ova, rasa Pp pte ae abil tine aed rrkegree bb arts Oe hae 74 ~ “4 ee ae, pl etes pee Like a “poe od eer Db - , Gt Ee ve eh ey mie We wwe RTT ts a Os Pee nd BAprs Ge Sib a bt dey ae ad ee Np Sad «ere gap - r ee, Ree ar to ere toy 8/ = at i aah mai Legh Thiele ae bea ond aging wt + ne te” Phy Sg Pare ang! + + w Sia roe t te her - ne Pie pee os ew We ‘2 + aX sf Shen why ee a et ste ee) f Biber +6 ey A 7 ot iby pb at r y oe entre Pee A el ekene oD er Gay A, &, ot eta ste + at wy = - by ce t 2 - . Me. peek y : : } J Lab : a4 ; ; A if Me, iY } . { /, \ WSO) fr Sa Soph ) ‘ ‘ i qh | Wail Tall | 13h “ eB | OF THE UNIVERSITY 4 eS fad — ae LL a be OF CALIFORNIA Biology Library GIFT OF Estate of Wy / one ALPINE FLORA BY HENRY |\CORREVON AND PHILIPPE ROBERT TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH AND ENLARGED, UNDER THE AUTHOR'S SANCTION, BY E. W. CLAYFORTH WITH 180 REPRODUCTIONS OF STUDIES IN WATER-COLOUR METHUEN & CO. LTD. 36 ESSEX STREET W.C. LONDON Sir FRANK CRISP, | the ereator of Friar-Park, and CRISP, — ‘the author H, CORREVON. 1 ; ae Se _ oa | a : - ee ae : ~ oe a WCZCZXACZELY AUTHOR’S PREFACE TO ENGLISH EDITION SR al M. Clayforth a offert de traduire en anglais ma Flore Alpine, j'ai longtemps hésité 4 donner mon auto- risation, sachant combien i] est difficile de rendre dans une langue étrangere certaines expressions, certaine liberté d’allure qui caractérisent mon style de Suisse romand. D’ailleurs, tous Jes Anglais savent au moins lire Je fran- cais et c'est en Angleterre que j'ai toujours rencontré le plus de Jecteurs pour tous Jes ouvrages que j'ai publiés auparavant. .Depuis que j’ai Ju Ja traduction de M. Clayforth, si heureusement agrémentée de précieux renseignements, je me félicite d’autaut plus d’avoir accepté Ja proposition qui m’était faite. Je tiens 4 constater ici — et jen féli- cite mon traducteur — que le texte francais a été rendu avec Ja plus grande précision possible et que Jes para- graphes qu’i] a ajoutés sur Ja culture en Angleterre de certaines plantes délicates, sur des appréciations esthé- tiques et jardiniéres au sujet de ]’importance de telle ou telle espéce, donnent a J’ensemble du travail] une valeur que Je public anglais saura justement apprécier. Je tiens, en Je félicitant pour son travail], a Je remercier d’avoir bien voulu étre, auprés du public anglais que je tiens en haute estime, car i] sait apprécier des ouvrages tels que celui-ci, mon fidéle et savant interpréte. H. Correvon. VAVNNIT NAGYVYSD AHL NI SSIFMTAGCHA NAAMLAG YOHLNV AHL *. PREFACE TO THE ENGLISH EDITION Dopp AN the present time, when the number of books dealing with alpine gardening is increasing rapidly, some word of explanation may appear necessary, some excuse, as it were, for offering an additional one to the public. The translator himself thinks, it is true, that it is sufficient to mention the name of the author, M. H. Correvon, by universal consent the greatest living authority upon the subject. The original French edition, also, was received with the fullest approval by our Horticultural Press, and a hope expressed that an English translation would not be long delayed. It will be found, too, on examination that the scope of the work differs considerably from that of those hitherto published. The author has addressed himself to a wider range of readers—not merely, that is, to those who cultivate the mountain flora in gardens at home, but also to those who travel in Switzerland with eyes open to one of the greatest of that country’s charms. The two classes are inter-dependent. As the number of alpine gardeners increases, so do more and more tourists find an interest in gathering the blossoms or in collecting the roots of alpine flowers. All] true lovers of their beauty, therefore, will be grateful for the pages, which M. Correvon has given to the acclimatisation of mountain plants; the whole ground is covered, from a s . THE ALPINE FLORA reasoned and thoughtful exposition of the difficulties and dangers, based upon a description of their environment and physiological characteristics, to practical] instruction in the proper and safe method of procedure. The spring and summer visitor wil] find an invaluable companion in the plates, executed after water-colours by M. Ph. Robert. But they are of wider appeal. The appreciative words of M. Eugéne Burnand, which form a preface to the original edition, are worth the quoting in this context. He writes :— “You have honoured me with a request for a few Jines of introduction to la Flore alpine illustrated by M. Philippe Robert. Your proposal is at once an honour andan obligation. ] cannot, in a word, neglect the oppor- tunity given of paying tribute to a work of such remarkable beauty, so thoughtful and tender, to which the young artist has consecrated so much Jove and unstinted Jabour. . “‘As 1 look upon the complete series of M. Ph. Robert’s water-colours scattered upon my table, a name instinctively occurs to mind—the name of Fra Angelico. There is the same feeling of intimacy, the same scrupulous fidelity of rendering, the same absence of strained effect, the same meditative and sympathetic vision in the modest painter of ‘Ried d’en haut’ as that which is revealed in the monkish artist of Fiesole. “This exquisite flora could not bloom but in seclusion. Success could not come but from silent and fervid contemplation, with the ever-present aid of direct communion with reality. All this Ried offers in— abundance, Ried and Valais where Ph. Robert has spent months of concentrated toil. THE ALPINE FLORA 9 “The result is that which always awaits the con- scientious artist, who looks at nature through his own eyes and is content to tel] that only which she has directly revealed. This is the birth of original work; and la Flore alpine of Ph. Robert is original in the absolute sense of the word. ‘Here we do not see conventional flowers, tortured and deformed in the modern fashion, nor the splashy flowers of impressionists. Alas for these splashy flowers washed in with broad sweeps of a brush laden with water and pigment! Alas for the pretentious roses! for the blowsy chysanthemums on dull, half-toned backgrounds ! ‘*We have just the flower, represented beyond question with art, and with art that is sensitive, conscious, reasoned, but natural, scientific in precision, whose standard is essential Truth, and which is unencumbered by any passing illusions, save those that are due to effects of light and shade or to the chance relations of tone-values opposed to real and changing backgrounds. *«In the same proportion is its artistic significance enhanced. This synthesis, which neither deforms nor exaggerates, which ever returns to the immanent and ideal without sacrificing the true appearance of life, clothes an intellectual penetration that is authoritative and, as it were, final. It engraves itself upon the memory a thousand times better than the most faithful of coloured photographs, and thus acquires a genuine mission to instruct. ««But M. Robert aims stil] higher. He is seeking to justify by fact the profoundly pregnant theory which binds scientific truth close to aesthetic beauty — the beauty whose presentation is the goal of artistic effort. 10 THE ALPINE FLORA ‘He himself has written, ‘I felt that it is not by violating the form of a plant that one succeeds in making it reveal al] that it should tel] from a decorative point of view. The further ] advanced in the deep study of alpine flora, the more was I] convinced that it is impossible to produce anything of beauty, to deliver any new message, except by getting as close as may be to Nature, in order to catch the siJhouette of the plant in its most characteristic aspect’; and again later ‘] could wel] wish that this book might be a mine of precious documents for most artists engaged in landscape work, in mural painting, ceramics, embroidery and other industrial arts’. “‘M. Robert has done better than his words: he has given a good example of self-revelation. He proves the immense importance in art of the individual sentiment of the creator.” Of the arrangement of rockwork, that is, of the details of construction as opposed to the general plan, M. Cor- revon has written in another and smaller book, entitled les Plantes alpines et de rocailles; and we English are, perhaps, wearied of such minutiz, when even commercial catalogues presume to teach by a scratchy sketch an art that cost Mr. Robinson pages to explain, and which can only be Jearned in a school of personal, often of bitter experience. Flat pockets for surface-rooters, open ones for those that increase by offsets, Jong, narrow ones for running stolonifers, etc., may be good general principles, but to be applied with intelligence, since many other factors are involved, e. g. the aspect and soi] of the garden, the average rainfa]J] and sunshine of the district. All depends upon a first-hand knowledge of place and plant, which alone can secure a harmony between the THE ALPINE FLORA 1] needs of the one and the capability of the other. But a word may be in season as to the general planning. First, the result should Jook natural. This wil] not be secured by making a servile copy of any scene in nature, if for no other reason because one cannot then plant to a natural scale. The dwarfest Juniper would there out- ape a forest tree of nature, and Thymus serpyllifolium out-rival the mountain Rhododendron. By natural it is meant that the Jaws of geology, which govern stratifica- tion, etc., must be obeyed, nor may granites, schists and limestone be huddled in one chaotic mass. Arts must preside over it; three in chief, the geotechnic above mentioned, the horticultural, which will see that all is adapted for good growth, the aesthetic, which demands beauty. This brings one back again to scale; for, in beauty, proportion and harmony of line, unity of meaning in diversity of structure are greater than al] effects of colour. Some there are even of alpine plants which are too stately or architectural in habit to be wisely admitted upon our mimic alp (for we may copy an upland pasture, though we may not build a tiny Jungfrau), where the little Junipers and Thymes will now be right in place ; for just as the latter may not dwarf a mimic mountain, so may they not be crushed by the neighbourhood of Gentiana lutea. These majestic, herbaceous alpines must, alas, be something of pariahs, confined to the outskirts—Peris excluded from the Paradise. All alpine gardens, whether in a single slope, or two facing slopes, or two ridges, or a hollow, are modifica- tions, either by division or combination, of one or more valley forms. However simple in outline, monotony can be avoided by breaking the surface into tributary valleys | THE ALPINE FLORA or rocky cirques. Shelter from the biting spring winds must at any cost be given; best by the lie of the land; next best, by an old wall, which may be inartistic but is honestly utilitarian, and does not injure the plants ; worst, by heavy shrubs or trees, which are directly injurious. All slopes so protected should be open, airy and gradual, articulated here and there with bold masses of homo- geneous stone; the stratification of each slope must be similar. A simple but almost ideal form would be a pair of ranges, one granite, one of chalk, each diversified with nooks and bays and crannies, the gentler, roomier slope facing the south-east. The upper end should be built up high, to guard off the north-east gales, and to retain the water feeding a stream in the underlying valley. Beneath the pond the valley should boldly fork and in each fork be built a moraine of either rock, with a hidden sluice connected with the reservoir above, to maintain in spring and summer a constant filmy overflow of water warmed by the sun and to deny the same in leaden days of autumn or of winter. Ambition would suggest a secret conduit along and under each watershed, breaking out where fancy moved into other regulative sluices, each controlling the humidity of its peculiar moraine. Does the reader enquire of this ‘ moraine’ ? It is the arcanum of our cult, and Mr. Farrer is the hierophant, in charming volumes are destined to become classics of garden literature. * These ‘moraines’ at once cal] to mind two cardinal points of good cultivation—one stil] only half-understood, 1 On ‘scale’ and ‘planning’ readers will do well to consult an excellent paper in the Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society, Nov. 1910, by A. Clutton Brock. THE ALPINE FLORA 13 - drainage—another almost invariably neglected, top-dress- ing. Many are too apt to fancy that the benefit of good drainage is summed up in the prevention of stagnant water about the roots. But drainage does far more ; in light soil, where it should especially be deep, it guards against drought as much as in retentive soi] against sourness; by giving free passage to the rain it opens aerating channels and carries warmth through the sub- soi] ; it prevents a caking of the surface in fiery sunshine and by checking evaporation prevents an accumulation there of saline constituents and so secures an even distri- bution of inorganic manure throughout the whole feeding ground. And it is upon this slowly dissolving inorganic matter than an alpine chiefly lives. Not but what even in the highest zone there are exstinct Jake beds and such like places where alluvial soil has gathered to great depths; there are half drained bogs, so that among our alpines are found plants happy in loam, or peat, or swamp. But the majority are growing in a shallow layer of soil] hard upon the native rock. Some may be shallow rooters; but even these draw most of their sustenance, not from the scanty organic substance around them or from such little portion of the direct rainfall which that layer can retain, but from the ever trickling film of moisture along the surface of the rock, a moisture that fel] as rain upon the higher slopes and is now descending charged with soluble inorganic salts; others bury their main roots far down in imperceptible, incon- ceivably narrow fissures, into whose depths little organic matter can penetrate. We could not imitate these fissures except by splitting some huge rock by chisel or wedge and fitting the two edges close together and 14 THE ALPINE FLORA spreading a tiny mat of soi] about the upper edge. Our narrowest pockets are by comparison chasms, as it were, choked with mingled grit and humus. Not that one even advocates the attempt to imitate them; to do so would be to forget the enormous waste of vegetable life upon the alps; for one plant that survives and thrives, how many never live or wither before they be well sprung up? But the fact that it is in such circum- stances that alpines do best grow is jeloquent of the need of a constant supply of soluble salts, wel] distributed, and this can be only secured by deep and perfect drain- age. Again an alpine is ever receiving a top-dressing. There the process is natural. In our gardens it is, also, essential—it provides food for superficial roots, promotes the formation of layers, corrects the action of frost in lifting plants at the collar from the ground. For this we use compost ; if of grit, it will keep the soil cool in summer and dry in winter, to save the leaves from damping off ; sandstone wil] absorb the surface moisture—indeed the benefits are well nigh innumerable. In conclusion the translator would emphasize the importance of growing alpine plants from seed ; it is safe, cheap and interesting. If for no other reason M. Cor- revon’s work ought to be welcomed because of those pages in which he lucidly exposes the folly of the amateur collector and teaches to the true lover of alpine flowers a better way. Southampton, 1911. Introduction ... f the different forms of vegetation which cover the earth, none is so popular, so much admired and praised as that of our Swiss mountains. The sky of the blue Mediterranean may have stamped that brilliance of aspect upon the flora of those shores with which we are familiar ; southern Africa may bear her charming heaths, her startling pelargoniums and stately lilies; Australia may offer the wonders of her treasure house, and the ancient, mysterious East boast a wondrous vegetation of unmatched beauty ; the orchids of the tropics may touch the superhuman or divine; yet there is no region in the whole world which can offer, in so confined an area as our little country, a richer or more charming flora, so manifold and pure in colour and in. tone. I have already described for the public this flora in several works, which have been quickly exhausted. Now I venture, in collaboration with a great artist, to display its beauties and its charms. T no longer regard it simply from a descriptive or scientific point, but, assuming the artistic nature of this volume, I am adopting a less severely botanical plan, and choose rather to deal with my subject more prac- tically, as a branch of horticulture, writing of the acclima- 16 THE ALPINE FLORA sation of alpines and their place in gardens, and at the same time to pay due regard to the artistic and poetic side. Therefore, while following in the main the order adopted by scientific authorities, and working on the lines of the Index Generum of Th. Durand, the Index Kewensis and la Flore suisse of Gremli, regard for artistic arrangement has not always permitted me to adhere absolutely thereto. Lastly, the welcome which attended my modest volume of poetry Fleurs et Montagnes has encouraged me to find a place for the Muses in this world of flowers, which seems to be their favourite domain. I have dealt much more fully than in the Atlas de la Flore Alpine or the Flore coloriée de poche with the results of pharmaceutical investigation into ithe remedial properties of mountain vegetables, especially with the appli- cations of them popular among country folk. Here and there a corner is found for legends relating to flowers, or, as it is called in English, Flower Lore. To sum up, this work is not strictly and simply botanical in character, but a collection of things relating to the beauty and the charms of alpine flowers, their claims upon our interest, their poetry, as much as to their adaptation to culture and the ornamentation of gardens. H. CORREVON. COLOURED PLATES AFTER WATER COLOURS OF PH. ROBERT ALPINE FLORA Pi. J Fig. 4 Thalictrum aquilegifolium Page 258 va ai ed ALPINE FLORA Fig. 3 Anemone sulfurea Page 259 A hd shies " Gad:, #e'ef,. cd Fig. 2 Anemone alpina Page 259 ALPINE FLORA Fig. 5 Anemone narcissiflora Page 262 P}. 11] Anemone vernalis Page 261 23 i ALPINE FLORA PI. Fig. 7 Ranunculus pyrenzus Page 264 Fig. 6 Ranunculus alpestris Page 263 25 ALPINE FLORA P]. V PS pena ige Speh Fig. 8 Fig. 9 Ranunculus aconitifolius 1S jal Ranunculus glac Page 264 Page 265 ay — is R o \o Set ae Vv So —+ oa oO pw fo ALPINE FLORA ALPINE FLORA Pl. VI) Fig. 11 Aquilegia alpina Page 268 ees: Car tek yA { i ALPINE FLORA P]. VII) , i Fig. 12 Aconitum Napellus Page 271 33 ok Brn oS ALPINE FLORA Fig. 13 Aconitum Lycoctonum Page 271 35 met pe bette nerd cPy ov at ee Fig. 14 Papaver alpinum Page 273 > ys - it ia ae a it al le iN ace ww Warr P “yoy J ALPINE FLORA Pj. XI Fig. 16 Fig. 17 Draba (Petrocallis) pyrenaica Erysimum ochroleucum Page 276 Page 278 Fig. 15 Draba aizoides Page 276 39 a a ALPINE FLORA Fig. Dentaria Page 18 pinnata 278 Pl. XI] 4) 7 a ae ae 7 Y. _ = a — ALPINE FLORA P]. X11] Fig. 20 Arabis bellidifolia Arabis alpina Page 280 Page 280 43 7 Siape a ae “ALPINE FLORA Fig. 21 Hutchinsia alpina Page 280 Pl. XIV Fig. 22 Thlaspi rotundifolium Page 281 ALPINE FLORA Fig. 23 Helianthemum vulgare Page 282 Pl. XV Fig. 24 Helianthemum alpestre Page 283 47 af Viola calcarata Page 284 49 a ee a i ‘as sre, ALPINE FLORA P]. XVII Fig. 27 Fig. 26 Viola heterophylla Viola cenisia Page 285 _ Page 285 Fig. 28 Viola biflora Page 285 ioe = Se aa » Sa : 1 - a Ot et - =. < erds) 7 os -_ Z- - 4 ALPINE FLORA Pl. XVII] Fig. 29 Fig. 30 Polygala chamebuxus Polygala alpestris Page 287 Page 288 i. = ‘ 7 AM | ages ct ‘ou ane aca. > he itn ALPINE FLORA Pl. XIX WEE Fig. 31 Fig. 32 Dianthus Carthusianorum Page 290 Dianthus superbus Page 291 55 ALPINE FLORA PI. Fig. 34 Saponaria ocymoides Page 293 Fig. 33 Fig. 33 Gypsophila repens Page 292 57 ALPINE FLORA XX] Pj. Fig. 36 Fig. 36 Fig. 35 Silene rupestris Silene acaulis Page 294 Page 294 59 ALPINE FLORA Lychnis sylvestris (Melandrium diurnum) Page 296 et Meena ee: ALPINE FLORA Fis 38 Lychnis viscaria Page 296 Pl. XXII Fig. 39 Lychnis Flos-Jovis Page 296 63 '. ALPINE FLORA ¢. P]. XXIV Fig. 40 Fig. 41 Meehringia muscosa Cerastium arvense Page 296 Page 297 65 ze Vat Ap, oe a 7 Gr fo ALPINE FLORA PJ. XXV 67 Fig. 43 Linum alpinum Page 298 ee ae ee Fig. 42 Cerastium glaciale Page 297 ORT ae re ee St ee yy > at ef 7 c 2) i x7 , ALPINE FLORA Pl]. XXVI1 Geranium rivulare (aconitifolium) Page 299 69 ALPINE FLORA Pl. XXVII Geranium sylvaticum Page 300 7 7 _ arty » ALPINE FLORA P]. XXVIII Fig. 46 Fig. 47 Genista sagittalis Genista tinctoria Page 302 Page 302 73 ALPINE FLORA Pl. XXIX Fig. 48 Anthyllis alpestris Page 303 Fig. 49 Trifolium alpinum Page 303 75 - ALPINE FLORA Fig. So Fig 514 Oxytropis montana Oxytropis campestris Page 304 Page 304 ALPINE FLORA Fig. 53 Hippocrepis comosa Page 306 Fig. S2 Coronilla vaginalis Page 306 79 ALPINE FLORA Pl. XXXI]] Fig. 54 Hedysarum obscurum Page 307 Fig. 35 Orobus Juteus Page 308 ALPINE FLORA Fig. 56 Dryas octopetala Page 310 P]. XXXII] Fig. 57 Geum reptans Page 311 83 ALPINE FLORA Fig. 58 Potentilla aurea Page 312 Pl. XXXIV Fig. 59 Potentilla grandiflora Page 313 85 ALPINE FLORA Pl. XXXV Potentilla rupestris Page 313 87 ae a ie Cae ° 7 7 a aye as 2 el Pe a ALPINE FLORA Fig. 61 Rosa alpina Page 314 P]. XXXVI 89 ALPINE FLORA Pl. XXXVI1 Fig. 62 Alchemilla alpina Page 316 9! ALPINE FLORA P]. XXXVII] Fig. 63 Epilobium Dodonzi Page 318 93 ALPINE FLORA Pl. XXXIX Fig. 64 Fig. 64 Sempervivum montanum Page 322 Fig. 65 Fig. 65 Sempervivum arachnoideum Page 322 95 _ yint 7 cal ALPINE FLORA XL PI. 66 ifraga cotyledon Fig. * 3 WN Page 327 97 wep | he i} re, Ll a ti aay So ison nl) ae ALPINE FLORA Fig. 67 Saxi fraga aizoon Page 327 Fig. 68 Saxifraga cuneifolia Page 328 99 a: oar 7 a - Bie Pare — = — = es ee i 7 a, tan a on ALPINE FLORA Cert FI nF Fig. 72 Saxifraga stellaris , Saxifraga bryoides Page 328 Page 332 Fig. 70 | Fig. 73 Saxifraga czsia Saxifraga Androsacea Page 330 Page 331 10] 7 | oe Nt ALPINE FLORA me SN S “? wh oF OTH And) Fa eS ah SA AE AS Fig: 73 Fig. 74 Saxifraga aspera Saxifraga aizoides Page 332 Page 332 Fig. 75 Saxifraga oppositifolia Page 332 103 a carat ALPINE FLORA Pl]. XLIV PD IES SGPT OOS a SSAC ESF Fig. 76 Saxifraga rotundifolia Page 329 105 ALPINE FLORA Pl. XLV Parnassia palustris Page 334 107 ALPINE FLORA P]. XLVI oa ee ee ee ee pee a 78 Eryngium alpinum Fig Page 336 oO ° One : ae ALPINE FLORA & ATAR.Sc Rae SR Teas RD Fig. 79 Bupleurum stellatum Page 338 Pl. XLVI) Awa Fig 80 Pimpinella magna rosea Page 338 a - car : a = = a a — ALPINE FLORA Pl. XLVII] Fig. 81 Astrantia major Page 338 113 teris ip Page 341 += pes CS en in Bs LY) “S > tana os cnet LENE ah RINE Te i ene oe Valeriana mon ALPINE FLORA ALPINE FLORA Fig. 84 Adenostyles albifrons Page 344 ALPINE FLORA aan Fig. 85 Fig. 86 Homogyne alpina Aster alpinus Page 345 Page 347 119 a = pe 7 _ ALPINE FLORA Sea ————— " eeu” saitaciai Fig. 87 Fig. 88 Bellidiastrum Michelii Erigeron alpinus Page 347 Page 347 121 es = us - iT ae Iinum jum alp Page 349 Leontopod ae . = —_ be NO sor ay gente Sa RY : es ae sagen - on een “2 ie aS 6 hao site ems fares * “ (ar Wf E =| v a Me) 3 z iii Gi ul tetinn arse ne eal sy at soe Gnaphal ALPINE FLORA ALPINE FLORA LIV Pl. Fig. 91 Fig. 92 Artemisia mutellina isia glacialis Artem Page 351 Page 351 125 ALPINE FLORA Fig. 93 Leucanthemum alpinum Page 353 Aronicum scorpioides Page 354 127 ; 7 ee 7 ‘i Ornes i : 7 v : 7 “av Gin.2 ALPINE FLORA Fig. 95 Arnica montana Page 355 129 0 eeeeeeeerereeeeee ALPINE FLORA P]. LVI] Fig. 97 Fig. 96 Senecio incanus Senecio Doronicum Page 356 Page 355 131 Wears aan 4 7 y 1 a i 7 — Dp . a ye ALPINE FLORA Pl. LVI}] Fig. 98 Carlina acaulis Page 357 ALPINE FLORA Fig. 99 Centaurea montana Page 358 135 ALPINE FLORA Fig. 100 Crepis aurea Page 358 Fig. 101 Aposeris foetida Page 359 ALPINE FLORA P]. LX] 102 Fig. Mulgedium alpinum Page 359 ALPINE FLORA Fig. 103 Fig. 104 Hieracium aurantiacum Hieracium villosum Page 361 Page 362 143 ALPINE FLORA Fig. 105 Phyteuma betoniceefolium Page 364 P]. LXI]]] Fig. 106 Phyteuma orbiculare Page 365 - om ee an 7 a ey a ALPINE FLORA iat Fig. 108 Fig. 107 Fig. 109 Phyteuma hemisphzricum Campanula pusilla Page 365 Page 366 Fig. 108 Phyteuma pauciflorum Page 365 ALPINE FLORA Fig. 110 Fig. 111 Campanula rhomboidalis Campanula barbata Page 367 Page 367 147 - ae 7 a 7 ; x) ALPINE FLORA Pl. LXV] Fig. 112 Campanula thyrsoides Page 369 149 ALPINE FLORA P]. LXVI]I Fig. 114 Fig. 113 Vaccinium Myrtillus Page 370 Fig. 114 Vaccinium uliginosum Page 371 aM ne ALPINE FLORA P]. LXVIII Fig. 115 Fig. 116 Fig. 115 Arctostaphylos Uva Ursi Vaccinium Vitis Idea Page 374 Page 371 153 Bs - a pi ALPINE FLORA P]. LXIX , a £ 5 : z% e = é ‘ i? £ : Fig. 117 Rhododendron ferrugineum Page 375 155 ALPINE FLORA LXX PI. 118 LPxer aca Fig. 120 Fig. 119 fa) i “se - 0 9 WN ve mo ” So S a oO A Na a ae io £ SZ w on ty oO» - & ow A O Su > A, Fig. 118 Pyrola uniflora 157 Page 377 (one ae 7 Me a ALPINE FLORA Fig. 121 Primula elatior Primula officinalis Page 380 Page 380 ALPINE FLORA Pl. LXX]] Fig. 123 Fig. 124 Primula Auricula Primula minima Page 381 Page 381 161 ALPINE FLORA P]. LXX]I] Fig. 125 Primula hirsuta Page 382 163 ALPINE FLORA Pl. LXXIV , 127 Fig Cortusa Matth 126 Fig. j iol inosa imula far Pr Page 383 Page 383 165 ALPINE FLORA Fig. 130 Fig. 129 Androsace villosa