Part II. ERODIUM. 



E. crispum; all are natives of dry rocky places in the Pyrenees 

 and Southern Europe, and are increased by seed or division. 

 The two last-mentioned varieties are probably not in cultivation. 



ERODIUM V:EVSSJi&Tyi..—Reichard's Heronsbill. 



A TUFTED stemless plant, a native of Majorca, and so minute 

 as to seem fitted for nestling under the deep snow with the 

 Androsaces, and with the highest traces of vegetable life on 

 the Alps. The heart-shaped little leaves rest upon the ground, 

 and the flower-stems attain a height of two or three inches, 

 each bearing a soUtary white flower, faintly veined with pink. 

 It flowers pretty freely, and usually from spring or early sum- 

 mer till autumn ; is quite easy of culture in moist sandy peat 

 or loam, and is worthy of a position on every rockwork, either 

 on flat bare exposed spots or in chinks. Where alpine plants 

 are grown in pots or pans, its neatness of habit and dwarf- 

 ness, added to the fact that it is so easily grown, make it worthy 

 of a place. 



ERODIUM ROMANUM.— i?o»2ij:» Heronsbill. 



A PRETTY ■species, with gracefully cut leaves like those of the 

 British Erodium cicutarium, to which it is allied ; but it differs 

 in having larger flowers, with equal-sized petals, in being stem- 

 less and a perennial. The flowers are purplish, and freely pro- 

 duced in the end of March or beginning of April. It is easily 

 grown, and comes up thickly from self-sown seeds, at least in 

 light and chalky soils ; would thrive on old wajls and ruins, and 

 is a suitable ornament for the less important spots on rockwork. 

 It was cultivated in this country as far back as one hundred 

 and fifty years ago, but was probably long lost till reintroduced 

 by the Rev. Harper Crewe, in whose interesting garden at 

 Drayton-Beauchamp I . first saw it. A native of France and 

 Italy. 



It is probable that we are as yet but imperfectly acquainted 

 with the species of Erodium most worthy of culture. Among 

 those I have not as yet observed in cultivation in this country 

 is E. trichomanefolium, the Maidenhair Cranesbill from the 

 East, with leaves so deeply cut as to appear, as the name in- 



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