504 
BRITISH WILD FLOWERS. 
palustris; the racemes are sometimes slightly 
compound at their bases ; at iirst they are 
densely crowded and revolute, afterwards they 
become elongated, the pedicels elongating as 
well as the common stalk, until they at last 
become longer than the calyx. The hairs of 
the common stalk and of the pedicels are short 
and close-pressed. The corolla, which is 
hypocraterilbrm, has a flat limb, which con- 
sists of five rounded lobes, longer than the 
tube. The technical characters which bota- 
nists select, by which to distinguish this from 
other species of Myosotis, are these : — " Calyx 
attenuated below ; limb of the corolla longer 
than the tube; root leaves on long stalks, 
pointed." These points taken in connexion 
with the further character, " calyx deeply 
live-cleft, open, when in fruit shorter than the 
ascending pedicel, with straight and a few 
curved adpressed bristles," — all matters that 
are easily recognised — are sufficient to identify 
this particular species, which is one of the 
prettiest of its family, scarcely yielding in this 
respect to the more universally popular For- 
get-me-not. The flowering season with 31. 
suaveolens is July and August. 
For rock-work, for flower borders, or for 
pot culture, this plant is desirable. It is 
especially suited for the latter mode of culture, 
being small in stature, and flowering freely. 
A very pretty adaptation of it would be to 
grow it in pots as a substitute for its more 
robust neighbour, the Forget-me-not. For 
this purpose it would require no other than 
the ordinary treatment of choice alpines, with 
which in every particular it would well asso- 
ciate. The plants should be repotted imme- 
diately after they have done flowering. If 
increase is wanted, that would be the time to 
divide them ; each portion furnished with roots 
would form a separate plant. But if they 
were to be grown for ornament, it would not 
be desirable to divide the plants too much, or 
too often, as the larger patches would be more 
ornamental. This, however, has its limits as 
to convenience. Alpine plants in pots can 
hardly be grown in pots larger than those 
known as forty-eights, which are five inches 
in diameter. The nearer a tuft of this, or of 
any other dwarf plant so cultivated, filled out 
this space, so that the soil contained pasturage 
for the roots, the more ornamental it might be 
expected to be, from the greater number of 
flower stems that would be produced in the 
mass. The soil should be three parts of peat 
earth, of rather a fat or greasy texture, to one 
part of sandy loam ; and the pots must be 
well drained, so that the soil does not become 
soddened. In winter the pots may be pro- 
tected from frost by plunging them in dry 
sawdust or coal ashes ; and provision should 
be made to throw off heavy rains at that 
season. They need no other protection. In 
spring they may be taken up, and the pots set 
in an open situation, where they may stand 
till they come into bloom. During their season 
of growth, they must not want for water. 
CYI'RIPEDIUM CALCEOLUS. 
Cypripedium Calceolus, Linnaeus (common 
Lady's blipper). — Orchidaceae § Cypripedeae. 
To whatever interest this plant may excite 
in respect of its beauty, — and of this quality 
it has by no means an inconsiderable share, — 
it adds the additional zest of extreme rarity. 
Cultivation or spoliation have so far reduced 
its numbers in natural localities that a wild 
example of the species is but rarely seen ; 
and indeed, even in gardens, though its beauty 
entitles it to rank high among the fair forms 
there associated, it is far from a common 
plant. Ray records it as growing in the 
woods of Lancashire, and in woods near Ingle- 
borough, in Yorkshire ; whilst Hudson, Curtis, 
and Withering record other localities of a 
similar character in the county of York. In 
Withering's time, however, Ray's Yorkshire 
locality was searched in vain for the Lady's- 
slipper, " a gardener of Ingleton," as we are 
told, "having eradicated every plant for sale." 
This practice of entirely eradicating, from the 
few spots where they are found, the rare 
plants of the flora, for any purpose^ and espe- 
