SMALL ROCK-GARDENS 



101 



Another great favourite, equally at home in sun or 

 shade in the rock-walls, is Corydalis capnoides ; masses 

 of feathery daintiness of warm white bloom and fern- 

 like foliage. The flower is of the labiate form, charac- 

 teristic of the Fumitory group. Its upper member 

 rises from the pouch-hke spur in an admirable line of 

 simple strength, and ends above in a narrow turned- 

 back hood, whose outer edge is waved and bluntly- 

 toothed in a way that gives an impression of the most 

 deHcate decorative finish. The leaves are of the ten- 

 derest yellow-green, and the aspect of the whole plant 

 is so refined that it makes all the surrounding growths 

 look coarsely built. 



In one corner of the rock-garden are two kinds of 

 Violet, both good and worthy of their place, though 

 both without scent. One is a white Dog- Violet, the 

 white strikingly pure and bright. The leaves are of a 

 very dark green, sometimes with a tinge of blackish- 

 bronze ; two rather narrow upright petals stand up in 

 a way that always reminds me of a frightened rabbit. 

 The other is the splendid North American Viola 

 cucullata. Its large round flowers, of a strong pure 

 purple colour, nearly an inch and a half across, are on 

 purplish stems from nine inches to a foot long. Where 

 the lower petal leaves the small white eye there is a 

 sharply-distinct veining of still darker purple. The 

 size of the flower is all the more remarkable because 

 it is a true Violet ; there is nothing of the Pansy about 

 it. Pansy and Violet are, of course, closely related, 