Androsace carnea Page 386 Page 385 Fig. 128 Androsace Jactea Page 385 ALPINE FLORA ae es a Soldanella alpina Page 389 P]. LXXV] Fig. 132 Soldanella minima Page 389 Lavens * a - ALPINE FLORA P]. LXXVIJ Fig. 133 Cyclamen europzum Page 390 ae rr Ree 7 _ oes ALPINE FLORA P], LXXVIII Fig. 135 Fig. 134 bis Gentiana Kochiana Gentiana Clusii Page 393 Page 393 Fig. 134 Gentiana acaulis Page 392 --. oe ALPINE FLORA Fig. 139 Gentiana bavarica Page 395 Fig. 136 Gentiana verna Page 394 Fig. 138 Gentiana brachyphylla Page 395 Fig. 137 Gentiana verna var. chionodoxa Page 395 ALPINE FLORA Fig. 140 Gentiana asclepiadea Page 396 ar es ALPINE FLORA Fig. 141 Gentiana lutea Page 397 Se Lee muro 7 Beco -. i fer = pai, Se abe vanes phe ALPINE FLORA LXXXI]I]1 P}. | a a ee eee i oe ee | 142 Fig. Gentiana purpurea Page 397 181 e at nae ALPINE FLORA P]. LXXXI]]J] Fig. 143 Fig. 144 Gentiana ciliata Gentiana germanica Page 398 Page 398 183 ALPINE FLORA Pl. LXXXIV Fig. 146 Fig. 147 Eritrichium nanum Linaria alpina Page 401 Page 404 Fig. 145 Myosotis alpestris Page 400 185 ALPINE FLORA Pl. LXXXV > 4 y, >. Fig. 148 POP VF , Fig. 149 Fig. 150 Veronica bellidioides Veronica aphylla Page 406 Page 406 Fig. 148 Veronica saxatilis Page 405 ALPINE FLORA Fig. 151 Digitalis ambigua Page 407 Pl. LXXXV] Fig. 152 Digitalis lutea Page 407 i ash ALPINE FLORA Pl. LXXXVI] Fig. 153 Fig. 154 Erinus alpinus Bartsia alpina Page 407 Page 408 191 ALPINE FLORA Pl. LXXXVIIJ] Fig. 155 Pedicularis tuberosa Page 408 a aad a aa ea ? a " = a < . Fig. 156 Pedicularis verticillata Page 408 roe 6 Vise? fe tae oe rh. ae ae. fa fs 7 7 . + ek oa 4, a = ee) he Sue c, Your’ eid eR OE hy Scns ALPINE FLORA Pl]. LXXXIX ATAR .3* Fig. 158 Fig. 157 Pinguicula alpina Pinguicula vulgaris Page 411 Page 411 es a: a ALPINE FLORA Pl. XC Fig. 159 Fig. 160 Rumex scutatus Polygonum Bistorta Page 413 Page 414 ‘of ALPINE FLORA Fig. 161 Fig. 162 . Daphne cneorum Daphne alpina Page 414 Page 415 199 & + ALPINE FLORA iad % Apt Petes Fig. 163 Nigritella angustifolia Page 417 Fig. 164 Orchis globosa Page 418 Fig. 165 Gymnadenia albida Page 418 201 ne anaes : ; ALPINE FLORA P}. XCIII Fig. 166 Lilium Martagon Page 418 203 ok a rer is nee ae ia = =. a ALPINE FLORA Pl. XCIV EE —————— ee , | | 4 | d 4 3 a Fig. 168 Fig. 167 Anthericum liliago Paradisia Liliastrum Page 419 Page 419 205 v7 Oc je. ALPINE FLORA XCV PI. Fig. 169 Veratrum album Page 420 207 ar 7 ALPINE FLORA NLA Fig. 170 Fig. 1734 Luzula nivea Luzula Jutea Page 421 Page 421 a SL) Aa Ue iti a el kak aati 209 ALPINE FLORA Fig. 172 Eriophorum Scheuchzeri Page 422 P]. XCVII Fig. 173 Eriophorum angustifolium Page 422 211 fe f a an = ALPINE FLORA P}. XCVII1 S Fig. 174 | Fig. 9s Botrychium Junaria Cryptogramma crispa Page 423 Page 424 213 ALPINE FLORA Pl. XCIX Fig. 176 Fig. 177 Cystopteris fragilis Blechnum spicant Page 424 Page 425 215 2 ‘i Nie! pie a z i _ _ a a ALPINE FLORA Fig. 178 Polypodium Robertianum Page 425 217 ore OO on GENERAL INTRODUCTION — THE FLORA OF THE MOUNTAINS Che Wature and Gnvironment of Dountain Flora. Che Acclhimatisation and Culture of Alpines. Alpine Gardens and ‘Rockeries. BELCRRERERB GENERAL INTRODUCTION BOs The Flora of the Mountains cB Che Nature and Gnvironment of Mountain Flora | eee vegetation, whether it clothe the slopes of the Alps, or the Jura, of the Pyrenees, of the Caucasus, or the Himalaya, is stamped witha common and distinctive type. There are certain characteristics peculiar to this flora which must at once strike even the most inobservant traveller —a shortened stem, a dwarf and restrained growth, with flowers, on the other hand, exaggerated in comparison and developed to stronger proportions than elsewhere. The lowlands present large plants, the branches broad and spreading, the foliage fully displayed, the flowers, as a rule, smaller than the leaves. In highlands all is changed; the stem shrinks almost to non-existence, at least is always very small ; the flowers are large and bril- liant ; the foliage is dwarf, inconspicuous and often hairy. At great heights this downy covering becomes peculiarly insistent, as though a woollen coat were needed to wrap the tiny cells against the colds of night. No doubt the leaves are often smooth, but stil] the battle against rime and frost is not forgotten; for their surface takes a 15 222 THE ALPINE FLORA tougher texture, and girds a leathery armour round the tender tissues. In a word, the plants adapt themselves to external conditions ; they furnish themselves with organs which enable them to resist alike cold and wind and excessive sun. In species, however, which thrive in shady or coo] places, the corresponding organs are usually soft and delicate. Many of the downy species may be met on dry slopes exposed to parching wind and powerful sun—Edelweiss, ‘«The Star of the Glaciers”, Senecios, Sempervivums, Artemisias, etc, But one may also find many without hairs—the prostrate Azalea, Rhododendron ferrugineum, Gentians, incrusted Saxifages and others with hard, thick, glistening leaves, whose waxy coating checks any over-rapid evaporation. A search, again, in cool and shady places will disclose ferns, lycopods, mosses, viscous primroses and soft-leaved saxifrage. The flowers, also, of our high alpines present a further contrast, eloquent of the sun’s increasing power. They riot in the open with dazzling pigments and flaunt ample petals against the light; but in the shadows or under a northward-facing rock—this is the rule—dwells an insig- nificant folk, etiolate and Jittle-flowered. The social life, again, of plants is obvious to everyone, the communities, that is, which members of the same species form among themselves. Conifers gather into forests; grasses spread over meadows; sedges people — barren plains ; the early spring Crocus and Narcissus rise together uncounted in dense and serried ranks. And not only so, but there are associations of species with spe- cies—unions to which the term ‘‘ formations” has been given—colonies, that is, of diverse and often heterogen- eous types, whose aggregate forms a harmony absolute in itself and also one in harmony with soi] and climate. Modern botanists, particularly those of Germany, have GENERAL INTRODUCTION 223 written at length on these formations, and despite the extravagancies to which some theorists have pushed the principle, in itself the theory is unquestionably true. For example, the alpine Aster is found allied with Erigerons, Leontopods, Saxifraga aizoon, etc. ; Viola cenisia makes its home among chalky rocks alongside Thlaspi rotundifolia, Ranunculus parnassifolius, Thalictrum saxatile, Kernera saxatilis, Adenostyles leucophylla, etc. But why ? Undoubtedly because these species find in one place the conditions necessary to their existence, not simply from a craving for the association. Some there are, however, which seem to obey a mutual attraction and so seek to unite in excluding from their territory strangers to the colony. For example, mark the Rhododendron ferrugineum, girdling our alps with a broad and solid belt, in arrogant lordship of the ground and soi] where it grows. Yet into fellowship are admitted some few relatives and friends: diverse Vaccinia, Gentiana purpu- rea, Gymnadenia albida come within the circle and shelter in the owner’s shade. So the dwarf juniper welcomes the common Heath (Erica vulgaris), Lycopodium alpinum and clavatum, Campanula barbata and Scheuchzeri, Arnica montana, Hypocheris, Anemone alpina and sulfurea. Azalea procumbens may often in selfish egoism spread acres-wide her broad horizontal sheets; yet modest plants find shelter there, Potentilla aurea, Phyteuma hemisphzricum, Empetrum nigrum, etc. Not less assertive are some of the willows, Salix herbacea, retusa, reticulata, serpyllifolia. \n self-contained colonies of straggling shrubs, whose flatten- ed branches often rise but a few inches from the ground, they clothe wide stretches of high alp. Whole domains, again, are monopolised by swards of grasses or of sedges, associated, however, with plants which can do them useful service in repelling all that is hurtful or unprofit- able. These are true colonies, zealously maintaining tke 224 THE. ALPINE FLORA struggle for existence and toiling for the common good. The higher the flora climbs the mountain, the more we see vegetation shrink, gathering its forces about the root and seeking to nestle against a soi] that is warmer than the air. Gradually the annual species grow rarer, til] at extreme heights they entirely disappear. The brief summer allotted to such plants does not permit them to accom- plish in one season the cycle of existence. Here al] are perennial except a few gentians and eye-brights. Every- where one sees plants with permanent roots, breaking into branches right from the base and spreading their offsets close to the ground. Genera, which in our plains are familiar as shrubs or even as grand majestic trees, are represented now by dwarf and creeping species, which crouch and closely hug the soi]. Between the rocks, in every crack and fissure nestle close-shaven plants, dense pincushions, as it were, or hemispheres compact of an infinity of clustering rosettes, and covered with such a profusion of sessile flowers, sitting as tight as embroidery upon the surface of the plant, that one often hardly notices the foliage through this veil, which is at times one of dazzling brightness. The Jeaves, when found, are smal], very smal], persistent, and imbricated or overlap- ping one another like tiles. These are the jewels of the alpine flora—these tiny, crowded balls—marvels everyone, of which the eye is never wearied. They gleam upon the high passes and rocky ridges like so many pure stars, radiant in glory and in beauty, pictures which no painter, however great an artist, can paint nor any writer tell of in their splendour. The climber’s most laborious efforts to win to their con- templation are wel] repaid by a sight which recalls that ancient Latin phrase ‘‘ terrestria sidera, flores”, or the more profound proverb of the Chinese ‘‘Stars are the flowers of heaven ”’. GENERAL INTRODUCTION 225 In mountain vegetation al] the energy of the plant is concentrated on the flower and, consequently, on the reproductive organs. A rough knowledge of the external conditions under which alpines exist is sufficient to show that these plants must by nature be true perennials, and tenacious of life. There is a wide difference between the climate and the meteorological conditions which obtain in the high alps and those to which we are accustomed in the lowlands. With us a slow and insensible passage from a moist winter, comparatively mild and brief, to a dry and burn- ing summer encourages a slow and gradual development of leaf and stem. Above the snow-line the winter is very long, of nine months or it may be even of years (for there are deep glens which a rainy summer never frees from snow). Suddenly, in a moment, there succeeds a summer brief but most favourable to vegetation. Light, heat and moisture are Javished on the plant; instantaneously, the long sleep shaken off, it enters, without passing through a spring, into the full bounty of the summer days. At the breath of the féhn the snow vanishes ; in a few days, in a few hours the dingy hue of the carpet changes and robes itself in emerald. In the twinkling of an eye, at a magic touch, the world awakes and lives and grows and blooms. On every hand burst brilliant flowers, and busy around them fly insect fertilisers, the powerful allies, without whom many plants were doomed to barrenness. Some ardent spirits, in their impatience to unfold, cannot await the final melting; the stems, thanks to a dark colour, push through the covering, and at times the flowers bloom upon a bed of white. Most frequently may this be noticed in Soldanellas, Crocuses and Petasites albus. This impatient desire to live is explained by the long, slow preparation to which the plant submits during her period of rest—of relative rest—under the covering of 226 THE ALPINE FLORA snow. For in winter the plant is living and making ready for the rapid normal development. It is feeding roots, swel- ling buds, and setting al] in order for the great evolu- tion. The sun appears; every root—and an alpine’s roots are countless—is quickened to activity, to toi] in the first instance for bud and flower alone, then for the leaves. With the earliest species the flowers outrun the foliage or respiratory organs, whose growth is postponed as last year’s leaves are sufficient for immediate needs. The long winter torpor over, a time we have seen of but comparative rest, al] this concentrated energy is prodigally outpoured. With days of continual light, clear and intense, fourteen or even sixteen hours Jong—with a sun of power unknown below—with abundant water of stream or vapour—light, heat and moisture, al] in amplest measure—with myriads of unwearied roots and radicels—there is no lack of activ- ity here. Now let us look at the fetter, that is to say the causes that dwarf the plant and tie it flat and close to the ground. First there is the familiar fact that night is the time for growth and expansion of tissue. By day growth is inversely proportionate to exposure to the sun. It clearly follows, therefore, that, the alpine nights being frost- bound, nocturnal growth is impossible and that only in the brief summer twilight, when the sun-rays have lost their power, can any development be made. Hence the internodes are extremely short and the general character of the stems and branches is much stunted. Just as by day the excessive heat and strength of the sun stimulates the enlargement and vivid coloration of the petals, so it forbids a rapid extension of stalk and leaf. No time of growth is granted to these organs except the space between twilight and the chilling of the air. It is true that the Joss is made up during the latter part of autumn, when the plant takes advantage of a moment of grace to repair her respiratory GENERAL INTRODUCTION 227 organs and put out her new shoots during the cloudy and genial days which usher in the winter. A second cause are the violent winds that shatter any stalk which ventures to lift itself even a little above the ground. Lastly, radiation during the icy nights compels the plants to seek shelter near the soil; for the ground preserves more warmth than the air, and also stores the moisture which is needed against a time of drought. The mother earth is her child’s natural protector. The composition of mountain soi] differs greatly from that of the lowlands. In chinks of rocks, at the foot of broken cliffs, on weatherbeaten ridges is found a black, porous humus as rich in nutritive matter as it is poor in organic constituents. Centuries may pass before the minute accretions form a kindly bed where plants can thrive. First come the Lichen-folk, those earliest colo- nisers of the rocks, establishing themselves here and there in barren places where permanent moisture is secured. The Mosses follow, richer in tissue and more exacting than the frugal Lichen. The Mosses decompose, and on their ruins more developed types are sown, only to pass away in their turn and to furnish soi] for the higher types of vegetable life. Thus vegetation advances and is installed over al] the hills, thanks to the Lichens, which, as the precursors and promotors of vegetable life, play an important part in the economy of nature. ] have mentioned that this rock-soi] is dark, spongy, always coo] and humid. Mixed with it in varying quantity are pebbles and sand. The physical composition, then, is such as to promote growth. Considered chemi- cally, soil is of different kinds; it contains the detritus either of calcareous or of granitic rocks, and in composi- tion generally corresponds to the nature of the rock that is dominant in the neighbourhood. In calcareous districts 228 THE ALPINE FLORA it is rich in lime, and the plants upon it are lovers of chalk. Among granitic mountains silica predominates, and the flora consists, in degrees more or less marked, of the species which reject the chalk and choose the silica. In dolomitic countries, where the chalk is impreg- nated with magnesia, a corresponding vegetation is found, and the parallel may be extended indefinitely. Alpine flora, then, is divided, according to its chemical affinities, into two great groups, the chalk-lovers and the silica-lovers; other types fal] under one or other of these categories. Chalk appears to have so far the greatest influence on the distribution of plant-life, that its pres- ence or absence seems to be the determining cause of the presence or absence of any particular species. Not that the influence of silica is not almost as important'. Later we shal] see how Gentiana acaulis has taken on modifications of the typical form, in adapting itself to the chemical composition of the soil where it is growing. And the same holds good of a fairly large number of species, especially in our alpine flora. For this reason, in order to make a comprehensive observation and study of the whole range of alpine vegetation, two alpine gardens have been established in Switzerland, one, la Linnea, on siliceous soi], the other, la Rambertia, on chalk. Growth in the two gardens is very different; indeed it cannot but differ; and it is most interesting to watch the behaviour under cultivation of chalk-loving species at Linnea and of chalk-rejecting ones on the Rochers de Naye. 4 Consult Dr. Magnin’s great work, La Végétation de la région lyonnaise. GENERAL INTRODUCTION 229 ‘Ohe Acclimatisation and Culture of Alpines Such are the conditions necessary to the life and growth of our mountain flora—intense and unbroken sunshine, complete exposure, burning heat, the effects of which are lessened by cold nights and unfailing moisture per- meating earth and air alike—al] lavished with instanta- neous generosity after the long winter rest described is over. One can understand, therefore, that plants accus- tomed to such a climate find it hard to endure the far different conditions which our Jowland gardens at the best can offer. A drier air, winters that are no winters for them, a feebler light with which we are content, our deadly summer, and a long spring of transition to and preparation for the sunlit days are al] causes which mod- ify, in this new environment, nature and organs alike. So true is this, that for many years mountain vegeta- tion was reputed to be impossible of acclimatisation. Of course the idea was wrong; to-day almost every alpine species has been brought into cultivation, both in Swit- zerland and in England, where horticulture has reached an excellence unimagined elsewhere. In France, Austria, Germany—over the whole temperate zone, the culture of alpines has won a popularity that grows from day to day, and there is scarcely a country outside the tropics into which the flora of the snow-line has not been intro- duced. The alpine garden of acclimatisation, founded in 1884 at Geneva, has spread the fashion through the five continents and the horticultural house of Floraire is now sending established plants and seeds over al] the world. From the sixteenth century onwards English botanists and gardeners introduced across the Channel Gentiana 230 THE ALPINE FLORA lutea and acaulis, varieties of Primula auricula', together with several other alpine species. But it was not until] the second half of the Jast century that these cultures won their proper place as enfranchised members of the horti- cultural world, and that business houses were opened which specialised in the acclimatisation and sale of alpine plants. In England such firms are numerous and successful. Holland and Germany can show two or three ; in Switzer- Jand the house of Froebel at Zurich and the Floraire gar- den of acclimatisation at Chéne-Bourg near Geneva have now for many years had a world-wide clientele2. More and more, in proportion to the growing passion for mountaineering, the number increases of those who culti- vate the children of the mountains in the rockeries or borders of their gardens, and a literature, which has arisen on these plants and their culture, forms no inconsiderable part of our horticultural] and botanical bibliography. The gardens in which none of these mountain people find a home are the exception. Artificial] rockeries have been built since the eighteenth century in England for their reception; on the continent the honour of being the first to introduce them into cultivation is due beyond all doubt to an illustrious native of Geneva, a fellow- townsman of mine, our famous botanist Edmond Bois- sier. | do not deny that before his time Necker de Saus- sure tried towards the close of the eighteenth century to establish alpines in the botanical garden then situated at Calabri*; but he met with only indifferent success. De Candolle, when founding the botanic garden of the Bas- tions, reserved a shady border for the alpine specimens 1 Paxton’s Botanical Dictionary. 2 The catalogues of plants and seeds offered by our garden at Floraire will be forwarded free of cost on application. 3 Bulletin no. 2 of the Association for the protection of plants. (Geneva, 1884.) GENERAL INTRODUCTION 231 sent to him by Thomas of Bex. But his attempt was equally unfortunate. It remained for the immortal author of the Flora Orientalis to inaugurate in Switzerland the artificial rockery and a rational system of cultivation. The writer of these lines will never forget the impression made upon his childish brain by the sight in about 1869- 70 of the famous gardens of Valleyres, though he was not able to examine them in detail] till Jong after. They were a revelation to him. Some years before he had col- lected in the Jura Saxifraga aizoon, Draba aizoides, etc., and planted them in the wall of his father’s garden; at Valleyres he saw the realisation of his own passionate desires. Between 1865 and 1870, Reuter, the Director of the Botanical Garden at Geneva and fellow-worker with Boissier, had rockeries constructed at the Bastions. The battle was won; and to-day any one who wishes may have some bit of rock-work peopled with denizens of cliff or mountain. But soon lovers of nature were alarmed to mark the ravages committed by collectors in the neighbouring hills; peasants of Savoy or Valais might be seen bringing baskets full of uncommon species for sale in the Geneva market, and it was only too certain that several classical habitats of rarities were becoming exhausted. In 1883 a society for the preservation of alpines was formed among members of the Genevese Section of the S. A. C., the Jast ot whose annual reports has just appeared, the so- ciety having amalgamated with the Ligue Suisse du Natur- schiitz. From the first this association of patriotic enthusiasts set about the work of encouraging the cultivation of alpines among professional gardeners, urging them to raise these species from seed and to sel] them at low prices to amateurs. MM. Edmond Boissier, Alphonse de Candolle, Eugéne Rambert and Dr. Christ vigorously 232 THE ALPINE FLORA advocated this policy in committee’, with the result that a long period of fumbling ended and the garden of accli- matisation? was founded at Plainpalais. For eighteen years this garden distributed plants and seeds throughout the world; in 1902 it was removed to Chéne, where un- der the name Floraire, taken from the Latin Florarium, it has been reorganised on a commercial basis. The Geneva association has done a great work in preaching the protection of rare plants. It was the first to lift a warning voice on behalf of species whose exis- tence was threatened and to give a practical turn to the talk about acclimatisation by promoting the founda- tion of the gardens mentioned. A tide of popularity set in, which is spreading the artificial) rock-garden and alpinum over the civilised world. How rapidly this fash- ion, which has an artistic no Jess than a scientific and horticultural side, has extended, may be measured by the following fact. In May 1887 the writer, who was culti- vating alpines in his property at Yverdon (Vaud), exhib- ited a smal] collection at the spring show of the Geneva Horticultural Society. The exhibit caused great surprise, and the Committee was hard put to know in what class it should be placed. Two years Jater Geneva counted more than fifty rockeries devoted to alpines. At the present day these plants have a place assigned to them in al] shows on the continent, in England and the United States. Their culture is the subject of many conferences and lectures, both popular and esoteric for the instruction of professional gardeners. Botanical gardens, with few exceptions, have their alpina or at least their alpine rock- eries. In a word the cult has won its position as a 1 Bulletin no. 2 of the Association for the protection of plants. (Ge- neva, 1884.) 