87 -2 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
October i7. 1903. 
executed, there are some in which either the outline 1 of the 
drawing or the colour of the liowers is not so true fo nature 
as on.e 1 could wish. There are, however, many cases in which 
they would be difficult to represent. This booh may be taken 
with the' tourist, but should be left at his hotel if he wishes 
to get over a fair amount of ground in a day while climbing. 
Representative specimens of the plants he might, find could 
be taken to the hotel and studied at leisure. 
Turning to the illustrations themselves, we find that the 
Anemone® and species of Ranunculus or Mountain Buttercup 
are well represented. The beginner will be mystified at. first 
with the fact that the flowers may not. be yellow ; indeed, they 
are often white, sometimes more, or less tinted with pink, as 
in the case of R. glacialis. The' leaves are also in many eases 
very unlike the common, Buttercup 1 or Crowfoot, but, the 
botanist knows that that, variation also takes place amongst 
the species which grow wild in this country. Some of them 
are' named Spearwort, from the fact that the leaves resemble 
a. spear rather than the divided leaves of the Crowfoot,. 
Some of the Buttercups represented here have leaves re'- 
sembling a spear, the Grass of Parnassus, or those of the Rue. 
In some cases the leaves resemble those of a Bog Violet, and 
even those of the Marsh Marigold, to some extent,. In the 
more highly modified section of the family we come to the 
Globe Flower, the Alpine Columbine, and the Aconite in, blue 
and yellow-coloured species. Aconitum Napellus is a very 
common, plant in this country, but A. Anthora seems to have 
been, neglected. The winter Aconite and the Christmas Rose 
a.s well a,si the perennial Larkspur are some of those which 
are described in the book, but not, figured, this being con¬ 
sidered unnecessary, seeing they are so* frequently cultivated 
in gardens in a, highly improved form, as in the case of the 
perennial Larkspur. The Crucifers and Violets are repre¬ 
sented by some of the more interesting forms, which are 
both charming and showy, but seldom seen in gardens, with 
the exception, perhaps, of Viola biflora, with its bright yellow 
flowers. 
The Carnation and Pink family are represented by several 
of the more beautiful mountain forms of Diant,bus, Silene, 
Lychnis, etc. Several of these we recognise as old garden 
friends', as, for instance, Lychnis alpina,, Silene acaulis, S. 
rupestris, and Saponaira, ocymoides, all on one page. A tuft 
of Silene Pumilio is also shown, here, having very large 
purple-red flowers, scarcely rising above the rosettes of leaves, 
but it is a very uncommon plant, in gardens. 
The Pea family is represented by several forms of Trefoil, 
Phaca, Oxytropis, and Alpine forms of Astragalus, the beauty 
of which is, seldom adequately represented in gardens. No 
doubt these mountain flowers require special attention, even 
if that is not particularly difficult. The Rose family has a 
line array of species of Geum, Potentilla, and the real Alpine 
Rose (Rosa, alpina). The Saxifragas are peculiarly mountain 
plants, and a considerable number of those to be found at 
high altitudes are here portrayed. The, plate representing 
the Umbellifers has figures: of Eryngium alpinum, Astrantiai 
major, Hacquetia Epipactisi, and Bupleiurum ranunculoides, 
and in each case they are sufficiently suggestive to be, recog¬ 
nised by the more intelligent tourist. 
The Bellflowers are represented by several very interesting 
species, and some of which are by no means common in 
gardens, particularly Campanula Zoysii. The' Heath family 
has many pretty or interesting forms on the mountains', but 
few of them perhaps are more interesting and even, pretty 
than Loiseleuria, here termed Azalea, procumbens, and popu¬ 
larly known, as the British Azalea, which, although extremely 
rare in cultivation, is, a, very gregarious plant in its mountain 
home,, where' it sometimes forms a, carpet to the ground in, 
•exposed and windy places where scarcely anything else could 
grow. 
