110 ALPINES AND BOG-PLANTS 



do well. It is a slow grower, and its synonym is Anihyllis 

 Erinacea, a rare, difficult plant to get hold of, though 

 now I have one very fine specimen firmly established in 

 rich warm loam on a sheltered corner of a sunny bank. 



The Rest-harrows make dwarf shrubs, and are coveted 

 by many, though I myself have little enthusiasm for them. 

 They are a little coarse and undistinguished to my taste, 

 though their golden or rose-red flowers are undeniably 

 effective. Fruticosa, Natrix and rotundifolia seem the 

 best ; and thrive in any good sunny place. To my mind, 

 though, they have a good deal of leaf to not quite 

 enough flower, as a rule. 



Astragalus is a large race, containing many valueless 

 weeds, and a few good things, of which Astragalus mon- 

 spessulanus, with its variety albus, is almost the best. 

 This Vetchling roams about on the ground, with hand- 

 some rose-crimson spikes of blossom. Amtnguus is a 

 seedling of which I have great hopes. His foliage is pure 

 silver, his habit neat and sub-shrubby. And his flower 

 is to be rosy-pink. But he seems very slow to flower. 

 Alpinus is handsome, but I have never possessed him. 

 (With rare exceptions, I must say that the Papilionaceae 

 don't excite in me any very keen interest.) Tragacanthus 

 is a strange, thorny creature from the Mediterranean 

 coasts, rather curious than lovely. Our own native trailer, 

 though, Hypoghttis, is distinctly pretty, and I have just 

 got seed, too, of an undescribed Astragalus mongolicus, 

 on the usual gambler's blind chance of finding a beauty ; 

 but indeed, these Milk Vetches, for the most part, are 

 coarse and dowdy plants. All, without exception, I 

 believe, thrive in open, sandy, sunny places, and their 

 finest species is Astragalus Vandasii, a rarity from Servia, 

 loving a hot dry bank, and making a mass of prostrate 

 branches, richly covered in the summer with spikes of 

 brilliant rose-purple flowers. In his weedy order Astra- 



