116 ALPINES AND BOG-PLANTS 



real jewels of the race (besides nitida) are two Himalyans, 

 avibigiia, a dwarf runner, with abundance of big golden 

 flowers; and Tongiii, frailer, but no less vigorous and 

 hardy, even in the open ground, with larger flowers of 

 blended salmon and yellow, recalling the pure and subtle 

 tones of the Tramonto Rose as you see it on the Ligurian 

 Riviera. 



Of the closely kindred Geums, I have already told of the 

 dwarf glories, reptans and montanum. Suffice it here to 

 say that our own North countryman, rivale, with pendu- 

 lous rosy purple bells, is very pretty, but soon seeds itself 

 into a perfect pest; iulgaricum is a fraud, with huge 

 flannelly leaves, and dull flower-heads of a ghostly lemon 

 colour. Heldreichi and aurantiacum are taller (and there- 

 fore by me less beloved) orange-red forms of montanum. 

 Remains only rhaeticiim, a gem too long misprized. 

 Rhaeticum, so robust as to be even a border plant, grows 

 tall and slender, with graceful leaves ; and bears wide 

 loose heads of large flowers, so brilliant, so golden, that 

 times without number I have mistaken my plant from 

 afar for fine specimens of Linum Jlavum. Until rhaeticum 

 flowered I looked askance on my seedlings, disliking 

 gawks ; now the plant has come by its own, I make 

 amends ; I know few things more bright and lovely. 



As for Waldsteinia geoeides, this is next door to a 

 Potentilla, and would be a Potentilla in any less sophisti- 

 cated age. It runs about wildly all over the place in any 

 rough ground, no matter how weedy, and bears abundance 

 of pretty yellow flowers in early spring. The Strawberries, 

 too, are Potentillas in nearly everything but name, and 

 the wild Strawberry is always a welcome visitor on my 

 rougher slopes, where its fruits shine temptingly upon 

 the wayfarer as he wends up the steep treacherous steps. 

 Fragarm lucida has lively big white flowers and shiny 

 leaves, while Fragaria indica is a yellow-flowered trailer ; 



