SOME BOOKS ON ROCK-GARDENING AND ALPINE PLANTS. 40I 



arc very pleasing and give a really good idea of the habits of the 

 plants. 



Another book showing Alpine plants at home is E. Newell Arbcr's 

 " Plant Life in Alpine Switzerland "* (1910, 7s. 6d.). The title-page 

 sets forth that it is " An Account in simple language of the Natural 

 History of Alpine Plants," and the preface tells that the work is not 

 intended to give any aid towards ascertaining the names of Alpines. 

 It is full of interesting facts about plants, very simply and pleasantly 

 related, and is worth reading by everyone who grows, or travels to see, 

 an Alpine plant. 



To quote a passage or two : — " The flowers of Vevatrum are interest- 

 ing from the fact that, while those of the main flowering shoot usually 

 contain both sexes (hermaphrodite), the flowers of the lateral branches 

 are generally male only." "The flowers of the Round-leaved Saxifrage 

 are interesting from the manner in which the stamens shed their 

 pollen one by one, a peculiarity which is, however, shared by many 

 other plants, including the Grass of Parnassus" (p. 80). "The leaves 

 of Loiseleuria procumbens, the Trailing Azalea, are worth examining. 

 It will be found that they are rolled inwards at the edges. The stomata 

 or pores are situated on the lower surface in two grooves near the 

 edges, which are filled with hairs and further protected by the incurving 

 of the leaf at the margins." 



The illustrations, whether outline drawings of the organs of plants 

 or photographs of the whole plant in its natural surroundings, are 

 excellent for showing the points of interest. Plate xii., Soldanella 

 spearing through the melting snow, and pi. xxiii. of Sempervivum 

 montanum spreading from one crevice to another by means of runners, 

 are of special interest. 



Two books by G. Flemwell show us better than any others the 

 effect of the landscape jewelled with Alpine flowers. In "Alpine 

 Flowers and Gardens " * (1910, js. 6d.) we have a pleasant, chatty 

 book, with nothing very new or striking about the plants, but the 

 illustrations are gems. Each is a highly finished picture, with beautiful 

 background of mountain and cloud and a foreground of flowery slopes. 

 In some cases one is rather suspicious of these two having been 

 arranged in juxtaposition in the studio from two separate studies, but 

 even so they are good to look at. The Gardens, by the way, are those 

 Botanic ones lately established in different places in the Alps: the 

 Thomasia near Bex, the Rambertia on the summit of the Rochers de 

 Naye, and the Linnaea, the oldest of them, founded by M. Correvon 

 in 1889. Two chapters are devoted to them, and are very instructive. 



" The Flower-Fields of Alpine Switzerland," his book of 1911, 

 pleases me even more. The landscapes are exquisite, and the masses 

 of colour in the foregrounds so true to Nature as to recall many a 

 living scene. In the latter portion of the book are some especially 

 delightful groups of flowers as they grow in the meadows, showing the 

 blossoms of nearly the natural size. 



In Gowan's Nature Series there are two charming little volumes, 