The beginner will be interested to find that Gentians may 
be of various colours as well as, blue, and, if successful in 
finding all those figured here, will have quite an interesting 
collection or experience if not, collecting. No less than fifteen 
species are figured, and although the larger proportion of them 
are blue, some are yellow, others decidedly spotted with 
crimson on yellow, some purple, and others nearly white. 
Those who trace out, the structure and habit of all these plants 
will be astonished with the great variation in form of the 
stems, leaves, and flowers, and the different, habits of the 
plants, quite independent of the variations in colour. 
The study of the different forms and the peculiar situations 
in which they thrive in, a, wild state is indeed a, large part of 
the pleasure in the finding of these, various subjects, and the 
determination of their name, family, and so forth. Those 
who follow up the subject in this manner will soon discover 
that there, is much more in botany than a mere dry subject 
made up of Latin and Greek names. 
In this country we have only two species of Pedicularis, but 
several veiy beautiful and strange forms inhabit the Alps. 
The species of Androsaceae, members of the 1 Primula family, 
have smaller flowers than the species of the latter, but are 
scarcely less interesting. Amongst the Monocotyledons the 
Orchids a.nd members' of the Lily family are most abundantly 
illustrated here. A coloured illustration is given of Liliuin 
camiolicum, which ascends the mountain slopes to an altitude 
of 1,500 metres, but, L. bulbiferum ascends: to 1,600 metres, 
and L. Martagon to, 1,800 metres. 
Saxifraga macnabiana. 
(See Supplement .) 
The plant, represented in our Supplement this week is a 
very fine form of Saxifraga,, the origin of which is unknown. 
Some have supposed it to be a, hybrid, and have described it 
as such. The supposition is that the parents were S. Aizoon 
and S. Cotyledon. The reasons deduced for this are the large 
size of the leaves and rosettes, as well as the 1 strength and 
size of the flower-steins. The, leave® are spathulate, and form 
close rosettes, which attain a, much larger size than those 
shown in the illustration, if they were planted out singly or 
potted up, and the offsets 'removed whenever they make their 
appearance. This 1 , of course, is a treatment given to S. 
Cotyledon pyramidalis when grown for market, purposes, or 
even for the adornment of the conservatory in private estab¬ 
lishments. 
Those who wish it, merely to fill a, place in a rock garden 
may plant it, out, on the shelving terrace of the rockery and 
allow it, to grow naturally, when, of course, it would form a 
close carpet, of foliage, characteristic of the crustaceous type. 
The stems under this form of treatment, usually grow to the 
height of 1 ft., and branch more or less, but the bulk of the 
flowers 1 are produced towards, the top of the stem, as in S. 
Aizoon. These flowers are of large size for this class of Saxi¬ 
fraga, and white, conspicuously spotted with dark purple, the 
spots being much larger than is usually the case, even, in 
the supposed parentage. This may be the reason why there 
is some doubt as to its being a hybrid. Even in a, wild state 
Saxifragas of most of the types are, liable to, variation, and in, 
gardens we may take it, for granted that this tendency is more 
or less accentuated. Cultivation itself has the effect, of caus¬ 
ing the plants to grow vigorously and to appear quite different 
from what, they do in, the wild state. This would not be' per¬ 
manent, change, but merely full development as the result of 
cultivation. When seeds are collected from these cultivated 
plants the altered conditions brought about by cultivation 
are; liable, to bring about variation to a, greater extent than 
when the plants are left, in a, half-starved condition. It is 
just possible, then, that this, Saxifraga, is a salient form of 
evolution originated simply as a, seedling from some cultivated 
species. To prove that it is a hybrid would require careful 
examination to see whether any evidence was visible of the 
supposed parents from which it may have sprung. 
We must apologise to readers for promising to issue Cactus 
Dahlia, Florence M. Stredwick, but, we found at the last 
moment, that the plates could not be printed in time for this 
issue, but they will appear next week. 