2 Bulletin no. 20 of the Association for the protection of plants. (Ge- neva, 1884.) GENERAL INTRODUCTION 233 branch, and not the Jeast important branch of practical gardening. Certainly the most fascinating and the most scientific—but not ‘‘ ornamental” nor indulgent to the extravagancies of those with a weakness for ‘‘big” ef- fects. For al] this, it is not a difficult branch to master nor one that should be considered the portion of aristocrats in the world of ‘‘ gardening gardeners”. Observation and intelligent interest alone are required. There is a wrong way of proceeding—wholly condem- nable. You uproot a plant on the mountain and remove it straight into the garden. Ten times in a hundred, as a rule, you may succeed, not oftener, because the time chosen is usually the season of inflorescence. Down you bring your treasures in triumphant confidence, only to be disappointed of your hopes again and again. The reason is easy to guess. Do we ever set about transplant- ing a rose or other such plant under a ful] summer sun, in the time in bloom? Yet this is how we treat the moun- taineers in bulk. We see them flowering; promptly ad- mire and as promptly tear them up. When their charms disappear, we cannot tel] one from another and no longer care about possessing them. Methodical procedure, governed by common sense, is essential, if we are to remove into our gardens with any chance of success a native of the heights. First the change must be made during the resting season. Therefore we must Jearn to recognise our favourites when there is nothing but the foliage and the general Jook to mark them from their neighbours. This knowledge is quickly gained; one soon acquires a kind of instinct or flair which helps us to seize at once upon the characteristic differences between species. Then the plant must be submitted to an acclimatisation, that is, it must receive a special treatment by which it gently grows accustomed to the novel cli- 234 THE ALPINE FLORA matic conditions. During this period, so far as may be, regard should be paid to anterior environment, and the plant should be Jed step by step to the new state of exist- ence. Most alpines are kindly creatures and respond to treatment ; stil] there are kinds that cal] for serious pre- cautions. Not till the close of the annual cycle, when seed is ripening and the sap flows sluggishly, should one think of moving a plant to Jower Jevels. Fortunately—very for- tunately for this work—the roots must now be cleaned from al] adhering earth, since the new environment calls for a corresponding change of soil. The roots, however, should, so far as possible, be preserved intact, to aid them in taking a new hold readily, and it is better to take up young plants than old or full grown ones. Here is the place for garden-craft, an art that cannot be Jearnt from books nor taught by lessons, but one of rapid growth, given an observant nature and an intelligent in- sight into natural processes combined with a love of plant-life. ] will only say that a sandy, well drained soil is wanted, that everything must be avoided which may cause decay, that the protection of a frame is desi- rable, that shade be given by day and a little air by night—in a word we must seek to establish an equilib- rium between absorption and evaporation and to main- tain our patients in a state of perfect balance between what is taken in and what is given out. Little by little the plants should be exposed to air, dryness and sun. During the first winter it is wel] to allow them quietly to push out tender rootlets and strengthen their underground system. In severe frosts they must be covered with moss or branches of fir. With spring move them into pots or pans according to their size, Jet them take hold in a cool] frame, and finally plant them in their permanent quarters. In the Jatter part GENERAL INTRODUCTION 235 of this work, which contains descriptions of the different species, instructions are given as to the aspect in the rockery proper to each and the most suitable situations in the garden. Proceeding thus, one may in twenty-five per cent of cases expect success with the great majority of alpine or even of arctic plants. At Floraire we have established many plants received from Canada, the Caucasus, Sibe- ria, Norway, Lapland, and indeed New Zealand; and we have been able from it to supply rare and capricious species to many private collections and public gardens Tap-rooted species—Gentians of the group lutea, Sea- hollies (Eryngium), Anemones of the group Pulsatilla— are impatient of removal] and should be brought into cul- tivation by means of seed. This, moreover, is the method indicated by our great teacher Nature, whose sugges- tions must be regarded and her example followed. Seed is the rational way of establishing perennial al- pines. After now testing it practically for a quarter of a century and finding it to give the best results, we recom- mend it to clients in distant countries who prefer to raise their own plants. It is the most rational method, just because it is the most natural. No doubt it is a slow one and demands attention, at which many may flinch; yet it is simple and certain, though perhaps not at the command of everyone, for some appliances are required to ensure complete success. The chief points to observe are a light, sandy soil, with just enough nourishment to provide the food ne- cessary for the growth of young plants. ] myself use one third old and rotten Jeaf-mould, wel] riddled to free it from grubs; one third turves or sound arable land; one third granitic or calcareous grit, according to the affinity of the species. The best time is autumn, and the seed should be fresh gathered. 236 THE ALPINE FLORA With many species an immediate sowing is imperative ; for example, Anemone Pulsatilla, Adonis vernalis, the blue thistle (Eryngium alpinum), Polygonum, Primula, and some Gentians. Sown directly after harvest, the seed of these species—and of others as well—germinates at once and freely. They pass the winter in the cotyledon stage, busied in building up a strong body of roots. Defer sowing till spring and you wil] find them very slow, per- haps a year, in germinating. The general sowing, how- ever, may be made in the spring; but early, very early, for the plants must be up before the hot days of summer. The seed is sown in pots, pans or boxes, with ample drainage; or, for that matter, especially the seed of vig- orous kinds, in open ground under a frame, or without protection in asheltered border, where shade can be given. Care must be taken to cover the seeds (especially if minute) very thinly, barely with their own depth of soil. The receptacles should be placed under glass in a cold, dry, clean frame. If possible, they should be covered during winter with snow. This is most advantageous; for the process of germination is accelerated. My own obser- vations and experience are conclusive on this point, and ] have no hesitation in saying that snow has a real in- fluence on sowings of mountain plants ?. But in countries where snow is an uncertain quantity, it is wise to defer til] spring the sowing of those species which germinate promptly, and to expose the seed to the warm showers of that season. No harm is done if the pots are thoroughly drained. In a very dry, continental climate *, that of southern France for example, it is 1 See chapter on ‘‘Sowing” pp. 21 et seg. H. Correvon’s. Les plantes alpines et de rocailles. 2 M. Correvon implies that this procedure is not suitable for an English climate. This is unquestionably true. An attempt to use sphagnum would probably not be only useless but prejudicial or worse. Ed. GENERAL INTRODUCTION 237 advisable to add to the compost a little sifted sphagnum, in order to give a spongy, porous consistency which wil] secure constant and regular ‘‘ humidification ” Sphagnum here takes the place taken in nature by rock, absorbing and retaining the moisture, which it gradually imparts to the surrounding soi]. Of al] matter it is par excellence an hygrometric regulator. The quickest seeds to germinate are those of Helian- themums, Violacez, Crucifere, leguminous plants, Col- umbines, Geraniacez, and some of the Poppy family. Next come Composite, Caryophyllacez, Potentillas, Onagracezx, Crassulacez, Labiate, Scrophulariacez, Campanulacee, etc. The slowest belong to the Umbelli- fer, Gentianacez, Iridaceze, Primulacez, and particu- larly to the Berberidex, the Fumariacez, and a section of the Ranunculacez (Ponies, Aconites, Hellebores, Pulsatillas). Sir Michael Foster, the celebrated English iris- enthusiast, showed me on April 28, 1905, pots of Iris which he had under observation; in some of them seed- lings were showing after thirteen years of close attention '. Since then he has recorded in the Gardener's Chronicle the germination of a sowing made fourteen years before. One is too ready to count as Jost a sowing which does not come up in a few months. At Jeast a year should be allowed before any pan is thrown away, even in the case of families of ready germination, and two years in case of others. In 1890 | received seed of Heracleum Mante- gazzianum sent by MM. Levier and Sommier of Florence from the Caucasus. This noble plant would never have been introduced into gardens,‘had |] not kept the seeds for three years in the ground, hoping to see them come up; as they did—in 1894! Many beautiful species have 4H. Correvon’s : Les Tris dans les jardins, p. 179. 16 238 THE ALPINE FLORA been brought into cultivation of recent years from seed, simply thanks to the great patience of the sowers. My own experience with Anemone sulfurea and alpina shows that seed sown in the same month as it is gathered germ- inates in fifteen days, but not for three or four years if you wait twelve months or more. When the seedlings are up and are gaining a little substance, they are transplanted separately at a fair dis- tance from one another in a quincunx pattern. Later they are placed, as soon as they can stand complete isolation, singly in pots or on the rockery. Alpine vegetation we have seen to fall, according to chemical] affinities, into two great classes, the chalk- Jovers and the chalk-haters. It is important, therefore, to know the nature of the species we are introducing, and to see whether their origina] habitat was chalk or gran- ite, so that a congenial soi] may be supplied. Plants in the second category are to be grown in the siliceous ma- terial commonly known as ‘‘ terre de bruyére”’, in peat or Jeaf mould. For the others one has a choice of numerous composts of rotten vegetable matter taken from crevices in the chalk, or in leaf-soi] with an addition of finely bro- ken chalk to make good the initial lack of lime, or even in good, sound pasture land or Joam, mixed with chalky detritus or Jeaf mould. Sphagnum, which is so valuable in the culture of exotic orchids, may be used with equal success in growing plants from the high mountains. In the Revue des Sciences naturelles appliquées', the Journal de la Société royale d'Hor- ticulture de Toscane”, and in the Gardener's Chronicle? | have given full instructions on the subject, and will refer 1 Bulletin de la Société Nationale d’Acclimatation de France (1904). 2 Bollettino della R. Societa toscana di Orticultura (1904). 3 Gardener's Chronicle (London, 18 April 1891). GENERAL INTRODUCTION 239 to my papers there any readers who live in hot, dry cli- mates, for whom this method is the only one to adopt. Indeed there: are certain alpine species which cannot otherwise be cultivated in the continental climate of Ge- neva, but which under this treatment have given marvelj- lous results. The sphagnum should be placed in baskets or pans pierced with many holes to allow the drainage to work freely. The object is to get a compost of a texture which wil] absorb moisture like a sponge and retain suffi- cient to counteract the il] effects of the sun by maintain- ing a regular and unfailing humidity about the roots and aerial) organs. The vessel must be placed in a dry and well lighted situation, exposed to the ful] rays of the sun and deluged with water, for success depends upon the frequency of these waterings and the abundance of vapour formed around the plant under the influence of the sun. In this way, beneath a burning sun at Floraire, Arnica montana has been flowered, Ranunculus glacialis, Eritrichium nanum, Soldanella alpina, Androsace glacialis and helvetica, Saxifraga biflora, Campanula cenisia and excisa and many other of like nature. Grit, calcareous or granitic, is also essential in the culture of alpines. Too richa soi] is, generally speaking, injurious to these species, which are for the most part of a frugal temper and ask for nothing beyond a porous soil, wel] drained and somewhat niggard. The most richly habited among them, those of the most vivid and radiant splendour, live as a rule in crevices among the rocks, between stones or on glacier moraines—al] hungry habi- tations. The earliest denizens, the pioneers to invade the moraines after the retreat of the glaciers, are often those which put on the most glorious attire. Examine the soil in which they bury so deep the myriads of Jong, long rootlets, and you are surprised to find that it is sand or grave] almost unadulterate. 240 THE ALPINE FLORA In a word the question of the acclimatisation of alpine flora has ceased to be one of mystery for practical garden- ers. Their culture has taken a place in our life, and its special devotees are the people of taste, of refined and ar- tistic temper. The Duke of Argyll, when presiding in 1867 at a meeting of English horticulturists, told how Queen Vic- toria as she walked once with him on the Scottish hills, gathered the mountain flowers and confessed a passion for them. He added that if gardeners won their way to tame every kind of plant, still the fairest of them all, the people of the high hills would be rebels. He was wrong; were Her Gracious Majesty alive to-day, she might admire on the terraces of Windsor Castle almost the whole of our alpine flora, acclimatised at Floraire and moved to Windsor by the careful efforts of a distin- guished amateur, General Sir Deighton Probyn, Keeper of the Privy Purse to His Majesty the late King of England. ob Alpine Gardens and Rockeries We have seen that the system of building rockeries for the accomodation of mountain plants dates, at Jeast in Switzerland, from the moment when Boissier opened his rock-garden at Valleyres (between 1852 and 1870). About the same time the botanist A. Kerner, Director of the Innsbruck Botanical Garden, laid out, for the cultiva- tion of the flora of the Tyrolese Alps, an elaborately © planned model, both in their forms and in their compo- sition, of the eight mountain masses of Tyrol. Where the object in view is scientific, such an arrangement is most GENERAL INTRODUCTION 241 helpful, for it allows the geographical and geological] dis- tribution of the plants to be grasped at once. A series of several distinct rockeries, each with a char- acter of its own, is far superior to one gigantesque creation ; the effect is more pleasing to the eye—in other words, is more natural—and the plants wil] live in better health and comfort. The enormous erections, with which we are familiar, ‘‘a]la Mont-Blanc” (as they have been called), are not really picturesque in any sense, and have several very real disadvantages. A system of little struc- tures, scattered over a slope or among turf, has every- thing in its favour. Once, ] admit, — it was Jong ago—] built a Cyclopzan chaos of stone in my alpine garden on the Dancet road, and very quickly recognised that such huddledoms have neither artistic merit nor practical] util- ity. To seek to copy nature—more and more, closer and closer—that is the final confession of my faith. A chapter is given to this subject in an earlier book of mine, Les Plantes des Alpes (1884). The many flattering notices, which |] then received, have urged me to con- tinue in the same path, nor have ] ever wandered from it. In a Jater work (1889), a monograph on Hardy Ferns, the beauty of natural gardens is again emphasised (see chapter X]] : ‘‘ Ferns in the wild Garden”). 1] mention this, however, not to claim such ideas as my own; for my sole merit is to have adopted them from my mother and from English artists, my fellow-disciples of the great esthetic teacher Ruskin. Twenty years ago this style was a common lJaughing- stock. Since then it has been taken into favour and we have seen landscape gardening, which in France, Swit- zerland and elsewhere had remained sunk in muddy tra- ditions that England had rejected for more than a hundred years, make immense strides—in fact, entirely revolu- tionised. Our most accomplished craftsmen have at last 242 THE ALPINE FLORA understood and accepted the English style, that is, the art of embosoming groups of hardy plants among greenery and Jawns—of using them to create one or more pictures suggested by natural scenery. Mosaic carpetbedding, a monstrous invention of some unnameable evil genius, false in taste and false in art has had its day or, at least, is taking itself off to the limbo of memories belonging to the formal garden of topiary yews and scissored shrubs. William Robinson, the great English master, writes in the preface to his work on Alpine Flowers’: ‘‘ Much improvement, both in design and cultivation of rock- gardens and rock-plants, has taken place within the past twenty years or so, and some effects on these rock-gar- dens are now seen that were impossible on the old form of ‘‘ rock-work”’, with its dust-dry pockets and hope- Jess ugliness. At the Friar Park, Henley on Thames, South Lodge, Leonardslee, Warley Place, Batsford, and many other places, we may see not only the rarest alpine plants admirably grown, but effects and colour not un- worthy of the alpine fields. Even the public gardens where the most grotesque arrangements were common have changed much for the better”. All these gardens which Robinson here speaks of as models are familiar to me. Leonardslee, the home of Sir Edward Loder, is among the happiest of artificial rockeries. It were hard to find anything more natural, more majestic, or better planted. At the time of my visit this magnificent garden was gay with every kind of al- pine, brought from the four corners of the world. One charming picture ] remember, Atragene falling down in cascades of pure white blossoms?. 1 W. Robinson : Alpine Flower Gardens ; 34 edition (1903). 2 Since 1 wrote these lines ] have again visited Leonardslee and given a short account of my impressions in the Gardener's Chronicle, July 16 1910, p. 34. GENERAL INTRODUCTION 243 South Lodge is one of the best alpine gardens which ] have ever seen. Surrounded by a noble frame of shrubs and trees, the rockeries are truly magnificent. The grouping is most artistic and the harmonies of colour most effective. Herbaceous and alpine plants alternating with the shrubs give life and brightness to the whole and the inartistic error of monotonous and uniform planting in masses is avoided, which may prove an owner’s wealth, but not his taste. ] saw there the choicest of alpines— indeed the best of plants from every part of the world. Myosotidium nobile (the giant New Zealand Forget-me-not) found a splendid foil] in the orange flowers of Lithospermum canescens; the superb new-comer from Chili, Crinodendron Hookeri, hung deep red blossoms upon a carpet of Linnea borealis— an exquisite miniature of colour; the rare and wonderful Rhododendron Kamschatcicum, imported from Floraire but far outgrowing mine here, stood beside the Australian marvel, Grevillea alpestris. Particularly good too, were Ramondias, Meconopsis and terrestrial orchids— the latter, indeed, perhaps of al] ] have seen in England second only to those at Friar Park. Batsford Park is the creation of a real genius. Lord Redesdale is wel] known throughout the horticultural world as one of our most enlightened patrons. The park lies on a wooded hill, planted with every kind of tree that can live in the mild climate of Gloucestershire. Against this background al] that has beauty in the vege- table world—acres of Narcissus, Squills and Jonquills— fields of the fairest Primroses (and in dazzling Primroses the English are acknowledged connoisseurs) — are grouped with perfect skill] and truth to nature. The ground for acres is carpeted with Heaths (Erica carnea), sheets upon sheets from February to May of vivid pink. All around noble conifers from every country lift their dark clean-cut outlines. There are exquisite trees and shrubs; 244 THE ALPINE FLORA masses of Bamboos (here Lord Redesdale’s collection is complete), Juxuriate onal] sides in the generous and kindly soil. There is a japanese garden, filled with priceless treasures from the empire of the East, where the Ear] at one time was ambassador, and over all a great bronze statue of Buddha watches, calm and strong, as guardian spirit over all. Elsewhere there are undergrowths of Ferns and Himalayan Ponies, banks of perennial plants and miscellaneous Heaths, glorious Magnolias, with flowers most wonderfully contrasted against the sombre green of American or Chinese pines. Here and there, each according to his necessities, are placed the modest representatives of our alpine flora. Yet the owner has his grievance ; he sighed, when he showed me round this wonderland, over Gentiana verna; it was not for him. Can one, in this world, ever at once have al] things? There must, it would seem, be impossibilities in the path of even the all-successful. But |] must leave half the marvels and glorious sights untold. Over al] stand the picturesque outlines of the old Scotch firs, as if to seal the heterogeneous, heteromor- phous assembly with the stamp of its British home. ] have described elsewhere! the splendid gardens at Warley Place. In them a true artist displays her accurate and deep knowledge of plants—] except none—united to astonishing experience of practical gardening. Miss Wil- mott is unquestionably the amateur, who in England (and consequently in all the world) has the best know- ledge of bulbs and hardy plants. She has inherited the traditions of the Rev. Wolley Dod and Sir Michael Fos- ter, whose unique collection of Iris and bulbs, the most beautiful and complete in existence, was given to her by the owner. The cause of gardening claims al] her ability, ! Les plantes alpines et de rocailles, pp. 46-9. GENERAL INTRODUCTION 245 erudition, fortune and talents, and, like Queen Anne, the only title Miss Wilmott cares to claim is that of gardener. Than the collections of hardy plants at Warley and at Tresserve, on the shore of Lake Bourget, nothing more comprehensive is to be found. The manor-house of Warley lies in one of the sunniest and driest parts of England. The grounds were laid out and planted toward the end of the seventeenth century by the celebrated writer Evelyn. Here in surroundings naturally diversi- fied a valley has been excavated by the chatelaine, and in this artificial valley an excellent rock-garden built, tra- versed by a mimic alpine stream. The whole is planted with an exhaustive and world-wide collection of moun- tain flora, well worthy of the cosmopolitan reputation which it has so quickly won. On the borders of Yorkshire and Lancashire, Lord Henry Bentinck, younger brother of the Duke of Port- Jand, has constructed, in his magnificent estate at Kirkby Lonsdale, a garden of great beauty and vast extent where alpines and shrubs are grown among natural] conditions. To reach it, you are ferried across a stream of consider- able size, from the edge of which the garden stretches over four acres to the foot of a noble wood of immemorial trees. Scarcely yet twelve years old, the place already blends with the surrounding landscape. Enormous clumps of Gunnera scabra, Saxifraga peltata, Lythrum and glorious foliage plants of every kind enliven the banks of a torrent which tumbles down the slope, spreading here and there along its course into many little swamps. In the less marshy places stand stately groups of ornamental Rhu- barbs, architectural masses of Monkhoods and Knotweeds, chief among them the fair Himalayan species Polygonum molle, innumerably golden-orbed Doronicums, Senecios, Ferns most manifold, which often reach to wonderful proportions. The drier, sunnier spots are carpeted with 246 THE ALPINE FLORA Heaths, mediterranean Cistus, and the whole family of Ericacex, from the Australian Pernettya to the arctic Phyllodoce. Associated with these flowers the Greek Acanthus, Artichokes and Cardoons, welcome for their glorious blue heads of bloom as much as for their orna- mental foliage ; Onopordons, in particular the marvellous Asiatic species bracteatum, whose dead-silver leaves and glistening thorns, rising in this northern landscape, give to it a touch of characteristic southern heat. The nobly habited blue Thistles of the Old World (Eryngium alpinum, amethystinum, Bourgati, giganteum, maritimum, planum, etc.) confront in proud magnificence their rela- tives from America, so poor in grace and so dingy of hue. Such is the wonderful frame within which a motley multitude of choicest perennials, rivals in brilliance and charming elegance, Monardas, Veronicas, Delphiniums, Scabious, Salvias, Columbines, Asters, Centaureas, Rudbeckias, Silphiums, Leucanthemums, Penstemons, Lychnis, etc., make a vast flowery paradise to which the shimmering irridescence of the tiny alpine plants, the Gentians, Ranunculus, the Primulas, Soldanellas, Edel- weiss and Myosotis lend their clear, pure tones. Here and there boldly rise coo] and shady masses of shrubs from every climate, hardy Fuchsias, Cotoneasters, Hortensias, Spiraeas, Laurels (unfortunately not frost- proof at Geneva) and a whole miscellaneous world of fragrance and of bloom. The garden is Lord and Lady Henry’s favourite hobby ; they have designed and built it with the assistance of a head-gardener, who bears the time-honoured name of Miller!, and spends much time and pains upon it. 1 Miller, an English botanist, gardener and writer, was author or several books,of which one, the Gardener's and Florist’s Dictionary (1724) is stil] a standard work. GENERAL INTRODUCTION 247 Very different is Sir Frank Crisp’s celebrated alpine garden at Friar Park, Henley on Thames, near Windsor. Here in a temperate and rather humid climate Sir Frank succeeds in growing almost the whole of our mountain flora, so that it is easier to say what is missing than what is not. All lovers of plants have seen views of this wonder- ful creation. The alpine garden alone, of which | have