T54 ALPINE FLOWERS. Part II. 



head of erect stems about fifteen inches high, are among the 

 most conspicuous objects in the garden in autumn ; and just as the 

 fruit is past its best, the new leaves begin to show. Like the com- 

 mon Cuclcoo Pint, the whole plant is intensely acrid. Although 

 perfectly hardy and free on soils of ordinary quahty and warmth, 

 ' it is desirable to place the Italian Cuckoo Pint in sheltered posi- 

 tions along the sunny fronts of shrubberies, amidst low-spread- 

 ing evergreens, and in cosy spots about the flanks of rockworks 

 and ferneries, to prevent its handsome foliage from being dis- 

 figured by cold wintry storms. It is a useful plant wherever 

 winter or autumnal attractions are desired in the garden, and 

 has been found wild in the Isle of Wight, but the form that 

 occurs there is not so handsomely veined as the ItaUan one. 

 It is one of those plants which, though unsuitable for the rock- 

 work proper, or for intimate association with true alpine flowers, 

 may yet be used with good effect in their immediate neigh- 

 bourhood. 



ASPERULA ODORATA.— ^a/«^# Woodruff. 



This little wood plant, abundant in Britain, is worthy of some 

 attention in the garden and shrubbery, especially in localities 

 where it does not occur wild. Many would like to cut and 

 preserve its stems and leaves for the sake of the fragrant 

 hay-like odour they give off when dried; and in May the 

 pure white small flowers, profusely dotted over the tufts of 

 whorled leaves, look very pretty. It may be seen covering the 

 ground with its carpet of green frosted over with white, in 

 some of the college gardens at Oxford, and it is one of the many 

 plants that may be allowed to cover the earth in a shrubbery 

 where the barbarous practice of annually digging and rooting 

 up the borders is not resorted to. I have lately seen it used as 

 edgings to the beds in cottage gardens, the odour filUng the 

 air. It is, however, as a wood or shrubbery plant— as a 

 companion to the Wood Hyacinth, and the Wood Anemone— 

 that it will be found most valuable. Readily increased by seed, 

 or by division. 



ASTER ALPINUS.— /?///«« A. 



This might be called the blue Daisy of the Alps, so diminutive 

 is it when met with high up or even in rich green sub-alpine 



