THE MERTENSIAS. 



purple of the Mertensia. The seeds from 

 which the plant atKewwas grown were 

 collected inHazara,a district in the ex- 

 treme north-west of British India and at 

 a height of 13,000 feet, and were dis- 

 tributed from Saharunpur in the year 

 1900. The plants so obtained flowered 

 in the following spring, proving this to 

 be a choice perennial for the rock gar- 

 den, forming dense tufts of small elliptic 

 leaves on long petioles, and spreading 

 by creeping underground stems. The 

 flowers are borne in dense racemes on 

 leafy stems 4 to 6 inches high, their 

 opening colour being a rich magenta- 

 purple, passing with age through various 

 shades ending in pale lilac-blue. The 

 plant figured was in bloom during April 

 and May, but in its native haunts its 

 blooming season is much later in the 

 year. It needs a well-drained soil, with 

 protection from direct sunlight. Two 

 other species of Mertensia from the 

 Himalayas now grown are M. e/ongata 

 and M. echioides ; the latter plant, from 

 Kashmir and western Thibet, is easily 

 known by its erect corolla lobes and blue 

 flowers. Yet others await introduction, 

 no less than six kinds being described 

 in the flora of British India. 



None of the older kinds of Lung- 

 wort are common in gardens, though 

 they are often refined and beautiful in 

 form of foliage and habit, and grace- 

 ful in the way their flowers are borne. 

 They need a little care, but few plants 

 are more worthy of it for those who 

 have rock or marsh gardens, or even 

 moist peaty or leafy borders. The best of 

 these older kinds are the following: — 

 Alpine Lungwort {Mertensia alpind) . — A 

 beautiful Alpine kind, which should only be 



associated with the choicest rock-plants. The 

 leaves are bluish-green ; the stem is only 6 to 

 1 o inches high, and has in spring or early sum- 

 mer one to three drooping terminal clusters 

 of light, or at times dark, blue flowers. Rocky 

 Mountains. 



Dahurian Lungwort (M. dahuricd) — 

 Although very slender and liable to be broken 

 by high winds, the plant is quite hardy, 6 to 

 12 inches high, with erect branching stems 

 bearing in June panicles of handsome, droop- 

 ing, bright azure-blue flowers. It is very pretty, 

 and suited for the rock-garden or borders, and 

 should be planted in a sheltered nook in a mix- 

 ture of peat and loam. Division or seed. 



Oyster Plant (M. maritimd) . — A beauti- 

 ful native plant usually growing on the sea- 

 shore. Should be given an open sandy soil, of 

 good depth and sunny position. With its long 

 stems of trailing habit, bearing blue flowers 

 during July, it is a pretty plant for the rock 

 garden, but is much loved by slugs. It should 

 be tried on mounds of grit where it fails to do 

 in rich soil. 



Blunt-leaved Lungwort (M. oblongi- 

 folid).- — A dwarf species with stems but 6 to 

 9 inches high, bearing handsome clustered 

 heads of bright blue flowers and deep green 

 fleshy leaves. 



Siberian Lungwort (M. sibiricd). — A tall 

 kind, of delicate colour and grace of habit, 

 flowering for a long period in moist garden 

 soil. The small bell-shaped flowers are borne 

 in drooping clusters upon gracefully arching 

 stems 6 to 18 inches in height. Their colour 

 ranges from a pale purple-blue to a rosy-pink 

 in the young flowers ; there is also a white- 

 flowered form. An excellent plant for the 

 marsh garden. Division. Siberia and North 

 America. 



Virginian Cowslip [M. virginica). — The 

 finest kind, bearing in early spring drooping 

 clusters of lovely purple-blue flowers on stems 

 1 2 to 18 inches high ; the leaves are large and 

 of a bluish-green. In many gardens it never 

 makes way ; the finest specimens are grown in 

 moist sandy peat, or rich leaf soil with shelter 

 near. It is a charming old garden plant. The 

 name was probably given by the early settlers 

 of America, the graceful bearing of the plant 

 no doubt reminding them of a very different 

 British plant. 