given a full description in the Garden, covers an area of four acres; the rocks, ten thousand tons or more in weight, were brought from Bradford, and have been admirably grouped into one harmonious picture. In this genial air, rich in moisture and almost equable in temperature, alpines flourish excellently. Except for some species from the greatest heights, more particularly Androsaces of the group Aretia, all the collection is thor- oughly at home and flowers well in a grandly arranged and sun-bathed rockery. The genera] plan, designed by Sir Frank Crisp and executed under his supervision, is copied from nature, being a miniature reproduction of the Matterhorn and his supporting spurs. The whole effect is unique, and the secret of its beauty is harmony of line, and, above al], balance of size between the plants and the rocks. The eye receives a perfectly proportioned view, every detail of which is to a determined scale—a point too often forgotten in this style of work. The larger plants and those of massive foliage are placed at the bottom, and by successive terraces, which rise most naturally tier on tier above the hollows, one passes to the absolutely dwarf, shorn vegetation at the base and on the scarps of the central peak. The main valley is hollowed by a murmuring stream, which falls in a series of cascades from the base of the Matterhorn to an alpine hut, built in the valley beside a tarn gay with mountain aquatics. Sitting at evening on one of the gigantic stones which form the stages of this 248 THE ALPINE FLORA splendid work, the writer asked, as he admired the out- Jines and drank in the refreshing air, Whence, whither had he come, to enjoy this truly alpine scene? Had he really crossed the whole of France, the Channel and the south-east of England? In spirit he was carried to the High Alps. This is the grand, master style; the only way, that is truly artistic, of making an alpine garden. First and above all, the scene should calm the mind and set it in the pre- sence of the true spirit of the hills, not of that bastard mockery which is born of the phantasies of certain Jand- scapists. It is not sufficient to introduce the mere pain- ting, that is to say, the brilliant flora of the heights; the framework also must be true—a home-like setting ona mother alp, a sense of enfolding nature, mountain nature, in her most majestic and pictorial form, where water-worn and frost-splintered masses are flung around in grand and balanced negligence. Embed the plants in moss and mountain grasses; group them cunningly in a harmo- nious, everblending symphony of many-coloured clus- ters, without a crude tone to offend the eye; throw a rustic bridge across a stream that murmurs between rocky walls, whose huge blocks, fretted by the waters and the rust of ages, are spread along the bank or on some up- Jand pasture; give to this pasture a soil that leaves the herbage dwarfand smooth, enamel it with alpine flowers, and spare it from the scythe; arrange some little masses here and there, whose native outcrop alternates with the grander architecture of the framework, that gives law and being to the whole; set in these separate rockeries the flora of peak and of field, of wood and of cliff—with due regard for the particular needs of each—such is something of the task before the designer of an alpine garden and the landscape builder, who would wish his work to bean | artistic one and natural. GENERAL INTRODUCTION 249 Nature then must be our model; but we must only take what she offers of beauty, for there are in nature uglinesses also—to be avoided. Jean-Jacques Rousseau went too far when he required in his ideal garden a place for nettles! It al] depends on taste and on sound judgment; con- ventionalities of fashion must yield to individual liking, to architectonic laws and artistic instinct. The skill of the landscape-gardener who ventures on this class of work, wil] be measured simply by his success in reconstructing pictures from the region of the mountains and lower alps, with an occasional bold excursion into the grander rocky desolation of the highest—the true alpine—zone’. ] could multiply examples; for it is England in which the love of flowers is quick and Jiving—the one country where gardens are counted things of pride and worthy of sacrifice. Scattered over this ancient and wealthy land are a hundred other alpine creations, which, did not space forbid, might well challenge my feeble pen to songs of praise. Yet there are stiJ] some, where the collections are of outstanding interest. ] have a vivid memory of two near Lancaster. Mrs. Saunder’s garden at Wennington Hal] is a triumph of the simple style—modest in extent, severely utilitarian in design, but rich beyond words in floral wealth. Here the choicest of the choice, the exclusive alpine aristocracy, the most ill-conditioned of reputed ‘* miffs’ respond to the personal attention of their mistress. The following list speaks for itself — Aquilegia alpina, Eritrichium nanum (from seed), Androsace glacialis, Helve- tica, pubescens, villosa, Vitaliana, Azalea procumbens, 4 Friar Park is open to visitors in the months of May to September inclusive, on Wednesdays. The price of admission is sixpence which are divided between The Convalescent Fund of Henley and The Gardeners’ Royal Benevolent Institution and the Royal Gardeners’ Orphan Fund. 250 THE ALPINE FLORA Phyteuma hemisphericum, Ranunculus alpestris, Anemone sulfurea, Arnica montana, Trifolium alpinum, Gentiana bavarica, brachyphylla, verna, alpina, Soldanella, and a complete collection of Primulas. At Lancaster itself we find another English triumph of another kind—over adverse situation. Imagine the most delicate alpines thriving within two miles of the sea! The nobly shaded slopes command a glorious view. Beneath a wood that is almost Swiss in character, among an _ undergrowth that suggests the virgin forest, our mountain ferns flourish with a Juxuriance that exalts them to the macroflora. Needless to say that the excess of aerial moisture thus indicated does not make things easy at Bailbrigg, but Mr. Storey has solved the difficulty by buttressing the terraces below his house with retaining walls of local stone and has transformed these walls into an alpine garden of the highest excellence *. But of gardens in the United Kingdon, which | have had the pleasure of visiting, the most astonishing, whether one regard it from the completeness of contents or excel- lence of management, is the Botanical Garden at Edin- burgh under the direction of Professor Balfour. ] am not going too far in saying that it is perhaps the richest collection of rock-plants in the whole world, the true method also of cultivation being so well understood that ] myself have been able to take Jessons there. The choicest alpine jewels may be seen growing in perfect health which we are not able to preserve at Floraire, though we endeavour to cultivate for sale at home or abroad the whole range of mountain perennials. One may pick out in particular Diapensia lapponica, which | have given up attempting to acclimatise except by seed and have never kept more than a year, Rubus chamemorus, Primula 4 See Gardeners Chronicle July 9. 1910. p. 13. GENERAL INTRODUCTION 251 purpurea, etc. Others, e. g. Omphalodes Luciliz, Armeria cespitosa, are as fine as at Floraire in spite of a more unsuitable climate, and it is only the highest Androsaces which do not succeed under the magic wand of the Professor. Reference was made at the close of the last section to the Norman Tower rock-garden at Windsor Castle created by General Probyn. It was much appreciated by the Jate King and by Queen Alexandra, and ] am delighted to know that King George has graciously consented to make no change as to its maintenance. Of this interesting and tasteful garden one sees only a portion on the right from the road mounting to the Court of Honour, below the retaining wall. To appreciate its merits in full one must roam over the side-paths (strict privacy, however, is maintained) and know al] the twists and turns and corners. Here at the foot of the Castle, in chinks of walls and artificial) rock-work, may be found some of our most delicate alpine plants. They were, without exception, sent out from Floraire and | can appreciate their worth, inasmuch as 1 inspect the garden every spring. The collection is to-day a notable one in al] respects and a word of praise is due to the gardener in charge. In many alpine countries nature has facilitated the construction of beautiful alpine gardens. These are very different from the English types above described, and have cost less trouble and are easily established. The one known as the Linnza, at Bourg-Saint-Pierre (1700 m.) was founded in 1889 by the Society for the Preservation of Plants. It occupies an isolated, fully ex- posed hummock, eight to nine acres in extent. Paths run in every direction, and there are numerous natural and artificial rocks, assigned to the flora of the different moun- tains of the world. The plants are classed geographically, and the whole effect is very picturesque. Chalk-hating 252 THE ALPINE FLORA species flourish exceedingly in the granite soi]. The gar- den Rambertia is a rocky enclosure on the eastern ridge of the Rochers de Naye (2000 m.). The soi] is chalk. This garden was established in 1895 by the Société de Ja Rambertia, and contains a most comprehensive collection of al] chalk-loving alpines. At Pont de Nant, above Bex (1300 m.), a botanical garden, affiliated to the University of Lausanne, was opened in 1893 by the efforts of the neighbouring commune. It is situated in a wel] watered, shady and charming position at the foot of the rock wall below the Muveran. The design is the work of Profes- sor Wilzceck and has not needed the assistance of a pro- fessional adviser. In Italy M. Fernand Correvon, a Ge- nevese landscape architect, has laid out for the Silvestri family of Milan a garden on the slopes of Monte Scanapa, at the foot of pleasant Presolana, which preserves so perfectly the dolomitic characteristics of the genera] Jand- scape that it is impossible to tel] where the artificial rock- work passes into the natural, which forms the ribs and skeleton of the whole. Other gardens have been built in the high alps, but they make no pretension to be more than botanical or pleasure gardens. To mention one: M. Anzevui’s collection at Arolla (1962 m.) enables the many visitors who stay at this charming alpine resort to find side by side, in half an acre’s space, the flora of Swiss and other mountains, growing with rude and vigorous health. The botanical garden of Professor Lachmann, of Gre- noble, at Lautaret in Dauphiné, is a complete success. Professor Flahault of Montpellier has built three at once on the slopes of Aigoual, in the Cevennes. In Italy the gardens of Chanousia, on the little Saint-Bernard (2200m.) and of Rostania (1300 m.) are the oldest and best known. Indeed alpine gardens are springing up in Austria, Bavaria GENERAL INTRODUCTION 253 and over al] the European chains‘. Generally the situa- tions chosen are places of easy access, near to hotels or mountain huts. While they help in spreading a scientific knowledge of alpine flora, they also serve the end which ] have here proposed to myself—to teach the love of the little mountain plants, the true stars of our Alps. (According to a report published early in 1910 a national park for the preservation of indigenous fauna and flora is to be established on a large scale in Switzerland. It is stated that a vast area lying between the lower En- gadine and the Munsterthal and comprising the valley of Scarf and the neighbouring vallies has most generously been offered for this purpose at a nominal rental by the commune of Zernetz. Ed.) 1 See on this subject the Report of the first Congress of Alpine Gar- dens, held at the Rochers de Naye in August 1904, under the presidency of Prince Roland Bonaparte. (Geneva, 1904.) DESCRIPTION OF SPECIES i signifies found in England. § signifies that the species is not truly alpine or sub-alpine, in the sense that typical and full development is only found in alpine or sub-alpine regions. The above symbols are inserted by the Editor, who alone is responsible for any error in their use. Ranunculacez eh & Sa typical forms of this numerous order are the famil- iar golden buttercups. Many of the included species are true mountaineers; most are perennial, some climbing or shrubby. The leaves are opposite, except among the Clematidez (alternate); the flowers sometimes regular, as in Anemones, sometimes irregular, as in Aconites; a distinct corolla and calyx are often wanting, but there is often a flanking involucre or whorl of bracts half-way up the stem. The stamens are numerous; the ovaries of varying number; the fruit one-celled, one-seeded (an achene), except in Actea, where it takes the form of a berry. Atragene alpina Eng.: Alpine clematis; Fr.: Clematite des Alpes; Ger.: Alpenrebe. A climbing shrub not unlike a clematis, with leaves composed of 7-8 irregularly divided leaflets. The flowers are large, solitary, with 4 lilac-violet, petal-like sepals, the true petals being very minute and forming a compact corona at the base of the flower, where they serve as nec- taries for fertilising insects; the seeds are furnished with long, whitish, feathered awns. Varieties with pure white, red and rose flowers are found. May-June: bushy parts of the alpine region, 400-1000 m. Rare in Switzerland: Grisons, Fribourg, Saléve (beyond the frontier). A fine climber, growing to the height of 10 ft., or to be employed with striking effect as drapery on some bold 258 THE ALPINE FLORA ledge. Of easy culture in loam admixed with coarse sand- stone grit and Jeaf-mould, under partial shade or an open N. W. bank. Propagated readily from seed or by grafts on the clematis root-stock. Thalictrum Eng.: Meadowrue; Fr.: Pigamon; Ger.: Weisenkraute. A group of plants distinguished by numerous, promin- ent stamens, which form the beauty of the flower, the petals being very fugacious. The commonest garden species is 7. aquilegifolium which succeeds magnificently in a cool, partially shady position and a light soil, and whose nodding 5 ft. scapes with glorious masses of white or lilac are splendid ornaments to rockery, border, or underwood. Of other species alpinum and minus are worthy of cultiva- tion, but the flowers are as wel] removed; inded in all, perhaps, the greatest charm is the delicate tracery of the Jeaves. Al] prefer limestone, except alpinum which re- quires a select peaty nook. Multiply by seed or division. The medicinal value of certain species has been highly spoken of in cases of jaundice and intermittent fever; the roots furnish a yellow dye. T. aquilegifolium (PJ. 1). A robust, tall shrub, with leaves similar to those of columbines, but more refined; flowers small, very numerous, in a Jarge panicle, the count- less lilac or white stamens spreading like a mist above the plant. April-May. Coo] mountain places. Other species are: J. alpinum*, a wee herb, with simple, naked stem, not exceeding 4 in.; leaves like maiden-hair, the flowers small, yellowish and drooping in simple ra- cemes; J. fetidum with viscous foliage of a strong, un- pleasant odour; flowers smal], reddish green, in terminal panicles; 7. saxatile* with zigzag, striated stem; foliage glabrous and scentless, with prominent nervation under- RANUNCULACEE 259 neath; panicle pyramidal: 7. majus* to be distinguished from the above by its angular stem, with large, fine leaf- segments, and its somewhat umbellate panicle: 7. minus” by its leafless stem and smaller Jeaf-segments. Anemone Eng.: Windflower; Fr.: Anémone; Ger. : Windrdschen. This genus is easily distinguished by the regular flower, whose envelope is a coloured perianth composed of at least 6 petaloid sepals; petals wanting; inflorescence soli- tary or umbellate; the seed-vessels are globular-headed carpels, terminated by a short beak, a plumose beard, or in some cases enclosed in a woolly envelope. It falls into three natural groups: (a) Anemone proper, including baldensis and narcissiflora, whose non-plumose seeds germ- inate well; propagation by division may also be employed; (b) Pulsatilla, including alpina, sulfurea, Halleri, montana and vernalis, with woody rootstocks, not matted and fibrous as in the first section, and consequently most im- patient, when mature, of removal. Seedlings however bear transplanting, and the plumose seeds germinate read- ily, if sown as soon as ripe; (c) Hepatica, also easily raised from the smooth seeds, except the double varieties. A. alpina (P\. 11). Stem villous with silky hairs, length- ening sometimes after florescence to nearly 20 in., and bearing half-way up a whorl of bracts very similar to the radical leaves; flower large, internally pure white, externally bluish. May-June. Pastures and debris in the limestone Alps and Jura. In soil destitute of chalk the flower takes a pure yellow tone, the leaf becomes less foliated, the stem more glistening and browner. This variant is called A. sulfurea (PI. 11). The two species are widely spread over the whole alpine chain and areamong its most brilliant ornaments. Unfortu- 260 THE ALPINE FLORA ately they are somewhat difficult to grow at lower levels. It is necessary to raise them from seed, as we have done at Floraire with good results, and transplant them as soon as they are 2-3 years old in deep, spongy soi] (without lime for sulfurea), and inhalf shade. When buying plants, it is essential to insist on stock raised from seed, for full- grown plants are seldom removed with success. In Eng- Jand, however, ful] sun is necessary, and sulfurea should be accomodated with sandier loam. Both should be top- dressed when dormant in autumn with loam and Jeaf-soil deep enough to cover the crown. As sulfurea grows from the crown, and not from offsets, as alpina, great care must be taken to preserve it from accidental] injury during the time of rest. A. pulsatillaS*. A charming flower with erect cup of violet-blue, enclosing a sheaf of golden stamens and with silky hairs on the outside; the involucre is very hairy and half-way up the scape. It flowers about Easter and is one of the fairest jewels on the foothills of the Jura Vaudois, from Romainmétier to La Sarraz, on the slopes of the Chaumont above Neuchatel, though now rare in this locality, and extending into the Jura of Canton Basle. The culture is of the easiest, given full sun and deep but lightish soil. It is apt to grow coarse under cultiva- tion and may rot off at the collar if exposed to excessive moisture. Both dangers may be minimised by working coarse grit among the stems soon after they appear. It should not be disturbed when dormant. At Floraire a most delightful variety, with flowers of purest white, is cultivated. Lilac and rosy-brown forms also are grown ; the Jast is a glorious fellow, but rare. The introduction of this species into Britain has been attributed to the Romans. RANUNCULACEE 261 A. montana, a Valaisian congener of Pulsatilla, differs by a smaller, drooping flower, of deep violet, and has more finely divided greyish leaves. After the normal in- florescence of spring it frequently blooms a second time in autumn. Both are poisonous, and used medicinally for affections of the skin, syphilis, paralysis and eye-diseases ; they are also much employed in homeeopathy. A. Hialleri is distinguished from the last two species by palmate instead of pinnate leaves, silky hair and gi- gantic flowers of fine reddish-violet with a peculiarly downy outer surface. Grows in dry and stony pastures of the Valaisian alps. (1600-2300 m.). A. vernalis (P]. 111). Stem short; radical leaves hairy, _ palmate; involucre hairy, close to flower, which is large and erect, the divisions externally covered with a dense, bronzy nap. A true alpine, from the margins of moraines, on the rocky pastures of the non-calcareous alps (1600 -2000 m.); among the earliest to flower, close on the melting of the snows. Of easy culture; requires a south aspect, fully exposed and dry, yet objects to scorching; the soi] should be granitic sand, leaf mould and vegetable humus. Surface roots should be encouraged by prompt topdressing. It is impossible to refrain from quoting Mr. Robinson’s pean of praise: ‘‘Two or three thin-looking, carrot-like leaves, lying pressed to the ground, then an inch or so of shaggy stem, all covered with the most lovely, bronzy- gold fur; then a fluffy cup of the same, and then, goblet shaped, sumptuous and splendid, a magnolia-like flower, snow-white within and silky without, a shimmer of gold and purple, iridescent with the most subtle sheen of lilac, fawn and pearl. The seed-head developes into a marvel- Jous dandelion-clock’’. Surely al] enthusiasts wil] for this face any caprice of such a beauty! 262 THE ALPINE FLORA A. narcissiflora (P]. 111). This beautiful plant is very distinct from al] our other species and approaches to the Himalayan and North-American kinds. The leaves are velvety, cut into long lobes; the flowers in apple-blossom umbels; the seeds smooth, flat and glossy, without plu- mose filaments; June-July, in pastures of the limestone Alps and Jura (1000-2500 m.). Belonging to the fibrous-rooted section it is easy to collect and to propagate either by seed or division. It requires a porous, chalky soil, rich in humus and a somewhat shady position, but should be protected against moisture in winter. A. baldensis. A smal] plant, with trailing, stoloniferous stem, a slender, downy flowerstalk, bearing deeply incised Jeaves and a solitary, erect flower of 8-10 divisions, pure white within and soft rose without; the fruit is bearded, forming an ovoidal head. July-August; moist rocky pastures of the Alps (1800-2500 m.). This is also fibrous- rooted and succeeds ina well-drained crevice, exposed to the sun, in a mixture of pebbles, leaf mould and peat. A. Hepatica Eng.: Hepatica; Fr.: Hépatique or Fille-avant-la-mére; Ger.: Leberblume. A smal], woodland plant with persistent, thick, coria- ceous, trilobate leaves, reddish on the underside; flowers blue, white or rose, with an involucre sufficiently near to simulate a calyx. Double varieties of each colour. Flowers from March to May, according to altitude, and haunts the mountainous parts of al] Switzerland, more especially in limestone districts. It was introduced into gardens three hundred years ago and has proved one of their most precious ornaments in spring, for it grows excellently under shrubs or in the RANUNCULACEE 263 skirts of woods and even in open borders, as it can endure full sun though preferring complete or partial shade. Any ordinary garden soil will satisfy its needs, but, being a deep rooter, it resents disturbance. Ranunculus Eng.: Buttercup; Fr.: Renoncule; Ger. : Hahnenfuss. Flowers solitary, yellow, white or rose, with 5 sepals and 5 petals or more; carpels terminated by a point or short beak. The genus is very variable and widely distrib- uted and comparatively few are worthy of introduction into garden cultivation. In addition to all the English lowland species, Switzerland contains a considerable number of true alpines, of which the best, perhaps, are aconitifolius, alpestris, glacialis, parnassifolius, pyrenzus, rutefolius (for its magnificent foliage rather than for the flowers, which are dul] and inferior to those of alpestris). Amplexicaulis, bilobus and gramineus are also good moun- tain types. Speaking generally al] love moist situations or rather a moraine-like formation, with abundant trickling water in summer and dryness in winter. Aconitifolius, however, and platanifolius are haunters of shady and boggy ground. As regards sun, the majority are Jovers of it, but glossiness of leaf indicates a preference for shade; the hairy-leaved species are sun-lovers. The runners formed by cherished kinds should be carefully pegged down and covered with light top-dressing and al] varieties benefit by periodic division and replanting. Propagation, also, by seed is not difficult. R. alpestris (P1.1V). A glabrous plant, with glossy leaves, deeply cleft and with strongly marked nerves; flowers purest white; petals slightly crenate; stamens yellow. June-July: on rocky places of the calcareous Alps and 264 THE ALPINE FLORA Jura; 1200-2000 m. Planted in a crevice of Jimestone, it flowers fairly well; give good drainage and partial shade. R. parnassifolius is a low-growing plant with thick, prostrate stems ; leaves thick, cordate, woolly at the edges, and carried on Jong petioles; flowers large, of dazzling white, arranged in 2-3 on the upper portion of the scapes. Flowers in June and July on stony debris of the limestone Alps; 2000-2500 m. To succeed with it, the soi] should be a little heavy, and the situation open to full sunlight. R. pyreneus (P]. 1V). Stem erect; radical leaves Jinear- lanceolate, smooth, bluish-green, entire, erect; flowers white (the petals caducous) in 1-3 on the apex of the stems. June-July. Alpine pastures from 1000 to 1800 m. Culture: | compact, deep soi]; half-sun; never completely successful. R. rutefolius. Dwarf plant; bluish-green leaves spread- ing over the ground, much incised and a little like those of a Rue; flowers white, small, with many caducous divisions, carried on Jong, slender stalks. July-August : in coo] sports of the Alps, particularly in the granite. 