28o ALPINE FLOWERS. Part II. 



vigorous constitution, and sporting into a goodly number of 

 varieties when raised from seed, it attracted early attention 

 from lovers of flowers ; its more striking variations were per- 

 petuated and classified, and thus it became a " florists' flower.'' 

 I do not desire to approach the subject from the florists' point 

 of view, believing that to be a narrow and to some extent a base 

 one ; so much so, indeed, that I cannot regret that their prac- 

 tices and laws about the flower have taken but weakly root. 

 There are many things with which man interests himself that 

 require study and knowledge before they can be thoroughly en- 

 joyed ; but among them flowers should not and cannot be in- 

 cluded. To lay down mechanical rules to guide our appreciation 

 of flowers must for ever be the shallowest of vanities. To the 

 eye direct they appeal with " most persuasive reasons,'" and 

 rarely in vain ; so that the regulations which lay down in what 

 way their innumerable and inimitable dyes should arrange them- 

 selves are as needless as they are absurd. But, without seeking 

 to conform or select them according to mechanical rules, we may 

 preserve and enjoy all their most attractive deviations from the 

 " original," or, more correctly, the best known wild forms of the 

 species. 



The varieties of cultivated Auriculas may be roughly thrown 

 into two classes : ist, self-coloured varieties, with the outer and 

 larger portion of the flower of one colour or shaded, the centre 

 or eye being white or yellow, and the flowers and other parts 

 usually smooth and not powdery ; 2nd, those with flowers and 

 stems thickly covered with a white powdery matter or " paste." 

 The handsomest of the not-powdery kinds, known by the name of 

 " alpines," to distinguish them from the florists' varieties, are the 

 hardiest of all. The florists' favourites are always readily distin- 

 guished by the dense mealy matter with which the parts of the 

 flower are covered. They are divided by florists into four sections : 

 green-edged, grey-edged, white-edged, and selfs. In the green- 

 edged varieties, the gorge or throat of the flower is usually yellow 

 or yellowish ; then comes a ring, varying in width, of white 

 powdery matter, surrounded by another of some dark, colour, 

 and beyond this a green edge, which is sometimes half an inch 

 in width. The outer portion of the flower is really and pal- 

 pably a monstrous development of the petal into a leaf-hke 

 substance, identical in texture with that of the leaves. The 

 "grey-edged" have also the margin of a green leafy texture, 



