OF ODD TREASURES 139 



A very difficult tiling to establish, as far as my experi- 

 ence goes, is the rare and dainty Chickweed Winter Green, 

 Trientalis europaea, which I collected once, very carefully 

 and perfectly (it is quite easy to collect), from woods in 

 East Yorkshire. And yet, though given every care, 

 those plants never did any good with me, and all subse- 

 quent attempts to grow Trientalis europaea, or its 

 stronger brother americana, resulted in dead failure. 

 And then, two years ago, where no Trientalis was or 

 should have been, up a Trientalis came, full in the middle 

 of my big Pyrola rotundifolia. Now, had it lain dormant 

 in the clump ever since the Pyrola was collected — or was 

 it simply a wandering little white sheep from the black 

 flock of Trientalis that had all died off years before ? 

 And, if so, what had persuaded it to better thoughts, or 

 made it take shelter under the wing of Pyrola, where I 

 had never dreamt of putting it .'' And, now that it has 

 come, it reappears again each season, and always stronger 

 than before. Trientalis is so very pretty that I earnestly 

 hope he will always continue coming — a whorl of small, 

 rounded, glossy leaves on a jBve-inch stem, and then, 

 springing up on even frailer foot-stalks, one or two starry, 

 white flowers, rather like a fairyfied Chickweed, as its 

 common name implies. 



The cousinship of the Primulas closes here (for Anagallis 

 tenella belongs to the bog), and, before I go on to the 

 relations of the Gentians, I must make the ametide 

 honorable to two or three plants that I had forgotten. 

 The first of these is Eriogyna pectinata, a tiny, trailing 

 collateral of the Saxifrages, who, with fine, ferny foliage, 

 throws long rooting runners about in shady corners of the 

 rock-work, with small spikes of blossom like tiny spiraeas. 

 Then comes Convolvulus : be very wary of that loveliest 

 and worst of weeds, C. arvensis, whose rosy, wide trum- 

 pets may plead with you for a welcome. Admit it : in 