1900-2500 m. Culture: that of R. alpestris. R. glacialis (PJ. V). One of the plants dearest to the climber, for its discovery tells that his pass or aréte or peak is in sight. Leaves thick, shining, and deeply divided; stem fleshy, waved, reddish-brown in colour, prostrate ; flowers 1-5, with a brown, villous calyx and a corolla, which persists til] the seed ripens, of blush white, occa- sionally of bright rose, and passing after fertilisation into rosy copper. Flowers (July-August) in cool, stony places on or above the snow-line, having been observed as high as 4000 m. Our mountain folk use it as a sudorific and as a blis- tering agent. The culture in Swiss lowlands is difficult. At Floraire we can manage it in a cool, pebbly position RANUNCULACEE 265 under partial shade, but the inflorescence has but a ghost of the brilliance one knows high on the mountains. In England it proves easy, and I have seen it finely flowered in the neighbourhood of London. It requires a well drained sunny slope, and soi] composed of leaf mould, sand, Joam and coarse broken stone-chips. Abundant water is to be given during the growing season and then gradually withheld. A kind admirably suited by the well-irrigated detritus of an artificial ‘moraine’. Easily raised from seed. R. aconitifolius (P]. V). A strong, tall-growing herb, reaching at times to over three feet, and bearing a large panicle of white blooms. June-August: in coo] pastures, or moist and partly shaded places over al] Swiss moun- tains; 500-2000 m. R. platanifolius is nearly related to aconitifolius, but differs in slenderer and almost smooth flower-scapes, in larger Jeaves, cut Jess deeply, but into narrower and more grass-like segments. Grows under the same conditions as its congener, but chooses drier situations and does not descend so low. Both are of easy culture and are most ornamental in rockeries, parks and wild gardens. A cool and lightly shaded position in the bog-garden is needed. R. Thora. A curious plant with a fusiform root-stock. not unlike a miniature tuber of dahlia; stem slim, solid and smooth, bearing midway one or more sessile leaves, of which the lower is large, orbicular, coriaceous, strong- ly veined, serrate and broader than long; flower small, bright yellow, usually solitary. June-July. Mountainous regions of the limestone Alps and Jura; 1000-2000 m. Ancient warriors extracted ftom the juice with which the stem is charged a violent poison; with this they im- pregnated the points of their arrows and made them most deadly weapons. 266 THE ALPINE FLORA R. montanus and Villarsi are smal] species with brilliant yellow flowers; the stem of the former is 2-6 in. Jong, the leaves glabrous, 5-partite; flowers 1-3 at the extrem- ities of the branches; the second has a taller and more branched stem, many flowers and carpels with a curved or hooked beak. Coo] and shrubby pastures in the Alps and Jura from 1000-2000 m. AJ] the three Jast species are readily cultivated in sound soi] and a sunny position. Trollius Eng.: Globe-flower; Fr.: Trolle or Boule d'Or; — Ger.: Trollblume or Rollen. T. europeus* (PJ. V1). A plant familiar to al] wanderers on high ground, frequenting cool and moist meadows over al] Switzerland, from the beginning of the mountain zone up to 2000 m. The flower, which never expands, may be compared toa yellow globe; it is delicately scented and composed of a varying number of coloured sepals ; the petals are smal], tubular organs, hidden at the base of the stamens, and serving as so many nectareous cells for the attraction of fertilising insects. The globe-flower in varied forms and tints is found spread over al] the northern hemisphere. It is met in the Caucasus, the Atlas, the Himalaya, in Siberia, Japan, China and America, with little difference of appearance, though known by different names. Ten variants, brought from different mountain ranges, are cultivated at Flor- aire; they have so freely modified by hybridisation, that it is impossible any longer to identify them under the definite species, and one is compelled to think that, cer- tain American types excepted, they are all modifications caused by Jocal influences of one and the same species. In the Alps the root of the globe-flower has Jong been RANUNCULACE 267 used as a purgative. The Rev. H. Friend, in his delight- ful work on the mythology of flowers’ , says that the name Trollius comes to us from the Scandinavians, who held the god Tro]] to be an evi] spirit. The somewhat poison- ous elements of this plant being granted, he is of opinion that the ancient Swedes named it the ‘‘Devil-flower’’. It is a beautiful plant and does well under cultivation, with preference for somewhat cool, half-shaded positions and porous soi]. If, however, the natural soi] is dry, plenty of retentive stuff should be added. Plants should be divided in autumn. Grows readily from seed, flowering in two years. Caltha Eng.: Marsh Marigold; Fr.: Populage; Ger.: Dotterblume. Caltha palustris*$. This magnificent king-cup with large, expansive flowers of golden orange and hollow stems and broad leaves of cheerful green, grows on the edges of water in the alpine regions and sometimes descends to the plains. In spring the flowers form one of the richest ornaments of the mountain landscape. Though the alpine Caltha has received the specific de- signation of alpestris, there does not appear to be any botanical difference between it and the species common in English meadows, so that it should perhaps not be re- garded as an alpine in the true sease of the word. The single English form is too common to merit cultivation ; the double one is, however, very fine and worthy. Aquilegia Eng.: Columbine; Fr.: Ancolie; Ger.: Akelei. A genus clearly defined by regular flowers with 10 divisions, 5 broadly lanceolate, coloured sepals and 5 1 Flowers er Flower Lore, Rev. H. Friend, vol. ]. p. 57. 268 THE ALPINE FLORA trumpet-shaped petals, prolonged into nectar-bearing spurs. A. alpina (PJ. V11). Perhaps the most delicate and charming of alpines, with its slender leaves, finely divided into graceful leaflets, and its ample flowers, the sepals a glorious blue, the petals purest azure. It is necessary to insist that this is the typical form, on account of an obstinate superstition that the variety with white centre is the only true one. Flowers in July. Native of shady alpine slopes (1200-2000 m.). Au flanc des verts ravins j aime a voir |’Ancolie A Ja robe d’azur cachant un anneau dor, Vivre comme perdue en sa mélancolie, Poursuivant loin des bruits son éternel essor. De sa fleur qui se penche humblement vers la terre On ne voit que du bleu, Je bleu foncé des cieux, Mais du fond du calice ou se cache un mystére S’échappe un rayon d’or mille fois glorieux. | a ee, This noble plant is not at al] amenable to cultivation. A stony, well drained soil] is necessary, and a cool, somewhat shaded situation. In England ] have seen fits examples at Warley and elsewhere, even in Surrey. In the botanical garden of Linnza, at Bourg-Saint-Pierre, it grows magnificently and reaches a considerable size, pro- ducing as many as thirty flowers on a stock. Perhaps the secret is that most die a natural death, the plant being a biennial, so that no care can avoid annual renewal from seed—a thing, fortunately, most easy to do. Certain it is that columbines are prodigious rooters, the stock, it may be, boring two feel down before emitting roots. The fact mentioned below—the habit of promiscuous hybridisation in gardens — is enough of warning to the wise to secure collected seed from wild plants. None other is safe. An autumn dressing of leafmould and gritty loam is beneficial. RANUNCULACEE 269 A. vulgaris*. This is the typical form bothin lowlands and mountains. The flower is smaller than in alpina; the stem grows to two feet in height or even more, is much branched and bears at times large panicles of dark blue flowers with a centre of golden-yellow stamens. In the variety atrata the flowers are dark brown. A. vulgaris takes many forms, and under cultivation hy- bridises readily with the columbines of the Old World, but never with the long-spurred species from North America. By crossing one obtains a multitude of different shapes and tints and types, which can be used with admir- able results in the garden of anartist. At Floraire, where endeavour is made to harmonise the forms and the colours and to give a proper value to their loveliness by placing them in an appropriate and effective setting, we have seen lovers of the beautiful faint with delight at the sudden sight of the simple pictures which fair nature creates in our alpine garden. And, since columbines reproduce themselves spontaneously without the gardener’s aid, wonderful combinations of colour and lovely effects are soon obtained in copses and shady corners, which strike pale with jealousy the coarse masses of bedded-out reds or yellows or pinks with which philistine gardeners of to-day have served us to satiety. The columbine is important among the flowers of my- thology. It was once the emblem of unhappy love and is so mentioned by Shakespeare in Hamlet. In ‘“The Masque of Flowers” (Flora’s Feast), by the celebrated designer Walter Crane, the graceful Jeaves forma chariot in which Venus rides, garlanded with the blossoms and drawn by two trains of five doves each: ‘‘Fair Columbines that drew the car of Venus from her distant star’. (Columbine is derived from columba, a dove. Cp. Bacon’s expression ‘‘to join serpentine wisdom to colum- bine innocency”. Ed.). 18 2790 THE ALPINE FLORA Actzea spicata * Eng.: Baneberry or Herb Christopher; Fr.: Actée or Herbe a St. Christophe; Ger.; Christophskraut. The peculiarity of this plant is that, alone among Eu- ropean Ranunculacee, it hasa baccate fruit. It isa strong- growing plant, sometimes attaining a height of 2-2 % feet; stem hard and branched; leaves ample and resembling those of the Reine des Bois or Spirza; flowers small, inconspicuous and whitish, in large, lax racemes, followed by beautiful spikes of glistening black berries. Grows in coo] and shady mountain parts. Variety alba has white berries and red stalks. The poisonous root is purgative and sometimes used in pharmaceutics in place of the black Hellebore. May be grown in a coo] and shady part of the rockery or garden, but the habit is too coarse and the flower too transient for a choice position. Seed germinates slowly. Delphinium Eng.: Larkspur; Fr.: Dauphinelle or Pied a Alouctie: Ger.: Rittersporn. This genus is distinguished by an irregular calyx with 5 unequal, caducous, petaloid sepals, the dorsal one pro- Jonged into a spur; 4 petals, of which the two dorsal] ones are lengthened into appendages enclosed in the spur like a knife in a sheath. The only Swiss alpine species’ is a sturdy, herbaceous perennial, with pubescent stems, bearing downy leaves, more than 40 in. high and terminated by a Jong spike of dark-blue flowers. July-September. Native of stony and cool] pastures in the calcareous Alps. Easily cultivated in partia] shade. 1 (D. elatum. Ed.). RANUNCULACEE 27! Aconitum Eng.: Monkshood; Fr.: Aconit, Char de Vénus; Ger.; Eisenhut. Flower with irregular calyx; 5 petaloid sepals, the dor- sal erect and bent over into the shape of a Phrygian cap which covers the corolla; petals very irregular, 2-6 in number, the two upper, which form rich nectaries of | honey, suggesting two tritons yoked to a car. A. napellus* (P1.V111). Stem simple, erect, sometimes branched towards the summit; leaves palmate, smooth, dark green; flowers indigo-violet blue, in close, long and upright racemes. June-October. Rocky and bushy pas- tures of the Alps and Jura. Al. paniculatum differs in the fully branched character of the stem, in deeply toothed leaves and hooded crescent- shaped flowers in short racemes gathered into a panicle. August-September. Rocky and shady parts of the Alps; — 1200-2000 m. A. Lycoctonum (PJ. 1X). A tall, stout plant with spread- ing branches; leaves palmate, 5-7-lobate; flowers, of which the hood is lengthened and slightly constricted at the middle, ochreous-yellow, in terminal racemes. July- August. Woody mountains districts. A. anthora. Distinguished by a shorter, stiffer and more erect stem, with the leaves finely divided into thin, ligulate segments; by larger flowers of greenish-yellow in one close raceme or several racemes forming a compact panicle. August-October. Stony place pastures of the southern Jura; 900-1400 m. Culture: al] the aconites succeed in a cool soil, par- tially or wholly shaded; the variety anthora alone requires sun. 272 THE ALPINE FLORA All species, more particularly napellus, are moist poi- sonous and dangerous to cattle, which, one must add, do not touch them in a growing state, and eat them when dry with impunity. The root-stocks, which are generally turnip-shaped or fusiform, are charged with juices con- taining aconitine, a poisonous substance much used in medicine, and more especially in homceopathy. PAPAVERACE 273 Papaveracez De This order consists of annual or perennial herbs contain- ing a milky juice; the alternate leaves are usually incised or divided into lobes, the flowers are regular and carried at the ends of the stems with a calyx of two, or sometimes three concave, transient sepals and a corolla of four, or rarely eight to twelve, smooth deciduous petals, crumpled in the unexpanded bud; stamens very numerous; the fruit is either an ovoid capsule, crowned by the stigmas, or a pod not unlike those found in Crucifere. Papaver Eng.: Poppy; Fr.: Pavot; Ger.: Mohn. P. alpinum (PI). X). A delicate and charming little rock-plant, forming tiny tufts of crowded, short branches, breaking at the extremities into bluish-green Jeaves, more or less finely cut and divided ; each of the numerous, slim, drooping foot-stalks (1 %-6 in. high) bears a large solitary flower with four waved petals, snow-white in colour and shimmering like silk; they are delicately scented. This somewhat rare plant is found (1200-3000 m.) among rocks and fissures of the limestone. P. rheticum from the gra- nitic eastern Alps is almost identical, except for big, pale saffron flowers. May-September. In cultivation it is one of the most delightful alpines, exacting nothing but a poor, pebbly soi], and a cool posi- tion but exposed to the sun. Moisture around the collar is apt to kiJ] itin English winters, but fortunately it ger- minates readily from seed which may be scattered where it is intended to flower. Many variations of shape and tint 274 THE ALPINE FLORA have been produced — delicate rose, pale yellow, bright orange, brick-red with al] intermediate shades. Petit pavot des monts qui fleuris sur la pente Au sein des blocs épars, Bravant les froids autans, la neige, la tourmente Et les sombres brouillards, Jaime a voir, au matin, briller fraiche et joyeuse Ta fleur d’or et d’argent, A la voir frissonner sur J’aréte neigeuse Et sous les coups du vent. Est-i] vrai que ta coupe, au fond de son calice, _ Cache un secret venin, Que ton parfum produit une ivresse factice, Mauvaise au genre humain? Est-il vrai que ta fleur, perfide enchanteresse, Contient dans son encens Un narcotique obscur qui sait, avec adresse, Engourdir tous nos sens? Quoi? Ton cceur cacherait un malfaisant génie Couvert par tes appas ? Allons! je ne veux pas croire a la calomnie: Ta beauté ne ment pas. FA A closely allied species comes to us from Siberia and the arctic regions, P. nudicaule, which has naturalised itself in the immediate neighbourhood of the botanical gardens of Linnza at Bourg-Saint-Pierre, and of Ram- bertia at the Rochers de Naye. The seeds were sent to us either by the traveller Bonvalot from Central Asia or by friends of these two gardens from the far North. The flowers have been crossed with P. alpinum and given rise to an infinite number of wonderful hues and shades. It has been introduced to the public by our garden of ac- climatisation at Floraire and has become a most popular garden flower, during the last few years. cB CRUCIFERE 275 Cruciferz eS: The prosaic order par excellence, whose interest lies in the kitchen and economic gardens, giving us cabbages, turnips, horse-radish, colza, cress and mustard, whose va- luable antiscorbutic properties scientists may analyse into an acrid, stimulating and sulphureous principle. The bota- nist’s analysis runs: annual or perennial herbs; leaves alternate ; flowers regular, with a calyx of four sepals and a corolla of four petals arranged alternately with the sepals in a maltese cross and attached by long claws ; six stamens, tetradynamous (an alarming word, signifying four long, and two short); style simple, with two adherent stigmas. The flower-gardener wil] pass the order by, as containing little of merit, and even of the more select species the Alps contain few worthy except one or two Drabas, Eryst- mums, Hutchinsia and, perhaps, Dentaria or T hlaspi rotundi- folium. For example,.no ordinary garden can accomodate other Arabis than the Greek pallida. Draba Eng.: Whitlowgrass; Fr.: Drave; Ger.: Hungerblume. A genus composed of pretty, little rock-plants, of dwarf and compact habit, and genuine children of the snows. Too smal] to hold their own except among the tiniest of companions, they are interesting without being striking, and worthy of trial in mossy walls, the species with yellow flowers making a gay show. The best are perhaps aizoides and pyrenaica, though the second is inclined to damp off, unless regularly topdressed with clean grit. Otherwise 276 THE ALPINE FLORA they are of easy culture in dry, sunny, open spots. All are easily raised from seed or increased by division. They are distinguished by the generally entire and simple leaves, which are either fringed or covered with hairs ; the sepals are erect and equal; the petals entire, emarginate or bi-fid, and the fruit contained in an oval silicule, the seeds being without wings. The chief alpine species are: D. aizoides* (PJ. X1). A dwarf, tufted plant, which linear Jeaves, the edges markedly ciliate, clustering into compact rosettes; flowers vivid yellow, in short racemes on a Jeafless and smooth scape. March-July. Rocks of the Alps and Jura (500-2000 m.). D. affinis, differing by a larger flower and fruits 7/46 in. Jong (7/46/46 in. in aizoides). High Alps. D. Hoppeana, with leaves ciliate or fringed, something like a fish-bone; flowers yellow, inathin, sleader raceme. From the granitic Alps (2200-2500 m..). D. tomentosa. A dwarf plant with small, cottony leaves in a close rosette springing from the old withered ones; flowers white; July-August. High Alps, in fissures of limestone. D. frigida, to be known by its smooth, oblong fruits (ova] and ciliate in tomentosa), by somewhat smaller and Jess white leavess. July-August. High Alps, in crevices of granitic rock. D. pyrenaica (Petrocallis pyrenaica) (P). X1). A small plant, forming dense tufts of innumerable rosettes of leathery, glistening, cuneate leaves, strongly veined and terminated at the apex by three well marked teeth. The tight, compact, green cushion looks, when out of flower, like a saxifrage. The lilac flowers are borne in smal] bunches ona short stem (often non-existent). July-August: in the detritus of fissures of limestone (2000-2500 m.) some- thing of a ‘‘ miff”, requiring sandy Joam on Jevel sunny rocks, and regular top-dressing. CRUCIFER/E 277 Kernera K. saxatilis (Cochlearia sax.). Asmal] tufted rock-plant; leaves longish ovals, hairy, with or without toothed edges, and gathered into large rosettes; stem slender, branching in the upper part, and bearing a variable number of small, pure white flowers, arranged in panicles. June-August. Limestone crevices. At home in cracks of rocks or old walls, or any open position. Easily raised from seeds, but hardly deserving a place in gardens. Vesicaria Fr.: Vésicaire. V. utriculata: A rock plant, somewhat sub-shrubby in appearance with short branches, terminated by tufts of oblong leaves, covered with a flat-lying pile which thin out into long petioles and form broad rosettes; flowers large, of pale yellow, in an erect raceme, and followed by swollen globular fruits. May-June. Fissures of limestone in the lower Valais. A plant of some merit but inferior to greca. Both best raised from the seeds, which are prodigally produced and easily grown in old walls, lime- stone chips and any sunny dry place. Erysimum Eng. : Hedge-mustard; Fr.: Velar; Ger. : Hederich. A genus containing perennials, biennials and annuals, among which E. ochroleucum and pumilum are pretty, or- namental plants suited for rockeries, borders and edgings in formal gardens. Both do wel] in dry sunny positions, pumilum especially requiring very gritty loam and abundance of dry stone chips. Its delicate prettiness deserves a choice 278 THE ALPINE FLORA corner, whereas ochroleucum is apt to spread rank and to become a nuisance with self-sown seedlings ; it should also be frequently divided. E. ochroleucum (P|. X1) isa sort of little, tufted, grassy ten-week-stock, whose ascending branches (4-12 in. long) are terminated sometimes by a bunch of green, hairy, narrow, oblong leaves, sometimes by a stem carrying a cluster of very sweet flowers, a beautiful shade of yellow. May-June. Only found in rock rubbish of the Jura, from the Chasseral to Ja Dole. E. pumilum is a low-growing form (1 in. high) with narrow, fewer, less-toothed and generally Jess vigorous leaves but does not otherwise differ much from ochroleucum. E. helveticum also is very similar. Both the Jatter are confined to the Alps. D« Hermary of Tours (Gazette Médicale du Centre) calls attention to the excellence of Erysimum as a remedy for simple cases of laryngitis, and mentions that it was once much used for this purpose. A great mistake has been made in forgetting this, for nothing better can be used. Dentaria Eng.: Toothwort; Fr.: Dentaire; Ger. : Zahnkraut. Flowers and leaves Jarge; sepals erect; stigma entire or slightly scalloped; pod hard, bulky, lanceo-linear, the flat valves opening elastically and rolling from below upwards on the ripening of the seed. D. digitata. A plant 12-20 in. high, with a dentated and articulated subterranean stock; leaves 5-foliate, digitate, palmate, large, with a strong taste of cress; flowers large, lilac-violet, in drooping terminal racemes. Mountainous and woody districts of the limestone Alps and Jura. D. pinnata (P|. X11) is distinguished by pinnate, instead of digitate leaves, with 5-7 leaflets arranged along the CRUCIFERZ 279 petiole like the webs of a feather; flowers pale lilac or whitish. Same districts as preceding. It requires light sandy peat with plenty of leaf mould, and a cool situation under moderate shade. Propagated from seed or, with ease, from root-division. Hugueninia Hi. tanacetifolia: a plant from 20 to 40 in. high, with greyish leaves very deeply divided into delicately incised and dentate leaflets; stem erect, branched at the top, with very many leaves; flowers smal], pleasant yellow, slightly scented, in large panicles. July-August. Cool and shady parts of the valleys of Arolla and Bagnes, from 1800 to 2200 m. The plant somewhat suggests a yellow Valerian and is one of the few Cruciferz that delight in moisture. In some damp out-of-the-way corner a place may be found for it. Cardamine C. resedifolia. A smal] turf-like herb, 2-6 in. high., radical leaves rounded and oblong, stem-leaves deeply pinnatisect, with 2-3 pair of blunted linear Jeaflets; the flowers small, white, in erect spikes. July-August. High Alps. C. alpina, from similar habitats, differs in that the leaves are either undivided or exhibit three indistinct lobes. Neither however is really equal to the native ‘‘Cuckoo- flower” C. pratensis fl. pl. Arabis Eng. : Rockcress; Fr.: Arabette; Ger. : Gansekresse. Flowers white, rose, violet or bluish, with erect, equal sepals, and stigma entire or slightly scalloped; siliquas (pods) narrow, linear and compressed. Although the 280 THE ALPINE FLORA alpine varieties are pretty things for associating with Alys- sum, Aubrietias and early spring flowers, none is really worth cultivation by the side of the Greek A. albida, especially in its new double form, whose only fault is its irrestrainable rampancy. A. alpina (Corbeille d’argent) (PI. XI1]1). A tufted herb, with many creeping, diffuse branches; leaves greyish, coarsely toothed ; flowers pure white, numerous, on lengthy spikes. April-August in coo] and rocky parts of the limestone formation (500-1500 m.). A. arenosa: a biennial, not forming a sward, with slen- der, erect, branching stem; radical leaves deeply pinnatifid; rose or violet flowers, fairly large. May-September in rocky and cool positions of the north and central] Jura. A. bellidifolia (P]. X111). Tufted plant; leaves glossy, oblong-oval, entire or dentate ; flowers milk-white, nume- rous, grouped ina stiff panicle. June-July. Moist places in the Alps from 1000 to 2000 m. Wil] grow in cool parts of the rockery. Al. pumila differs from it in hairy leaves, and a much more squat habit. Native of the Alps (2500-3000 m.). A. cerulea differs from bellidifolia ina stem hardly ex- ceeding 4 in.; radical leaves terminated by three teeth; smal] flowers with bluish, caducous petals. July-August among the stones in the high Alps (2400-3000 m.). Matthiola M. valesiaca*: A small stock with violet flowers in erect spikes; grows on warm slopes along the Simplon road and in the Binnthal. Hutchinsia H. alpina (PJ. X1V): a small tufted herb, forming a close sward; foliage smooth, of a dark, glossy green, the leaves CRUCIFER 281 rosulate or arranged along the stem, composed of small, oblong, entire leaflets; stems slender, bearing tiny, pure white flowers on erect and crowded spikes. June-July. Cool rocks in the limestone Alps and Jura, between 1000 and 2700 m. Culture: cool rockery, with partial shade, if possible. It is altogether a delightful little carpeter, but spreads dreadfully, when established, from seed. Thlaspi Eng.: Bastard Cress; Fr.: Tabouret; Ger. : Taschelkraut, T . rotundifolium (P|. X1V). A neat, little creeping plant, sufficiently meritorious for exhaustive collections, with smooth, fleshy leaves, rounded ovals in shape and gathered into rosettes. The flowers are reddish-violet, sweet scent- ed, growing in dense, flattened racemes. June-August. Limestone Alps. Requires ful] sun and a crevice in a wall or chalk rock. Easily grown from seed. Biscutella Eng.: Buckler Mustard; Fr.: Biscutelle; Ger.: Brillenkraut. B. levigata: a plant with rough leaves, the edges coarsely dentate, which insensibly narrow on the leaf- stalk; flowers numerous, smal], clear-yellow, in a spreading raceme on the apex of a slender, brittle stem; the fruit is very suggestive of a pair of lunettes with a peak between the two halves. July-September. Rocky pastures of the Alps (1000-2000 m.). A plant of some claims, but very seldom seen in gar- dens. It requires light deep soil, full sun, in rockery or open beds. Propagate by seeds. eS: 282 THE ALPINE FLORA Cistinez 2) This order is composed of smal] sub-shrubs, of which the Jeaves are usually opposite and undivided, the flowers, not unlike smal] wild roses, regular with five sepals (the two exterior being smaller) and five transient petals, which usually fal] before evening. The stamens vary in number. For garden purposes it is represent by the genus Helianthe- mum, with similar characteristics. Helianthemum Eng.: Rockrose; Fr.: Héliantheme; Ger. : Sonnenroschen. We have no more ornamental or useful plants for rock- eries or dry, sunny banks. They may be employed as edgings or carpets, for the decoration of walls, rocks or shrubbery borders, and ask for no attention beyond a lightish soi] and open situation, while their hardiness is beyond al] question, neither heat nor drought preventing them from flowering throughout the length of summer up to the autumn frosts. Al] varieties should be cut back after the first period of bloom to ensure new breaks, com- pact growth and a second bloom. They are raised with the greatest ease from seed. The common sunrose breaks into glorious varieties of colour — rose, red, carmine, vermilion, crimson, white, yellow, both single or double. From it originate most of the listed kinds, which are in themselves sufficient to furnish a garden with representa- tives of the genus. H. vulgare* (PJ. XV). Small, shrubby; erect branches, drooping at top; leaves oblong-ovate, green on the upper CISTINE 283 and greyish on the under surface; the stems terminated by long, narrow racemes of vivid yellow flowers, suc- ceeded by large, swollen capsular fruits. May-October over al] sunny slopes of our mountain regions. H. grandiflorum is distinguished by very large flowers and Jeaves green on both surfaces; H. alpestre (P1. XV) by leaves green below and covered with hairs on the mid- rid and: petiole. H. canum* is a wel] marked species, with narrow, ovate leaves, hoary and covered with hairs, especially on the under side ; flowers small, yellow, united in short ra- cemes. June-August. Rocky slopes of the Jura and the Saléve (beyond the frontier). H. Fumana. Dwarf and slender shrub, with branches either erect or procumbent ; Jeaves alternate and sharpened like short needles; flowers yellow, only opening in the sun and whose petals fal] at the Jeast shock. June-September. Dry slopes of south and west Switzerland. 