Volume Vi Part 9 (1/2)
Like most alpine plants, it requires a pure air, and succeeds best in a situation moderately moist and shady; is a hardy perennial, and may be increased by parting its roots in autumn.
In all seasons, with us, its foliage, as well as that of most other Crowfoots, is liable to be disfigured, and sometimes nearly destroyed, by a very small maggot which feeds betwixt, the coats of the leaf, and which ultimately produces a small fly, called by us _Musca Ranunculi_.
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ANTIRRHINUM ALPINUM. ALPINE TOAD-FLAX.
_Cla.s.s and Order._
DIDYNAMIA ANGIOSPERMIA.
_Generic Character._
_Cal._ 5-phyllus. _Cor._ basis deorsum prominens, nectarifera.
_Caps._ 2-locularis.
_Specific Character and Synonyms._
ANTIRRHINUM _alpinum_ foliis quaternis lineari-lanceolatis glaucis, caule diffuso, floribus racemosis, calcari recto. _Linn. Syst.
Vegetab. ed. 14. Murr. p. 556._ _Ait. Hort. Kew. v. 2. p 335._ _Jacq. Fl. Austr. v. 1. t. 58._
ANTIRRHINUM caule proc.u.mbente breviter spicato, foliis verticillatis. _Hall. Hist. p. 338._
LINARIA quadrifolia supina. _Bauh. Pin. p. 213._
LINARIA tertia styriaca. _Clus. Hist. 1. p. 322._
Professor JACQUIN, in describing the flowers of this plant, calls them _elegantissimi_; and to one of its varieties HALLER applies the epithet _pulcherrima_: such testimonies in its favour will, we presume, be sufficient to recommend it to our readers.
It is a native of various mountainous parts of Europe, affecting moist, stony situations,[5] and flowers during most of the summer: is a hardy perennial[6], according to the celebrated author of the _Fl. Austriaca_; Mr. AITON, in his _Hort. Kew._ marks it as a biennial. It is nevertheless apt to be lost, like other small alpine plants, for want of proper treatment and care.
Mr. AITON informs us on the authority of LOBEL, that it was cultivated here by Mr. HUGH MORGAN, in 1570.
May be propagated by cuttings, as well as by seeds, which however are not very plentifully produced with us.
Succeeds best when kept in a pot, or on rock-work, which it is well suited to decorate.
[Footnote 5: In saxosis udis alpium. _Jacq._]
[Footnote 6: Radix perennis. _Jacq._]
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