2l8 . ALPINE FLOWERS. Part II. 



G. alpina is a marked variety of the preceding plant, with 

 very small broaS leaves, and there are several other varieties. 



GENTIANA ANDREWSII. — Closed Gentian. 



The kinds of Gentian which attract so much attention for their 

 beauty on European mountains open their flowers wide when 

 the sun shines. This does not do so, but forms apparently closed 

 tubes about an inch long, in clusters, and of a deep dark blue. 

 Then, instead of spreading low and mantling the ground with 

 rosettes of leaves like G. verna and G. acaulis, the shoots grow 

 erect and a foot or more high. It is handsome, seems to grow 

 perfectly freely in a sandy loam, but has been hitherto so little 

 grown that experiences of its likes and dislikes are not yet 

 obtainable. It is, so far as I have observed, far more beautiful 

 and worthy of culture than the Soapwort Gentian (C saponarid), 

 a perennial more frequently met with in our gardens. The 

 flowers are closely set in clusters near the tops of the shoots, 

 the leaves ovate, lanceolate, acute, narrowed at the base. A 

 native of moist rich soil in North America, flowering in autumn, 

 and increased by division and by seed. Suited for association 

 with the larger alpine plants in moist deep soil in the rock- 

 garden. 



GENTIANA A.BCIj'EBlK'D'E&..—AscleJ>ias-like Gentian. 



A TRUE herbaceous plant — i. e. dying down every year, and 

 thus keeping out of danger in winter time. This, of course, 

 helps to explain the fact that it is easily cultivated in almost 

 any soil. It grows erect, with shoots almost willow-like in 

 their freedom, and from fifteen inches to two feet high, accord- 

 ing to the nature of the soil ; bearing numerous large purplish- 

 blue flowers, arranged in handsome spikes. Little need be said 

 of its culture, as it is not fastidious, but in a deep sandy loam 

 or peat it will grow twice as large as in a stiff clay, and as in 

 a wild state it likes sheltered valleys, a little shelter in the garden 

 will save its long shoots from being injured by winds, which 

 could not affect the dwarf evergreen Gentians, no matter how 

 much exposed. In consequence of its tall habit, this species is 

 best adapted for the lower parts of rockwork, or in the borders 

 near at hand. A native of European mountains, and readily 

 propagated by division of the root. 



