338 ALPINE FLOWERS. Part II. 



species, but hardly so fine as either of the preceding, or so easily 

 grown. 



SILENE XCKa^JL^.— Cushion Pink. 



Tufted into dwarf light-green masses like awide-spreadingmoss, 

 but quite firm, this plant safely defies the fiercest storms, snows, 

 and arctic cold of numerous mountain climes in northern regions 

 of the globe, from the White Mountains of New Hampshire to the 

 Pic du Midi in the Pyrenees, and always excites admiration in 

 the alpine traveller, covering, as it does, the most dreary positions 

 with glistening and refreshing verdure at all times. In summer 

 the Cushion Pink, or alpine Moss Campion, becomes a mass of 

 pink-rose or crimson flowers barely peeping above the leaves and 

 forming beautiful objects where nearly every other living thing 

 fails from the earth, and making lovely carpets where all else 

 is branded with desolation. Many places on the' mountains of 

 Scotland, Northern Ireland, North Wales, and the mountains in 

 the Lake District of England, are quite sheeted over with its firm 

 flat tufts of verdure often several feet in diameter. It is in cultiva- 

 tion as beautiful and distinct as in a wild state, and grows freely 

 in almost any soil on rockwork, or in pots and pans. It may also 

 be grown as a diminutive spreading border-plant, where borders 

 are made with a view of growing such fairy plants. In a small 

 state it would not be so easily seen as many we now grow, 

 though, when spread out into wide tufts, it is visible enough. 

 This plant is indispensable for rockwork, and those who have 

 the opportunity would do well to carefully transfer several old 

 established patches from the mountains to humid but sunny 

 slopes on the rockwork, in peaty or sandy soil. It is, however, 

 not a slow grower, and is easily increased by division. There 

 are several varieties : alba, the white one ; exscapa, with the 

 flower-stems even less developed than in the usual form, and 

 muscoides, dwarfer stiU ; but none of them are far removed from 

 the common plant or of greater importance either from a horti- 

 cultural or botanical point of view. 



SILENE ALPESTEIS.— ^^z«^ Catchfly. 



Possesses every quality that renders an alpine plant worthy 

 of extended garden culture— great beauty of bloom, perfect 

 hardiness, very dwarf and compact habit, growing only from four 

 to six inches high, and a constitution that enables it to flourish 