284 THE ALPINE FLORA Violacez es ::3) Herbs with leaves most frequently alternate, flowers irregular, the peduncles furnished with two bracts; 5 free sepals; 5 petals, free or slightly coherent (the lower enlarged and apron-shaped) prolonged behind in a spur of varying size; 5 stamens with very short filaments. Viola Eng. : Violet or Pansy; Fr.: Violette or Pensée ; Ger.: Veilchen or Stiefmutterchen. Roughly speaking Violets are the smaller flowered, Pansies the larger flowered species of this genus. For alpine gardens the best varieties are calcarata, biflora, and a newly introduced American pedata; cenisia is as awkward as calcarata is obliging. With this one exception they are of the easiest culture and propagated by seed, division after flowering, or cuttings from short, soft runners. The florist’s ‘‘pansy” is derived from altaica, and the garden ‘‘viola” from crosses of these ‘‘pansies” and alpine violas. It is useful to note that non-yellow-flowered species are less impatient of dry positions than those with yellow flowers. V . calcarata (P|). XV1). Plant of turf-like habit, oblong- ovate leaves, with roundish notches on the edge; flower very large, dark violet, with a slender spur as Jong as the corolla projecting behind; sweet and pleasantly scented. It may occasionally be met in a variety of colours, especially onthe Italian side of the Alps, from exceedingly VIOLACE 285 deep violet to pure white or yellow. June-August. Alps and southern Jura in pastures from 1000 to 2500 m. Culture: this charming plant may be grown in a soil composed of equal parts of Jeaf-mould, sand and good Joam; a cool] position, but on no account complete shade. Usages: the flower, gathered at the time of opening and dried in shade is much valued by our highlanders, who employ an infusion of them against affections of the throat and catarrh. V. cenisia (P]. XV11) is a species near akin, but with subterranean stems which thrust long, winding stolons among the stones. The leaves are longer, thicker, hardly at al] notched; the corolla is a trifle smaller and of bluer- violet shade. July-August. Detritus of calcareous Alps from 1500 to 2500 m. Culture difficult: requires a well-drained niche in the rockery and sun. V. heterophylla (PJ. XV11) is a plant with slender, erect, branched stems; leaves of different sizes and shapes; flowers of medium size and reddish-violet. June-Septem- ber in the south-east Alps, and has acclimatised itself in Valais, both in the neighbourhood of the botanical garden of Linnza and on the Rochers de Naye below Rambertia. V. biflora (Pl. XVII). Slender, short plant, with blunted, reniform leaves, of a clear green, flowers small, bright yellow, streaked with violet, scentless, arranged in pairs on an erect stem, which bears one or more leaves. June-August. Moist, shady and cool spots in the Alps and Jura, particularly at the base of rocks. Culture: this delightful, yellow-flowered violet may be grown in a cool, spongy, sandy soi] (leaf-mould and sand), on the rockery or at the foot of a north wall, or even in shaded gravel. 19 286 THE ALPINE FLORA’ V. palustris*. A smal] plant with leaves of a clear green, rounded, and with slightly toothed edges; flowers small, clear lilac, scentless; the lower petal veined, with a short, thick spur. May-July. Mountain marshland, where the tiny flowers may be seen rising in the peat and among the moss. V.Thomasiana. Leaves oblong-ovate, somewhat heart- shaped at the base, pubescent; flowers Jarge, red-violet and very fragrant. May-September. Rocky slopes of the Alps (1000-2000 m.) under stones or among rocks. POLYGALE 287 Polygalez Ss: Herbaceous plants or shrubs, with alternate, simple, entire leaves, the irregular flowers either solitary or united into spikes or racemes; a panicled inflorescence is rare. The calyx consists of 4-5 sepals, of which the larger are wing-like and coloured (petaloid); the corolla of 3-5 petals, the anterior shaped like a keel, which encloses the re- productive organs; there are eight stamens, in groups of four. The characteristics of the typical genus are identical. Polygala Eng.: Milkwort; Fr.: Polygale; Ger. : Kreuzblume. P. chamebuxus (P]. XV111), or ‘‘ Faux buis’’, is a smal], diminutive shrub with branched and prostrate stems, partly buried in the ground, bearing a great number of branches furnished, in the upper part, with thick, oblong- ovate leaves, persistent through winter; flowers large, pale yellow at the external divisions, darker in the centre and turning at the apex to a red-brown after fertilisation. Flowers through the winter in sheltered places. February- May. On January 20, 1906, ] found a plant in flower on a rock facing the south at the height of 2100 m., above the Thyon Alp, in Val d’Hérémence, Valais. In Canton Ticino and among the hills of Lombardy, the exterior of the flower is of a bright carmine, which contrasts happily with the vivid yellow of the centre. Grows in wooded slopes and in sub-alpine regions; is also met in some few parts of the Jura. 288 THE ALPINE FLORA It requires a porous, wel] drained chalk soil, under partial shade. In sandy peat and Joam English specimens are found to surpass the alpine type. Beautiful examples are to be seen at Friar Park, where it is used for borders and carpet-work and flowers prodigally. P. alpestris (P1). XV111). ‘‘Herbe au Jaitier”: an annual species with very slender, thread-like stems, with sparse leaves, those springing from the root being short and obovate in shape, those on the stalk being oblong and Jance-like. It bears a spike of 10-20 blue flowers, the wings (sepals) traversed by veins which branch towards their end. June-July. Pastures of the Alps and Jura. ; The milkwort root has an exceedingly bitter taste, and is used for Jung troubles, especially chronic bronchitis, and as a purgative. CARYOPHYLLE/E 289 Caryophyllez eS: The plants included in this order are mostly herbaceous, and are distinguished by angular or cylindrical and often articulated stems; the leaves are opposite, simple and entire; the inflorescence is definite, i. e. opening first at the apex and Jast at the base; flowers are solitary, often in fascicles or bundles; the sepals, 4-5 in number, may be either separate or connate; the petals, 4-5, are only attached at the base of a claw of varying length, and the edges may be entire or more or Jess divided ; the stamens, 5-10, are arranged in two whorls. Dianthus Eng.: Pink; Fr.: Géillet; Ger. : Nelke. There is, perhaps, no genus of alpine plants, upon the cultivation of which opinion is more variable — from a comprehensive ‘‘exceedingly easy” to Mr. Farrer’s sum- mary dismissal: ‘‘the Pinks are a difficult race”, or his specific outbreak upon D. sylvestris: <‘the coralline love- liness of this evil-tempered and most ungrateful of plants”. The truth seems to be that, whereas the taller kinds (e. g. superbus), except D. Carthusianorum, often affect dampish and partly shaded spots, the smaller tufted spe- cies come, as a rule, from open, sunny, high pastures which might almost be called arid and baked, yet this preference for dryness is due not to dislike of seasonable moisture but to dislike of heavy, retentive soil. Most wil] die out in borders and should be wedged among 290 THE ALPINE FLORA sloping stones or packed between upright slabs, should be regularly top-dressed, to prevent a leggy habit, with grit, sand and leaf-mould, and in winter protected round the collar by abundant chips of the stone congenial to them. Few wil] venture to attempt the removal of full grown plants from the Alps, after once wrestling with the deep tap-roots so characteristic of the genus. Fortu- nately all seed is easy to raise and quick to germinate, so that it wise to keep a regular supply of seedlings, especially as some, e. g. superbus, are perhaps really biennials. The characteristics of the genus are as follows: calyx five-toothed, with a calycule or scale-like organs at the base; five petals with long claws; ten stamens; two fili- form styles. The chief species and their habitats are: D. Carthusianorum (PJ. XIX). Carthusian Pink; G&illet des Chartreux; Kartheuser Nelke. Stems erect, simple; Jeaves narrow, acuminate, opposite, sometimes a bluish- green; flowers more or less vivid carmine red, small, united in a terminal cluster of 2-30 scentless flowers, ona very short and almost non-existent peduncle. June-Sep- tember. Meadows and dry slopes of al] our mountain districts. D. atrorubens is distinguished by its tall, slender stem, smaller and narrower petals, and more elongated flowers. Native of sunny places in Valais and Ticino. Culture: both do well in gardens and rockeries exposed to the sun; in such positions they flower profusely and for a long time. D. sylvestris. Stems simple or slightly branched; leaves Jong and narrow, like pine-needles, dense, numerous, forming a close tuft; flowers solitary, of a beautiful clear rose colour, the petals notched and not bearded. June- October. Hills and rocks of the Alps and southern Jura. CARYOPHYLLE 29! (500-1800 m.); the origin of the ‘‘sylvan” misnomer is mysterious. This charming plant is quite successful in Swiss gar- dens, ona rockery, on dry, arid slopes and in the border. It requires full sun and a soil of stone chips. A white- flowered variety is cultivated at Floraire. D. cesius* (Cheddar Pink) is a smal] grass-like plant, with a running root-stock, bluish green in colour, and forming large low, flat tufts; stems bearing one large flower of pale rose, with bearded, dentate petals; fragrant. July-August. Dry pastures and rocks of Jimestone Alps and the Jura, but sporadic. (1000-1800 m.). Culture: ful] sun in a gritty chalk rockery, or mossy chink of walls. Unsuited to the heavier soil of an ordinary border. D. glacialis. A miniature species, with long wiry leaves of shining dark green, forming a tuft in whose midst are hidden flowers of medium size, scentless, of most brilliant carmine-red colour, rising on stems so short that they are overtopped by the leaves. July-August. Granitic Alps of the Grisons from 1900 to 2500 m. ‘It is a capricious species in cultivation, being generally considered the most difficult to grow, and yet occasionally rampant in almost pure sand. It is a lover of moisture if not stagnant. To be planted in a wel] drained niche of granite, with a porous soi] of leaf-mould, granite sand, loam and peat; lime be must avoided. A regular top- dressing of coarse grit must be given in autumn, and sandy gritty loam worked among the young plants during the year from time to time. D. superbus (PJ. XIX). Stems upright or drooping, branching above; lanceolate leaves of dark green; large flowers of violet-lilac, with long petals deeply cut and fringed, spotted green at the base; perfume delicate and 292 THE ALPINE FLORA penetrating. August-October. Woods, copses and glades © in al] our mountain districts. The variety speciosa, whose flowers though larger and more richly coloured are fewer in number and have less deeply cut petals, is found here and there in alpine meadows. Culture: a splendid plant for half-shaded edges round groups of trees. D. monspessulanus differs from the preceeding in its narrower leaves, stiff thin stems, generally single-flow- ered, and not exceeding twelve inches in height; in its smaller flowers with petals of clear rose, not spotted, edged with a simple fringe, and hardly divided. July- October. Rocky pastures and thickets of the Ticino Alps and the southern Jura (beyond the frontier). Culture: open beds or rockery; in sun. Tunica T. saxifraga. This is a smal] plant with very numerous, erect, thin and branched stems, forming a tuft almost destitute of leaves, but producing an infinite number of tender-rose flowers, very similar to those of Gypsophila repens, cymosely arranged above the plant; Jeaves narrow and like short needles. June-October. Dry and arid spots in southern Switzerland. It should be grown in the poorest of soil, for it is so prodigal of bloom til] Jate in autumn that it is otherwise apt to flower itself to death. A good grit dressing is necessary to protect it against winter damp. Gypsophila Eng.: Gypsophila; Fr. : Gypsophile; Ger. : Gypskraut. G. repens (PJ. XX). A smal] glabrous plant, with fairly Jong, procumbent, pendulous branches. The leaves are narrow, oblong and glaucous; the innumerable flowers, CARYOPHYLLE 293 carried aloft in spreading racemes, cast-a rosy-white mist over the succulent mat of foliage. June-September. Rocky limestone slopes of the Alps and southern Jura, from the foothills upwards. It, like others of the genus, is an indispensable plant for carpeting rocky banks, edges of borders or old walls. It never Jooks better than when drooping over shelves of limestone. Of the easiest culture in full sun and well drained light soil, containing plenty of grit and sand. Multiplied by suckers, cuttings or seed. Saponaria Eng.: Rock soapwort; Fr.: Saponaire; Ger. : Seifenkraut. S. ocymoides (PJ. XX). A spreading plant with numerous, Jong, winding, prostrate stems, straggling over the ground and in some cases attaining a yard in length, leaves ovate- lanceolate, the upper ones acuminate ; flowers very nume- rous, smal], of a beautiful bright rose, in loose, spreading cymes. April-June. Dry places, especially on the chalk, in the Alps and Jura, up to 2000 m. Culture: one of the most useful plant for decorating rocks, dry banks, borders and old walls. It requires full sun, and should be cut back in spring. Best in poorish soi] — gritty loam and sand. Easily raised from seed. Silene Eng.: Catchfly; Fr.: Silene; Ger. : Leimkraut. A delightful genus contained many indispensable plants. Although it is almost invidious to make a choice, perhaps the best of those mentioned below are acaulis, bryoides (especially the double form), guadrifida of the loose pan- icles, and saxifraga. But even better are S. Elizabethe and Pumilio; these and the Caucasian S. Schafta should be in every collection. All like well drained, gritty soil ; if overfed they are apt to run to a lot of soft growth, 294 THE ALPINE FLORA which is easily attacked and injured by frost. Propagate by cuttings and seed. The genus is distinguished by a five-toothed calyx, long-clawed petals, three styles, and a six-valved capsule which opens at the top. S. acaulis* (PJ. XX1). (Cushion Pink). A close-packed, ceespitose clump, forming a cushion of green, composed of innumerable branches crowded one upon another, and terminated at an equal height by rosettes of tiny, narrow, linear-subulate leaves, ciliate at the base, and bearing at the summit flowers of a charming rose colour, with 5 petals slightly crenated, and attached to the cushion in such a way as to cover it almost completely, so well indeed that the foliage cannot be seen through the shining garment above. The stalk on which the flowers is carried is very short, from *% to 2 in. July-August. Rocks, moraines, and dry pastures of the Alps (1500-3000 m.). There are several varieties, of which one, S. exscapa, has a smal], sessile flower, directly attached to the branch, and an almost globular seed-vessel, which does not stand above the divisions of the calyx (in acaulis the capsule is oblong and exserted). S. bryoides differs from acaulis in non-crenate petals and a somewhat shorter capsule. Al] three forms are found with white flowers, and ] have found on the Cenisian Alps a fine variety of acaulis with double flowers, like to miniature roses of the most beautiful vivid carmine. Culture: the various cushion-pinks grow in a sunny position, a dry, sandy, well-drained, stony soil, with pre- ference for a rockery or old wall. S. alpina is closely allied to the common S. inflata* of our fields, but the stems are prostrate and stoloniferous, the Jeaves very smooth, and the flowers Jarger. Found among stones. S. rupestris (P]. XX1). A slender plant with many, thin stems, divided and branching from the base; Jeaves nar- CARYOPHYLLE 295 row, lanceolate, of a bluish green, bearing a mass or white flowers, the petals entire or a little crenate. June- September. Rocky districts of the granitic Alps between 1000 and 2000 m. S. guadrifida. Tufty, grass-like plant, with numerous, spreading, slender stems, furnished with bright green leaves, narrow and lanceolate; flowers smal], numerous, of the purest white, with 4-toothed petals. July-Septem- ber. Cool, shady limestone rocks in the Alps and Jura. Succeeds in shady crevices of the rockery or old walls. S. saxifraga. A grassy plant, with slender stems, nar- row, dark green Jeaves, detached flowers, borne 2-3 on long peduncles, a corolla only opening at night, the divisions being curled by day, white within and reddish- brown outside. July-September. Sunny rocks in the Alps (1000-1800 m.). Lychnis Eng.: Campion; Fr.:; Lychnide; Ger.: Lichtnelke. Although the species included in the genus are some- what coarse and flaunting, yet the brilliance of colouring makes them very ornamental and striking ina garish fashion for a less select corner in the rockery or border. L. Vis- caria splendens plena is of so dominant magnificence that it will kill any of the more delicate shades of red and therefore calls for discretion in planting. The native alpina is interesting without brilliance. The Japanese haageana, with many beautiful hybrids, and the Spanish Legasce should not be omitted. Many grow readily from self-sown seeds — another reason for cautious handling. All are robust in constitution and do well, without much attention, in light soil, exposed to the sun. Characteristics: Calyx with five teeth; petals on very long claws ; five styles; the fruit capsular, opening by five valves or ten teeth. 296 THE ALPINE FLORA L. sylvestris (Silene diurna, Melandrium diurnum) (P).. XXI1]). Atallish plant, downy, with stems at first prostrate, then ascending; leaves ovate, Jarge and soft; flowers of a purple-rose, in loose, spreading cyme; calyx coloured, swollen and hairy. June-August. Coo] meadows of the Alps and Jura. L. viscaria* (Viscaria vulgaris) (PJ. XX11]). Stems erect, stiff, viscid; Jeaves narrow, oblong-lanceolate; flowers brilliant carmine, with connate petals, forming a lengthened, terminal cyme. Pastures of granitic Alps, from 800 to 1500 m. There is a variety with pure white flowers and another with double flowers. L. alpina* is a smal] plant, a diminutive species of the preceeding; stem 2-6 in.; Jeaves linear, ovate, of a green slightly tinged with blue, arranged in rosettes at the base; flowers smal], numerous, vivid carmine, with petals deeply bi-fid and united in smal], compact cymes. July-August. Granitic Alps in the dry pastures of the alpine zone. L. Flos-Jovis (P). XXI11). Hairy plant, with erect stems, and Jarge, lanceolate, cottony leaves; flowers of a clear carmine, arranged in flat bunches. July-August. Rocky and sunny pastures of the Alps (1000-1500 m.). A beautiful, white-flowered variety is found in the Turtmanthal. Meehringia The sepals and petals vary from 4-5, with twice as many stamens; two or three styles; fruit capsular, ovoid in shape, containing smal] glossy black seeds. M. muscosa (PJ]. XXIV). Small, slender, mossy plant, with innumerable, spreading stems, furnished with little, narrow, filiform Jeaves, of clear green; flowers small, pure white, numerous, with four cruciform petals. May- September. Moist, shady places in limestone. Excellent for planting in cool parts of chalky rock-word or old walls. CARYOPHYLLE 297 M. polygonoides is more dwarf, with broader leaves, and flowers five-petalled. Grows in detritus on the Alps, between 1000 and 1500 m. Arenaria The genera Arenaria (Sandwort), Alsine (Stichwort), Sagina (Pearlwort), which are closely connected together, are smal], tufty plants, usually with fine leaves and white flowers, most of which have 5 sepals and petals, though some species of Sagina have only 4. The English species once known as Mehringia trinervis is now included under Arenaria. There are in al] about twenty alpine species included in these genera; they are found in rocks, débris, old walls, or sunny pastures of the Alps and Jura. Akin to Mehringia, they are similar in appearance but usually grow in drier, sunny places. But for good garden kinds we must go outside the Alps, e. q. to A. norvegica, bale- arica, gothica, purpurescens, montana. Cerastium Eng.: Chickweed; Fr.: Céraiste; Ger.: Hornkraut. Sepals five; petals five, bifid; stamens ten, rarely five; fruit capsule opens by ten teeth. __C. arvense (P]. XXIV). Stems at the base procumbent, then ascendent ; leaves ovate; sepals broadly membranous; white petals, slightly Jonger than the calyx. Fields, road- sides, from 5oo to 1500 m. C. glaciale (PJ. XXV). Tufty and running plant, with many stems, furnished with oblong, greyish leaves; flowers large, white, with spreading petals twice as long as the calyx. August-September. Stones and glacier mo- raines (1900-2000 m.). i eS: 298 THE ALPINE FLORA Linez Se Herbaceous plants with simple leaves; flowers regular, with five persistent sepals, five petals, five stamens, five styles and a superior ovary only attached at the base. Linum Eng.: Flax; Fr.: Lin; Ger.: Leinkraut. L. alpinum (PJ. XXV). Stems divided toward the top, bearing many, narrow leaves; widely separated flowers along and at the apex of the branches, in a very loose cyme, the corolla large, of a lilac-blue. June-August. Meadows in the Alps and Jura. L. tenuifolium differs in its shorter and slenderer stems, Jonger and narrower leaves, roughened on the edges, and, above all, by the lilac-rose tint of its fugacious corollas. Grows on the warm and sunniest slopes among the foothills. All the flaxes are of marked elegance and light, feathery growth. Both the alpines, however, though useful rockery plants, are inferior to the garden varieties known as flavum and narbonense, with which and perenne and sibericum any ordinary collection may be satisfied. AJ] enjoy ful] sun and flower from June to winter without attention. Easily multiplied by cuttings or seed. So GERANIACE 299 Geraniacez sh The majority of plants included are herbaceous; at the base of the leaves wil] be found the smal] leaf-like organs known as ‘‘stipules”; the flower is composed of five petals, five sepals, ten stamens and five styles, and a most peculiar characteristic is the strong spiral spring-like beak which is able to project the seeds to a distance of seven or eight yards. Geranium Eng.: Cranes-bill; Fr.: Géranium; Ger. : Storchschnabel. Dwarfer varieties are good for cool and slightly shaded positions in rockeries and borders, the taller for wilder parts among such plants as Aconites or Digitalis. The flowering season lasts from May to autumn. They are easily grown from seed, which should be gathered very early, since the capsules open soon after sunrise. It is doubtful whether any of the Swiss varieties are really worth inclusion ina garden, though rivulare is a handsome plant. All are certainly inferior to the asiatic ibericum, for example, or the native English lancastriense, the alpine ar- genteum, the pyrenzan cinereum. The genus is distinguished by a regular corolla, with ten, seldom five anthers; the stem is usually divided into two forks, bearing palmate leaves. The whole plant has a strongly aromatic scent. G. rivulare (G. aconitifolium) (P]. XXV1). Plant with stems branched above, slightly pubescent; leaves palmate, very deeply cut and veined, greyish-green; flowers with 300 THE ALPINE FLORA white, purple-veined petals. July. Granitic Alps between 1000-2400 m. G. sylvaticum* (P]. XXV11). Robust plant with palmate, rather thick leaves, coarsely cut and serrate; flowers very numerous, reddish-violet, with white centres, in large panicles. July-September. Woods and mountain copses. G. Phzum * has stems slightly divided towards the top; Jeaves cut into 5-7 closely adjacent lobes; flowers with flat corolla, dusky-violet (in the variety lividum violet- brown). Native of cool meadows in mountain districts. AUIVUYOTA LV AUAMIOU , t t PAPILIONACEE 301 Papilionacez Degp The leaves in this order are almost always alternate (Genista radiata is an exception) and generally composite; the irregular flowers consist of five petals, of which the two lower, or the keel, grow together at the point, the two lateral ones, forming the wings, are free, and the fifth upper one is reflexed lengthwise and known as the standard; there are ten stamens. Speaking generally the mountain genera of this order which are suited for garden work are comparatively few; of those catalogued many are only fit for the roughest places, and even in dealing with the more select kind a strictly limited choice should be made owing to the com- parative similarity not only of species, but even of genera. Many, also, are murderously rampant. Genista Eng.: Broom; Fr.:; Genét; Ger.: Ginster. These plants are readily amenable to cultivation, and the bright flowers are very striking. The dwarf and often tufted habit is good, looking wel] among rockroses, heaths, and other rambling shrubs. Sagittalis flourishes in the coldest soi], and with the English pilosa and tinctoria makes a good enough selection for any ordinary garden; but the indispensable one is andreana, a glorious mass of gold and copper. Nothing is better for hot, dry, sandy soil. The calyx is tubular, with two lips, the upper divided into two, the lower into three sections; the leaves are entire and undivided. 