In My Vicarage Garden 



seed-vessel, still unripe, buries itself, and the seed 

 germinates so rapidly that I have often found 

 young bulbils fully formed and fit to handle and 

 remove within six weeks of their flowering, the 

 bulbils being snugly covered with one or two 

 inches of soil. Ants and worms are said to be 

 active agents in carrying the seeds of some 

 cyclamens, but I do not know if they do so with 

 these two species. Another plant which will 

 cover the ground closely, especially in dense 

 shade, is the Asarum Europeuvi, and it will even 

 produce its curious, though inconspicuous, flowers 

 in the depth of winter. There are many other 

 good carpet plants which show their beauty 

 almost more in winter than in summer ; but to 

 speak of all carpet plants would require a separate 

 article, and I want to speak of flowers. 



I suppose, if anyone was asked to name the 

 special flowers of January he would name the 

 Christmas rose, the crocus, the snowdrop, and the 

 winter aconite. They are all undisputed beauties, 

 and much could be said of each ; but I must 

 dismiss the Christmas rose and the aconite with 

 only one remark, that, different as they are, they are 

 very closely allied, and, almost alone among flowers, 

 their many petals are like little twisted spills, 

 and soon fall off; and in both the beauty of the 

 flower is in the sepals, and not in the petals ; and 

 in both the flower is formed beneath the surface 

 of the soil, and the stem forces itself through in 

 the shape of an arch, bringing the full-formed 



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