Vetch. 



A NEAR ally of our common Kidney Vetch or Lady's Fingers, 

 this is a plant seldom seen in our gardens, but few hardy flowers 

 are more worthy of general cultivation. It is very dwarf, about 

 six inches high, the leaves being pinnate, and nearly white with 

 down. On good light soils it grows larger. The pinkish flowers 

 are produced in dense heads, rising little above the foliage, and 

 forming with the hoary leaves pretty little tufts. There is a 

 white variety, but I have not met with it in cultivation. The 

 species is a most desirable one for every kind of rockwork, bu^ 



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