20 302 THE ALPINE FLORA G. sagittalis (P]. XXVI111). Small shrub resembling in appearance an herbaceous plant; rootstock prostrate and branched ; from it rise small, simple erect stems, bearing two long wings, broken at the intersection of the leaves, which form a Jarge, tufted mass covered with bright yel- low flowers, carried in terminal spikes. June-September. Pastures and edges of woods (600-1500 m.). G. tinctoria* (P]. XXV111). Shrub 12-20 in.; the stems are erect, furnished with ovate leaves, which spring from minute stipules; flowers bright yellow in Jarge terminal racemes forming a pyramidal panicle. June-August. Com- mon in moors, pastures and edges of woods. There isa good double form. G. germanica is distinguished by its spinous branches, and oblong-lanceolate, downy leaves; by the absence of basal stipules and by brilliant yellow flowers ina terminal panicle. June-July. Margins of woods, banks etc. Cytisus Eng.: Laburnum; Fr.: Cytise; Ger.: Goldregen. Two species are found in Switzerland, both tree-like in habit which sometimes grow to the height of over thirty feet, or gracefully drooping shrubs. As the present work does not deal with trees, readers are referred to my special book on that subject’. Anthyllis Eng.: Kidney Vetch; Fr.: Vulnéraire; Ger.: Wundklee. The species montana (and variety rubra) is useful in dry sunny banks, as it resists the extremest cold and moisture. Limestone and good Joam is the most suitable 1 Nos arbres, H. Correvon; illustrated and published by Atar, Geneva. PAPILIONACEE 303 soi] and a top-dressing from time to time is beneficial. Easily propagated by division or seeds. It is distinguished by a five-toothed, persistent calyx, which withers after florescence, and its cymose heads of bloom. A. vulneraria*, variety alpestris (PJ. XXIX). Dwarf with leaves of five or eleven unequal Jeaflets, the terminal one being very large; inflorescence definite, in simple or compound capitules; corolla rosy-white (yellow in the type). July-August. Alpine pastures. Not a garden variety. A. montana. Grassy plant; root-stock woody and run- ning, spreading over the ground which it sometimes covers for large spaces; leaves greyish, with silky hairs, many- foliate; flowers rose, fragrant. June-August. Southern Jura (Déle, Creux-du-Van, Saléve). Trifolium Eng.: Trefoil, Clover; Fr.: Trefle; Ger.: Klee. The only species really worth cultivation is alpinum, which should be raised from seed as collected plants are practically impossible to acclimatise. The generic charac- teristics are interesting, as the genus includes the plant commonly accepted as Shamrock (7. dubium). The calyx has five long, sub-equal teeth; the corolla persists after florescence, and the stamens are more or Jess adnate or growing on to it; the leaves are divided into three leaflets; the flowers are gathered into heads or cylindrical spikes. T. alpinum (P). XXIX). The root-stock is short and branched, so that large tufts are formed from which spring glabrous, finely toothed leaves; the flowers are large and rosy, each carried on a very brief stalk and massed, four to six in number, ina loose and globose head. July-August. Alpine pastures, between 1200 and 2500 m., where it covers vast areas. 304 THE ALPINE FLORA A considerable number of other trefoils are found in the Swiss mountains, of which the most important are T. alpestre, a plant with soft hairs, stems 4-12 in., erect, simple, bearing at the apex rosy-purple flowers in globose heads, enclosed by 2 leaves, with downy calyx; 7. mon- tanum, reaching 16 in., with white flowers in globose clusters, and oblong, finely serrate leaflets. Lastly 7. Badium and spadiceum, with yellow flowers, those of the former in small, globose heads, of the second in cylindrical heads ; al] are found almost everywhere in the alpine zone. Oxytropis A genus of low, almost sub-shrubby plants, whose spreading, tufted branches hug the ground; the leaves are composed of many opposite leaflets, with flowers generally racemose, the calyx having five divisions, and a keel that terminates abruptly in a small, soft point. The best variety pyrenaica is not Swiss; the flowers of Halleri are of charming gentian blue. This last species seems in England to prefer a dampish situation, whereas the ma- jority like a well-drained, dry, open position among broken limestone or gritty sand. The only method of propagation is by seeds. The Swiss varieties are: O. montana (Pl. XXX). Root-stock short and branched, emitting many, prostrate stems; leaves with 9-15 pairs of oblong-ovate leaflets; flowers of purplish wine-rose, shading to blue; pods swollen and reddish. July-August. On rocky, sunny slopes of the Alps and southern Jura. O. campestris* (PJ. XXX). Downy plant, with leaves of 10-20 pairs of leaflets, softly hairy, oblong-lanceolate; flowers yellow, united 5-10 in globose racemes. July- August. The Alps in gravelly pastures and torrent-beds, descending down to the valleys. PAPILIONACE/E 305 O. fetida. Glandular, viscid, glabrous, with an un- pleasant odour; leaves with 15-20 pairs of leaflets; in other respects like campestris. July-August. Alpine rocks (1000-2000 m.). O. pilosa. Plant with hoary down; stems 12-16 in., simple, erect; leaves with 10-13 pairs of lanceolate leaflets, flowers of very pale yellow, in compact, ovoid racemes. May-July. Rocky swards of warm and sunny alpine valleys. O. Halleri*. Downy and whitish; root-stock short and branched; leaves with 12-14 pairs of ovate-lanceolate leaflets, velvety; flowers lilac, in a short, oval, compact raceme, at the extremity of a stem of 4-8 in. April-June. Warm, sunny places in the Alps and valleys of the alpine region. Astragalus Eng.: Milk Vetch; Fr.: Astragale; Ger.: Traganth. Like it kinsman Oxytropis this genus is only to be mul- tiplied by seed. The species are not of much garden value, though monspessulanus may drape a rock-face and Onobrychis come in for a rough corner. All] like a dry, sunny position, wedged among rocks. The distinction from Oxytropis is the absence of point to the keel. A. Onobrychis. Gray-green in tone ; root-stock branched and creeping on or under the soil; leaves of 8-12 pairs of oblong-lanceolate leaflets; flowers of bluish-purple on spikes at first ovoid, Jater oblong; arranged by threes on an erect peduncle. May-July. Waste spaces on slopes and along alpine paths in warm districts. Al. monspessulanus. Tufted habit; leaves with 10-15 pairs of ovate leaflets. The deep crimson of the unopened flowers passes to rosy lilac with streaks of white. The 306 THE ALPINE FLORA Jeaflets bear a few white hairs on the underside, while Onobrychis is smooth on both. May-July. Rocky places in Alps (800-1500 m.). A. aristatus. Spinous plant, with Jong, prostrate branches, forming broad, flat bushes; stems 4-12 in., bearing on the upper portion hairy leaves, with 6-10 pairs of narrow leaflets, terminated by a spine; flowers clear yellow and violet, hidden at the base of the leaves. May-July. Sunny rocks and slopes of the southern Alps. Coronilla Eng.: Crown Vetch; Fr.: Coronille; Ger. : Kronwicke. Pretty, half-shrubby plants, but of no striking merit, yet showy in their way, free growers and hardy, therefore useful for rougher parts of rockwork. Tberica however should be preferred to those mentioned below. The cha- racteristics of the genus are a short, bell-shaped calyx, with five teeth, the two upper ones joined along their lower edges; the seed pod is narrow, articulate, and some- what sickle-shaped; the flowers yellow or lilac. C. vaginalis (P]. XXX1). A prostrate plant with spread- ing branches and leaves divided into four to six pairs of leaflets; flowers yellow, 6-10 in number. May to July on stony escarpments of the Alps and Jura. C. montana. Stems erect, hardly branched ; leaves bluish- green, leaflets ovate or obovate; flowers clear yellow, Jarger than vaginalis and in larger umbels, pods pendulous with 3-4 joints. Jura. Hippocrepis H. comosa* (P]. XXX1). Differs from the Coronillas in its flat pod, which is deeply notched on the upper margin. PAPILIONACEE 307 The stems are ascending, the leaves with 5-8 pairs of leaflets; flowers clear yellow, in nodding umbels. May- June on the slopes of the Alps and Jura. From seeds. Hedysarum H. obscurum (PI. XXXII). A_ stoloniferous, trailing plant; leaves with five to nine pairs of oblong-ovate leaflets; flowers large, nodding, of dark purple-violet, arranged in 1-2 loose racemes on the summit on the stem. July-August. Cool] places in mountainous districts (1500- 2400 m.). The genus to which this species belongs is comparatively unknown in gardens, but several are not without charm sufficient to deserve recognition and all are of absolute hardiness in sloping, sandy Joam. Phaca Eng.: Bastard Vetch; Fr.: Phaque; Ger.: Berlingse. A near ally of Oxytropis and Astragalus, with an obtuse, pointless keel; the swollen pod opens by one valve; the flowers are in racemes on Jong stalks. Nota garden genus. P. alpina. Strong-growing plant, erect, like a small shrub, slightly viscid, many-branched ; leaves with 10-12 pairs of oblong, blunted leaflets, downy underneath; flowers yellow, few, in short racemes and followed by swollen, green pods. July-August. Grass slopes of the Alps (1200-2000 m.). P. frigida differs in a lower, unbranched stem; leaves with 4-5 pairs of broad, oblong-ovate leaflets, larger flowers of yellowish white, in short, orbicular racemes; lastly by an oblong, acuminate pod. July-August. Stony alpine pastures from 1700-2000 m. 308 THE ALPINE FLORA P. astragalina*. Smal] plant with stems 3-4 in., 6-10 pairs of smal], ovate leaflets; drooping flowers of white and violet-blue in short, globose racemes. Orobus or Lathyrus Eng.: Vetch or Everlasting Pea; Fr.: Orobe or Gesse; Ger.: Wald or Platterbse. The wild peas, with flowers mostly rose or carmine, which are found in the Alps, belong to Lathyrus. Their leaves, composed of 2-3 pairs of leaflets, are terminated by a tendril, which allows them to fasten on to shrubs and climb. Some are strongly scented, others scentless. The genus Orobus only differs in the greater number of leaflets composing the leaves, which are without tendrils, and the erect and shorter stems. O. luteus (P]. XXX1]1]). Angular, erect stems; leaves of two to five pairs of large leaflets, ovate, glaucous under- neath; flowers yellowish, large, in erect racemes equal to or exceeding the leaves. June-July. Grassy escarpments of the Alps and southern Jura. ROSACE 309 Rosacez DeBp This important order includes herbaceous plants, trees and shrubs; not the Jeast of its interest lies in the number of fruits furnished by it — apples, pears, plums, rasp- berries, strawberries and others. The alternately arranged leaves are either simple or composite and, except in the case of Spirza Aruncus, accompanied by stipules; the flowers are regular, the calyx, which is persistent, com- posed of four to five divisions, often associated with an involucre of bracts alternating with the sepals, which are equal in number to the petals; the stamens vary in number and, like the petals, are inserted on the calyx; the fruit consists of carpels, either free or adnate. Dryas Eng.: Mountain Avens; Fr.; Dryade; Ger.: Silberwurz. Beautiful prostrate alpines which do wel] anywhere in rockeries, old walls, sunny slopes and borders, where a light, cool, pebbly soi] and fair amount of sun can be given. Deep rooting room must be given and it is almost useless to remove established plants, which if left alone wil] make large patches. Young plants may be divided in spring, but seed is the only way though slow of raising a new stock. Limestone in desirable. A popular name is Thé Suisse, in the composition of which it plays a great part; the country folk frequently make a pleasant astrin- gent or digestive from the glossy leaves by infusion. 310 THE ALPINE FLORA D. octopetala* (PJ). XXXI11). A small, trailing shrub, often creeping over large pieces of ground; the Jeaves are oblong, with roundish notches toothed like a saw; the Jarge, solitary flowers, like smal] single dog roses, are carried on scapes four inches long; the corolla is divided into eight to twelve white divisions, enclosing a sheaf of bright yellow stamens. June-August. Rocky hill ground (800-2000 m..). D. Drummondi, an ally from N. America, has yellow, drooping flowers and requires similar treatment on the whole, but rather more moisture at the root (mix in some peat). La Dryade Nymphe des monts, blanche et légére, Coupe de nacre au centre d’or, Dryade au merveilleux décor, Je te salue et te venere. Trésor d’amour, tresor de grace, De candeur, de simplicité, Ta fleur chante Ja pureté Et l’antiquité de ta race. Gracieuse, pale et candide, Elle entr’ouvre aux feux du matin Son voile d’or et de satin Et sa robe au décor splendide. Salut, fleur que Ja Providence A placée aux flancs de ces monts! Tu seras pour nous qui t’aimons L’étincelle de l’Espérance. H.C. The dryad wood-nymphs have been long forgotten; they have fled for refuge to the high hills, where they still, changed to gracious flowers, protect the forests; for these humble, trailing shrubs preserve the coolness and moisture necessary for the germination of the seeds of ROSACEE 344 trees. The Rev. H. Friend speaks at Jength on the Dryads in his charming book on Flower-lore'. Geum Eng.: Avens; Fr.: Benoite; Ger. : Benedictenkraut. The two species mentioned are splendid rockery plants and quite easy both to raise from seed and to keep in vigorous health. Indeed G. reptans, perhaps the finer, becomes gross and Jazy except in the poorest of soil, and almost refuses to flower except in almost pure sant; or grit, or hungry crevice. The position should be cool, dryish, facing either east or west. Montanum in easier, doing wel] in any good soi] and partial sun. Their beauty does not cease with the flowers, which are succeeded by graceful, feathery seed-tassels. The roots are faintly scented with clove, and a wine distilled makes an excellent stomachic. A decoction, also, or an infusion in hot baths is used to cure whitlow. The characteristics are a persistent calyx with ten divisions in two ranks, the five exterior smaller and forming a calycule; the petals seldom exceed five but the stamens are numerous. G. reptans (P]. XXXI]]). A beautiful plant with hard, brownish stem; putting out long stolons like red-brown threads, which in turn put up aerial heads; leaves very deeply cut; immense flowers of beautiful yellow, followed by tufts of twisted, plumose awns. July-August. Stones and rocks of the high alps (1900-2000 m.). G. montanum differs from it in that the stem is without runners, and the scapes overtop the leaves, which are divided into very unequal segments, the terminal being very large; flowers smaller and of a darker yellow. All mountain pastures (2000 m.). 4 Flowers and Flower-lore. Vol. 1., pp. 38 et seq. 312 THE ALPINE FLORA Spirza Eng. : Goat’s-beard or Meadowsweet; Fr.: Reine des Bois ; Ger.: Geissbart. S. Aruncus. A strong, erect plant, often exceeding five feet with large three-foliate leaves. The yellowish-white flowers are individually smal] but very numerous and united into a huge, pyramidal panicle of great beauty. Though a shallow rooter it is grateful for deeply trenched soil], which should contain peat and such like retentive material, but at the same time the position should be sunny and away from shrubs or trees. It is most effective in bold, isolated clumps. May-June, in moist mountain copses. Potentilla Eng.: Cinquefoil; Fr.: Potentille; Ger.: Fingerkraut. A genus containing many species with a persistent calyx of eight to ten lobes in two whorls, five (sometimes four) entire or emarginate petals and many stamens. It has been so much improved under cultivation that, for beauty, the garden hybrids are much to be preferred, but several natural species are useful border plants and a few worthy of a rockery, great care being taken to prevent them run- ning wild. The best are alba, atrosanguinea, aurea, Fenzlit, nepalensis, nitida, reptans* (var. plena), verna*. In many the real charm often lies in the foliage, so that care must be taken, while giving the open and elevated position congenial, not to place them too high to be effective. The soi] should be gritty loam, not over-nourishing, and the runners cal] for regular topdressing. The chief European alpines are: P. aurea (PJ. XXXIV). Dwarf plant; stems slender, horizontal, leaves with five oval leaflets of shining green, ROSACE/E 313 hairy, silky at the margins; flowers bright gellow, tinged with orange at the base, in Joose panicle. June-August. Meadows and pastures of al] mountains in the alpine or subalpine zone. P. alpestris* is particularly distinguished by duller leaves, the radical ones arranged al] round the stem, instead of only on two sides as in aurea. July-August. The middle zone of the Alps and Jura. P. minima is a miniature aurea, with 3-foliate leaves, smal] flowers, yellow and solitary. Found in rocky pastures of the Alps, between 1400-2500 m. P. grandiflora (PJ. XXXIV). Stems tall, 4-12 in., branched; leaves 3-foliate, hairy, deeply serrate, of a greyish-green ; flowers large, of a beautiful golden yellow. Dry, warm, alpine slopes. P. nivea. Smal] plant with downy, greyish leaves, 3-foliate, snow-white below; flowers yellow. June-August. The higher slopes of the Alps from 1800-2500 m. P. frigida differs in the sombre appearance of its foliage, which is very hairy and slightly viscid; small 3-foliate leaves, the leaflets bluntly toothed al] round; smal] greenish-yellow flowers; petals hardly exceeding the calyx. Grows on elevated parts of the Alps, wind-swept arétes, high passes and naked peaks (2200-2600 m.). P. rupestris* (P]. XXXV). Pubescent, glandular; the flower-stems reddish-brown, branched, erect; leaves pin- nate, 5-7-foliate; flowers white, many, in loose panicles. July-August. Warm, dry places in the granitic Alps. P. caulescens. A tufted plant which is seen hanging from sunny, calcareous rocks in the Alps, the silky, silver foliage and yellow-white flowers enamelling the heart of the hardest rocks. 314 THE ALPINE FLORA P. nitida, with silver Jeaves and pink flowers, from the Southern Alps. Cinquefoils are of easy culture in any open rockery ; nivea and frigida, however, are more troublesome, and caulescens prefers a wall or sunny crevice in the rockery. Two magnificent himalayan species are in cultivation: P. atrosanguinea with blood-red flowers, which in the garden of Rambertia, at 2000 m., has proved a veritable marvel, and nepalensis with flowers of delicate rose veined with bright carmine. Rosa Wild roses are common in the Alps (Gremli enumerates some dozens) —so common that readers wil] be thankful to be spared an exhaustive enumeration. The best loved is: R. alpina (P]. XXXV1) or the Thornless Rose, the place of thorns being taken by numerous, tiny, far scattered and almost invisible spikelets. It does wel] and is all too little known in gardens, where it is welcome for its earliness and interesting as a reputed parent of the Boursaults. The flowers, however, lack the full] brilliance of the mountains. It grows into Jow bushes, barely rising more than three or four feet from the ground, garlanded with beautiful flowers of purest carmine and deliciously fragrant. The fruits (cynorrhodons) are used to make an astringent con- serve, which is employed in cases of chronic diarrhoea ; the seeds, washed and dried before use, provide an ex- cellent tea which is drunk by purist vegetarians, who refuse any other. The tea requires an hour’s stewing and is both pleasantly flavoured and delicately scented. ' In the south-western calcareous Alps and in the Jura a dwarf rose is to be met, whose branching stems (20-40 in.) are furnished with fine thorns of varying length; the 7-11-foliate Jeaves are smal] and rounded, bearing many ROSACEE 315 Jarge flowers of white, faintly tinged with a shade of yellow, to which succeed small, brown fruits, passing to violet-black; this is the R. pimpinellifolia. lt does excel- Jently in gardens. R. pomifera is a strong, tufted shrub with short, straight branches, large, oblong leaves, very fragrant flowers of beautiful rose, fleshy, ovoid, rounded fruits covered with resinous, pine-scented hairs’. Alchemilla Eng.: Lady’s Mantle or Lady’s Smock; Fr.:; Alchemille ; Ger. : Frauenmantel. Flowers minute, composed of a calyx alone, without petals; stamens 1-4. The genus is not a showy one, though the appearance of the foliage, often silvered below, is charming. Deli- cious indeed in the serene grandeur of the alpine world is the effect of the big dew-drop nestling in the silken folds of a leaf of Alchemilla and sparkling against the morning sun. Each is a jewel in the alpine coronal, whose gleaming diamonds are linked one with another in willing service to the enrichment of the glorious picture and add their part to the charm of the fair harmony. Alchemillas also play an important part in mountain economy, for they furnish the most valuable constituent in alpine fodder. Lord Avebury, in his delightful work on the ‘‘ Beauties of Nature”, mentions a fact, to which ] called his attention in 1898, that the quality of Gruyere cheese in mainly owing to the abundance of these plants. 4 E. Rambert remarks that the Rose des Alpes is an Eglantine and in no way related to the Rhododendron, which has most improperly been called ‘‘The Alpine Rose”. A few such confusions are on the way to make language an everlasting enigma. Les Alpes Suisses, Vol. 1., p. 106. 