Mountain Avens

Mountain Avens (Dryas) - Mountain plants of the Rose family, containing two or three dwarf alpine plants of spreading growth and neat evergreen foliage. They thrive in borders in light soil, though they are seen to best advantage in the rock garden, where they can spread over the brows and surfaces of limestone rocks, best on an exposed spot, not too dry, though when well established they will flourish under almost any conditions. Division in spring. The kinds are D. Drummondi, a dwarf, hardy, evergreen trailer, with flower-stems 3 to 8 inches high; its yellow flowers, 1 inch across, appear in summer. A native of North America. D. octopetala, a creeping evergreen, forming dense tufts, with pretty white flowers. It is a British plant, and there are two others, D. lanata, a native of Europe, and D. integrifolia, American.