IS5 ALPINE FLOWERS. Part II. 



black hairs and points of the calyx. It well deserves a place 

 on rockwork, and it is a good plan to plant it in company with 

 several individuals of the usual purplish colour. It is so distinct 

 from any other cultivated alpine plant in flower about the same 

 period that it would be wise to form a little carpet of five or six 

 plants of it in some level spot on the rockwork. It is not at all 

 difficult to grow, and from its minuteness should always have a 

 place on rockwork on a level part amidst very dwarf vegetation. 



ASTRAGALUS MONSPESSULANUS.— jl/o«//«//zVr ^4. ' 



A FINE vigorous species, with leaves a span long, the leaflets 

 smooth on the upper surface, and with short whitish hairs thinly 

 but almost quite regularly scattered over their under sides. The 

 flowers are borne on stalks from six inches to a foot long, the 

 racemes of bloom being from two to five inches long according to 

 the strength of the plant. The closely set and unopened flowers at 

 the head of the raceme are usually of a deep crimson, but as they 

 open, they become of a pale rosy lilac, with bars of white on the 

 standard or upper petals. The flowers, like those of the alpine 

 Clover, are sometimes dull in colour. It is a valuable plant 

 for the fronts of borders or the rougher portions of rockwork. 

 The shoots, though vigorous,- are prostrate, which causes it to be 

 seen to greater advantage when drooping down the edge of rocks. 

 It seems to grow well in any soil, and though it does not flourish 

 so vigorously when in very gravelly or poor soil, yet in the very 

 poor soil it will appear more floriferous in consequence of the 

 small development of leaves. A native of the South of France, 

 easily raised from seed. There are several varieties. 



ASTRAGALUS ONOBRTCHIS.— ^fl;/«//"(7?«-/2/6« Milk Vetch. 



A VERY handsome species, in some varieties spreading, and in 

 others growing about eighteen inches high, with pinnate leaves 

 about four inches long, the leaflets smooth ; handsome racemes 

 of purplish-crimson flowers, supported on footstalks an inch 

 or more longer than the leaves. As the individual flowers; 

 when fully open, are a shade more than five-eighths of an 

 inch long, and borne in clusters of from six to sixteen on 

 each raceme, it is an attractive plant even among the many 

 fine hardy flowers in this large family. It is a perfectly hardy, 

 herbaceous perennial, will thrive well on any good loam, and is 