316 THE ALPINE FLORA Alchemilla is sacred in Iceland and named Mariastaikker. A few shoots under the pillow are reputed to secure tranquil sleep. A. alpina* (P1. XXXV11). Stems slender; leaves palmate, 5-9-partite; leaflets serrate at the tip, green and glabrous above, silvery-silk below; flowers in small, panicled corymbs. Flowers the year through; al] Swiss mountains. A. vulgaris*§ has nearly orbicular leaves, with 5-9 ovate, dentate Jobes, and flowers in smal] panicles. One also meets in Swiss mountains A. fissa, a somewhat glabrous plant, approaching to vulgaris, but differing in the shallower dentation of the Jeaf-lobes, which are sepa- rated from one another by a division running far into the lamina; pentaphyllea, with slender, flexuous stems, leaves palmate and divided into 3-5 small, cuneiform segments. It may further be distinguished at first sight from the others by the stoloniferous stems, putting out roots at the nodes, and by its aggressive disposition. On the flatter snow-slopes of the Alps, between 2000-2500 m., it creates absolute wastes — an infallible symptom ofa cold and damp _ locality. ONAGRARIE 31 7 Onagrariez Depp Herbaceous plants or shrubs; leaves opposite or al- ternate, simple, exstipulate; flowers usually solitary or in racemes or spikes; calyx generally with 4 divisions, forming a valve, which, e. g. in Cenothera macrocarpa, is much elongated; petals borne on the calyx alternately with the stamens; stamens 1-2 seriate; style simple; fruit mostly capsular, sometimes a berry as in the Fuschia. Epilobium Eng.: Willow-Herb; Fr.; Epilobe; Ger.: Weidenrdschen. No one can deny the magnificence of these gorgeous beauties — in their proper place — whether the common hirsutum in hedge-row or railway cutting, angustifolium in its native glades or arrogantly overrunning the wild garden, or the exquisite Dodonz: and obcordatum (from the Rockies) in the alpine rockery — yet even these to be planted with careful regard for the weaker folk, being themselves infected with the masterful spirit of the family. They are distinguished by a longish calyx-tube, yet not prolonged above the ovary, with a four-partite limb, deci- duous after florescence; the petals are four, the stamens eight, of which every other one is shortened. E. angustifolium* (E. spicatum). This is the plant with strong, tal] stems, bearing Jaureolate leaves like to those of the willows known in France as Laurier de St-Antoine 21 318 THE ALPINE FLORA and in Switzerland as the flowering Willow or Osier (Rose-bay Willow), which produces the glorious vivid carmine spikes which are one of the finest ornaments of our mountain Jandscapes. Jt springs up in the cool, rocky glades of al] our hills, flowering from July to September with an effect that is at times startling. The large rosy clumps — for the plant always grows in masses, masses which sometimes end in whole hill-sides covered with briJliant carmine flowers — are one of Nature’s glories, and the note they strike in the full, grand harmony of colours, is a note of gaiety, of triumph, of confidence and happiness. There is a ‘‘joie de vivre’ about these lordly Willow-Herbs of the alpine glades, rejoicing with an arrogant joy in the fair portion of their Jot — a little exclusive, we admit, for they know no pity for the weak, and wil] not, in their glorious beauty, that they should suffer restraint or any abatement, but that every rival be banished and trodden down. Near Fribourg the plant is known as Salade de li¢vres; people there are said to be very partial to the leaves, which would appear to have balsamic and detergent properties. It is an encroacher and must be given partia] shade in a coo] rockery. Nice clumps are to be seen at St-James Park in the heart of London; their effect is superb from May to July. At Floraire a glorious variety with pure white flowers is cultivated and much admired by visitors. E. Dodonaei (E. Fleicheri) (P!1. XXXVI111) is the plant with fine spikes of large flowers, the corolla clear rose, the calyx vivid carmine, which enlivens alpine gravels, dry torrent beds, cracks in glacier moraines. True to the principles of its race, it shows the invasiveness of the born colonist. E. rosmarinifolium differs in its taller growth, more ramified habit, long flower-spikes of Jess vivid rose. Grows ONAGRARIEE 31 9 in quarries and stony places of mountains, especially on chalk. E. alpinum” is an altogether smal] plant; stems slender; Jeaves oblong, glabrous, shining green, rosulate; flowers smal], very vivid rose-carmine, on a curved spike. Moist places in the Alps and Jura (1000-2000 m.). 320 THE ALPINE FLORA Crassulacez es ::3) Everyone is familiar with the succulent aspect and fleshy leaves that are so characteristic of this order, which is represented in England by Jillaeaand Cotyledon (Navel or Pennywort) as wel] as the two garden genera mentioned below. The leaves are simple, entire and without stipules ; the flowers usually regular, generally with five divisions, arranged in what are known as scorpioid cymes or corymbs; the calyx is persistent. Both Sedums and Sempervivums are of the easiest culture in gritty soi] (limestone, as a rule, by preference) and full sunshine. Sedum villosum, a charming native found on Ingleborough, requires con- siderable moisture. Both genera are extremely extensive and it is impossible to find room for anything like a com- prehensive collection without specialising; many, also, of the Sedums at least, are Jittle better than weeds. Of those mentioned below Sed. album, alpestre, Anacampseros, Rhodiola, villosum, Semperv. alpinum, arachnoideum, Gau- dini, tectorum, Wulfeni, would be representative, but some are inferior to foreigners such as Sed. sempervivum, brevi- folium, kamtschaticum, and Semperv. Laggeri, speciosum, W ilsonianum. Sedum Eng.: Stonecrop; Fr.: Orpin; Ger.: Fettblatt. Calyx with 5, rarely 4 or 6-8 sepals; petals always as many; stamens 10, rarely 4-5 or 12-16, generally in two ranks; flowers in corymbiferous cymes or terminal panicle; Jeaves thick, fleshy, flat or cylindrical. CRASSULACE/E 321 S. Anacampseros. Stems spreading and ascending, 8-10 in., surrounded with thick, fleshy leaves, rounded and flat, and forming on the upper part of the stem close, cylindrical rosettes of glaucous green; flowers small, reddish, in a flattened, compact cluster. July-August. Rocks of granitic Alps (1400-2000 m.). S. alpestre. Straggling, glabrous ; stems sometimes 8 in., simple or a little branched; leaves oblong-ovate, cylindri- cal ; flowers pale yellow, 2-5 in close corymb. July-August. Rocks and detritus of the granitic Alps. S. album* (pain de souris) is the familiar succulent, common on old walls, stone-heaps in the lowlands, and climbs up to the alpine zone, always beautifying parched and rocky places. Stems slender, zigzagging over the rock and forming tufts of ovate, cylindric leaves, decked with flowers of rosy white, in corymbose cymes, more or less loose. S. acre* (wall-pepper, Vermiculaire) is a dwarf Orpine, with bright-yellow flowers, growing in cushiony tufts and forming thick swards of short, tri- angular leaves, and gay with brilliant golden flowers, arranged in 2-3 spikes gathered in a little corymb. Found spreading over walls, rocks and house-roofs throughout Switzerland. In the higher alpine regions the smal]], annual species S. annuum and §. atratum are to be found. The charac- teristics are —- of the former flexuous, often branched stems, with short, narrow leaves and terminated by a divided cyme of tiny, greenish-yellow flowers; of the sec- ond stems shorter, thicker ; leaves very many, imbricate, clear green passing afterwards to reddish; flowers whitish with a green central line. S. villosum” is a delicate, little biennial; foliage brownish, pubescent, glandular; beautiful bright rose flowers in an irregular corymb. Haunts moist places in the valleys of 322 THE ALPINE FLORA Turtmann, Arolla, and of the Vaudois Alps in Cantons Vaud, Grisons and Berne. S. Rhodiola is a curious looking plant, glabrous and bluish, with a tuberous, violet-scented rootstock; leaves stout, toothed at the tip; flowers yellowish in a compact, terminal cyme. Here and there in granitic Alps. Orpines are prescribed for the removal of warts and corns by reason of their biting and astringent properties ; they are said to hasten the cicatrizing of wounds; S. album is a refrigerant. In old times Jovers drew omens from them, and occasionally people may stil] be found who believe in their efficacy during thunder storms. In cultivation they are good-humoured creatures; no- thing hurts them; any position satisfies them; given a scrap of earth in a sunny rock and they wil] decorate it to perfection. Sempervivum Eng.: Houseleek; Fr.: Joubarbe, Artichaut sauvage; Ger.: Hauswurz. Calyx and corolla with 9-12 divisions; stamens twice as many as the petals; inflorescence cymose. S. tectorum*. The Houseleek proper or Herbe du tonnerre, is a sturdy plant with thick, densely rosulate, ciliate leaves forming a rosette which looks like a glab- rous, bluish-green artichoke; flowers Jarge, brownish, copper rose, in a thyrsoid cyme. Grows in stony places of warm and sunny mountains. July-August. S. montanum (P|. XXXIX). The root-stock puts out many offsets radiating from the central rosette; flowers large, brownish-rose. Alpine rocks (1200-2400 m.). S. arachnoideum (PJ. XXX1X) (Nid d’araignées, Herbe a l’aragne). Leaves in compact rosettes, covered with long, white, woollen threads, interwoven from the tip of CRASSULACE/E 323 one leaf to another; flowers of brightest rose. Alpine rocks, specially of Valais and Ticino. July-August. S. Fauconnetti, which is found on Reculet and ina few places in Valais, is intermediate between tectorum and arachnoi- deum ; the leaves are finely glandular, glabrous, but fringed with long, woolly hairs, the upper ones forming a floc- culent termination; flowers large, rose. July-August. In S. Funkii the leaves of the rosettes have a deep fringe, are pubescent-glandular on both surfaces, but the hairs of the fringe are much longer than these bearing the glandules. Rare; Grisons and Valais. S. alpinum has thick, oblong leaves; flowers of beautiful, bright rose, veined with purple; petals narrow and ciliate. Rather rare; Valais and Grisons. Switzerland has two Sempervivums with yellow flowers; S. Wulfeni from the granitic Alps of the Grisons, distin- guished by the glabrous underside of the leaves, which are large, bluish-green ina stout, shallow rosette with a brown centre; beautiful Jemon coloured flowers; and S. Gaudini with pubescent-glandular leaves, russet-brown at the tip, and scented like resin; flowers of Juminous pale yellow, the petals three times as long as the calyx. This last species belongs to Italy and has been found on the south side of the Valaisian Alps at Zwischbergen, that is, near the Italian frontier. Madame Julia Correvon discovered in 1887 a gloriously rich habitat on the north slope of the Alps, in the neighbourhood of Liddes, so that the plant is really indigenous in Switzerland. House-Leeks are excellent rock-plants ; they love full sun and are most obliging as to soil. Their unique foliage, sometimes jewel-like in its perfect symmetry, makes them firstrate for the decoration of rocks, walls, gardens and even for cultivation in pots in windows and balconies. There are numerous different varieties and forms; and the number of amateur collectors is ever on the increase ; 324.0% THE ALPINE FLORA for, as the name indicates, they are everlasting and it is difficult to injure them on account of the abundance of moisture contained in the leaves. ] have seen admirable collections in most uncongenial surroundings in the heart or London and of Paris; some stocks known to me are over fifty years of age. The acid and astringent juices, with which the leaves are gorged, are used in pharmacy to remove corns. The common houseleek is also considered a diuretic and antiscorbutic. It was reverenced by the ancient Danes as sacred to the god Thor and as protector of dwellings against the devi]. For this reason it was planted on roofs, where, for that matter, it thrives excellently without any other soi] than that of the mould formed from its own leaves. Ancient Germans also planted it on roofs to protect the house against thunder. To the Romans it was known as Jovis barba — hence the French Joubarbe — that is, the beard of Jupiter, the god of thunder and lightning, and it is more than likely that even then the idea of protecting houses was attached to it. SAXIFRAGE 325 Saxifragez eZ: From the gardener’s point of view the interest of this order may be said wholly to gather into the typical Saxifrages, so paramount being the value of that one enus in comparison with that of the other eighteen. The botanical characteristics of the order are :— Jeaves alternate (sometimes opposite), without stipules; inflor- escence generally racemed or panicled, rarely solitary ; calyx with five lobes ; petals five, regular or dimorphous ij. e. exhibiting two forms in one flower; stamens five or ten; ovary with two beaked styles and containing minute seeds. It is peculiar to the high mountains of the northern hemisphere. Saxifraga Eng.: Saxifrage; Fr.: Saxifrage; Ger.: Steinbrech. Whatever may be the reputed origin of the name, nothing could be more appropriate for the genus par excellence of the rock-garden, to which it has given more varieties than any other, whose number is only equalled by their surpassing intrinsic merits. Even the family of Primulas, despite the typical genus and the Androsaces, and the Gentianez must take a second place. The characteristics which differentiate the genus from the order are :— ten stamens, two styles which are persistent and twin-beaked capsules containing cel]ls or com- partments. The almost innumerable number of varieties exhibited has made classification a matter of sore trouble ; 326 THE ALPINE FLORA nowhere perhaps in the botanical world does such con- fusion exist, but the best authorities have at Jast brought something like order into the chaos by a division into sixteen sections, of which some ten are represented in the varieties mentioned below. Still for pratical purposes in the garden it is not more useful than the popular grouping into incrusted (or silver) saxifrages, mossy saxifrages, cushion saxifrages, London Prides, etc. As to culture they are the easiest, on the whole, of alpines to grow, easily propagated by seed or division (except the Kabschia group, with which it is somewhat risky). The smaller, rarer alpines need moist, sandy Joam with plenty of grit and broken stone, regular top- dressing, and firm planting. Established clumps of the mossy and creeping kinds have a habit of turning brown in the heart of the plant ; when this happens top-dressing, which appears at first sight the obvious remedy, is of little use; the only preservative is to tear the plant in | pieces and strike the fragments, a thing readily done and invaluable as a means of giving new life and vigour. Speaking generally the mossy varieties are best for carpeting, the silver most useful, the Porphyrion group most brilliant in flower and the Kabschia most utterly charming. The multiplicity of natura] varieties has stil] further been augmented by an ever increasing number of garden hybrids and it would be beyond the scope of this work to attempt a selection; it must suffice to say that of those here described the best are aizoon, longifolia, czxsia, cotyledon, diapensioides, mutata, oppositifolia, retusa and Rudolphiana; on the other hand androsacea, aphylla and varians are poor, dingy things, best omitted. The section Euaizoonia, which corresponds to the group popularly known as ‘‘silver,” is distinguished by rosettes of hard, fleshy leaves, with a white deposit at the edges. The varieties are of the easiest growth, in full ’ SAXIFRAGE/E 327 sun on moraine-like rockwork, where the exposed portion may be baked and the roots find deep and very gritty soi] to penetrate. S. cotelydon (PJ. XL). This is the beautiful Saxifrage with regular rosettes, and Jarge leaves of glistening dark- green, bordered with a line of fine, silvery teeth, which may be seen springing from the deepest crevices in the granite of the Simplon, the Mont-Blanc chain and particularly of the valleys of Upper Italy. In July or August the flower-scape pushes forth, rising to a height of 20 in., and bearing innumerable, large white flowers, spotted with rose at the base of the petals and set off in clear relief upon the deep red of the stem. It is one of the choicest varieties for cultivation, either in pots, or in the open, but above all in rockeries and old walls. The only thing it fears is abundance of chalk. Here and there in the Alps, on moist slopes where a little rock is mixed among the earth, we find S. mutata, whose dark green Jeaves, pitted and notched on the margins, with ciliate hairs towards the base, are arranged in rosettes very similar to those of S.cotelydon. This rosette on reaching a certain age, rises in a stem of 8-20 in., covered with glandular hairs, and bearing a pyramid of orange-yellow flowers, after which the plant dies. It is a useful, ornamental] plant, whose only requirements are a rather heavy, moist soi] and partial shade. S. aizoon (PJ. XL]) takes smaller forms and is of more modest appearance. It is the most widely spread of the Swiss Saxifrages, being found on al] rocky ground. The leaves, grey-green, elegantly crenate and edged with white teeth, form rosettes from which rise tall scapes bearing white flowers spotted with purple and arranged in pyramidal paniculate cymes. It is a most variable species and is found in many different forms and colours 328 THE ALPINE FLORA from one end of the alpine chain to the other. Con- sequently collections of Saxifrages, at Jeast in respect of this particular group, attain considerable size, rivalling in numbers those of Sempervivums. The variety flavescens from Arolla with lemon flowers is as magnificent as rare. In popular parlance the “‘London Pride” group has been used to include not only the botanical section Robertsonia, to which S. umbrosa belongs, but also any species showing rosettes of leaves and feathery plumes of flowers similar in genera] appearance to those of that typical plant. As such it is used to include S. stellaris (of the Boraphylla section), S. rotundifolia (of the Miscopetalum) and even S. Hirculus. Speaking generally, most of the ‘‘London Prides” prefer half shady, and often quite damp position, though they will grow in full sun, if surrounded by stones to check evaporation. S. cuneifolia (P]. XLI]). A smal] native of shady places, throwing from the rootstock large, loose rosettes in broad, flattened sheets; Jeaves cuneate, thick, coria- ceous, crenate, and red below, from which burst the slender, naked scapes bearing smal] flowers with white, oblong petals, spotted rose and splashed yellow at the base. Woods and shady places of the Alps (500-1000 m.); has been found on the north of the Déle by M. Romieux. This real member of the London Pride group is rather difficult to grow in Swiss gardens ; requires peat or Jeaf- mould and shade. S. stellaris (P]. XL]]). A small, tufted plant which grows on the edge of running water or forms colonies among wet beds; the mossy leaves like oval wedges are toothed toward the tip, glabrous, in loose rosettes, from which rise slender, leafless scapes bearing a loose raceme of white flowers, with elongated petals, marked near the SAXIFRAGE 329 base by two yellow stains. July-August. Alps. Of easiest culture in a swampy place, but likes sun. S. rotundifolia (P]. XLIV). NHerbe aux cent coutures. A tall, herbaceous plant with handsome kidney-shaped leaves, slightly hairy, on Jongs stalks, and the edges carved into very deep, rounded notches. Bears an abundant panicle of white flowers, spotted purple, and, growing 10-20 in. high, is altogether a showy species. It is found in shady places of all Swiss mountains and is admirably adapted for culture in rockery or border, provided it has some shade and a fairly cool position. S. Hirculus*, which grows in the bogs of the Jura, on the Surenen Pass and around Einsiedeln, is a pleasing Saxifrage with large, bright yellow flowers, spotted orange, in 2-3 on the top of the stems; stems 8-12 in., glabrous at the base, woolly above, leafy ; leaves entire, linear, lanceolate, glabrous, ciliate at the base. Forms pretty, little tufts which are covered from June to September with charming golden flowers, making a delightful picture in moist situations in an alpine garden. At Linnza, where it is grown in moss by a fountain, it bears flowers as large as a sixpence. It is a rare native of Scottish bogs. The form major is much superior to the common type. The Kabschia or Cushion Saxifrages are perhaps the most interesting and choice of all. The tiny, tight, little balls of thickly overlapping little leaves, greyish or bluish in hue, not unlike certain Androsaces, should be placed near the eye, wedged hard among limestone crevices on a sloping bank in full sun, where no wet can possibly lodge about the crown. An annual inspection must be given to see that the frosts have not lifted them and a topdressing of chips collar-deep should be given. It is dangerous to attempt to multiply them by division ; 330 THE ALPINE FLORA seed is the proper way. To this group belong the two following. S. cesia (P]. XLI]). A tiny plant, forming a hard, compact tuft, more like silvery moss than anything, built up of countless, wee rosettes; the leaves are small, leathery, with a curve outwards, bluish green, covered with white spots. The white flowers, 2-3 in little, corymbose clusters, are carried on thread-like stems. July-August : crevices of sunny rocks in the limestone Alps (1300-2700 m.). It is a slow grower, and must be kept very select, away from weeds or coarser neighbours. Plant firmly in sandy, gritty soi] and water in summer. An interesting discovery of Mr. Farrer’s in the Oberland, as showing the proneness of Saxifrages to hybridise, is a natural hybrid showing the growth and rosettes of czxsia modified by an admixture of aizoides, the flowers being exactly intermediate, larger than those of czsia and broader in petal than those of aizoides, of warm creamy yellow. S. diapensioides, as beautiful as small, is like a more compact edition of cexsia, the Jeaves narrower, harder and more erect, crowded into a closely packed cylinder. It is also distinguished by a hairy, glandular stem. Its requirements are those of czsia only more so, especially in the need for a constant supply of finely broken limestone. This rare plant is found on some peaks of the Pennine Alps. The ‘‘mossy” Saxifrages practically coincide with the botanical Dactyloides, forming tufted swards of innumer- able branches bearing finely divided Jeaves, close to one another and spreading over considerable areas after the manner of the English hypnoides. Asa class, they like cool, half-shaded positions and are multiplied without any trouble by division, cuttings or seed. Muscoides and exarata are the only ones really worth growing. SAXIFRAGEE 331 S. Androsacea (PI. XLI1). Small, tufted plant, pubescent and grass-like; leaves entire, ovate-oblong, erect, with glandular teeth in loose rosette ; flowers milk-white, on scapes 2-4 in. high, Frequents moist, cold positions in the Alps between 1800-2500 m. S. muscoides (S. varians). The type of this section, most of which are found in the Swiss mountains, is itself a dwarf, mossy plant, forming compact cushions of clear green leaves, 2-3 ligulate; flowers greenish or reddish, 3-7 in smal] corymbose clusters. July-August. S. mos- chata differs from it in pubescent, glandular leaves, yellowish flowers and 2-10. 8S. exarata has cuneate leaves, the veins of which on withering become very prominent ; flowers white with longer petals. June-August; the Alps. S. Seguieri is only met near to lofty passes and on snowy aretes of the granitic Alps (2800-3500 m.) ; forms broad sheets of sombre green; leaves narrow, Janceolate, spathulate, those of the previous year turning dark brown; flowers greenish yellow. July- August. S. aphylla is a small, mossy plant with innumerable short leaves, entire or 3-5 foliate; leaflets ovate-lanceolate, obtuse, of clear green, and emitting a faint, pleasant perfume ; scape short, erect, glandular; flowers solitary, Jemon-yellow. July-August. Fissures in shady rocks in the Upper-Alps. This is the celebrated flat-leaved Saxifrage to which E. Rambert has devoted several of his most charming pages—the little Saxifrage of the Oldenhorn. Somewhat intermediate between the real ‘‘mossies” and the creeping Saxifrages of which oppositifolia is typical, comes the section Trachyphyllum, on which little need be said, as the Swiss species are of no great merit. These are :— 332 THE ALPINE FLORA S. bryoides (PJ. XLI1). A small, tufted plant with close, short branches, forming a compact sward; leaves linear, very close-set, with short fringes, of a shining green; flowers large, solitary, yellowish-white with golden yellow centre. Barren rocks in the high Alps from 2000-3500 m. S. aspera® (PI. XLIJ1). Differs from the preceding in the much Jooser character of its tufts, which are formed of elongated branches ; leaves stiff, linear-lanceolate, fringed with long, stiff, sparse and spreading bristles; flowers smaller, grouped by 2-5 in loose panicled cymes. Flowers in summer on rock slopes of granitic Alps. S. aizoides* (P]. XLI]]). The smal] tufted, grassy plant that Jines the banks of springs and streams through- out the whole alpine chain. It is composed of very numerous branches, 4-8 in., covered with narrow leaves, of clear green, ciliate on the side, and produces panicles of many orange-yellow flowers in succession from July to October. In the variety atrorubens the flowers are of a deep brick-red colour. The Jast section represented in Swiss alpine flora is Porphyrion, which alone approaches in value to the Encrusted or in beauty to the Cushion. Indeed so far as flowering goes, it has no rival. The plants included are creepers, multiplied by division or seed, and the hint to divide old plants already given should not be neglected. At the same time, although a top-dressing will not save a plant when decay has once set in, it must not be neglected while health remains ; for grit and Jeaf-mould should be worked among the crowns in autumn. S. oppositifolia” (Pl. XLI}1). The favourite and choicest of Swiss Saxifrages. Grows in cool] spots in the Alps and southern Jura, on glacier moraines, climb- ing some 1400-2800 m. A dwarf, tufted plant; stems SAXIFRAGE/E 333 prostrate and spreading; the branches entirely covered with opposite leaves, which are arranged in four dark green rows with stiff bristles on the edges and ending in a white point; flowers large, sessile, solitary, of most brilliant carmine. These are sometimes so numerous that it is hard to see the foliage through the corollas which plaster the tuft with a carmine cushion. Flowers from the earliest days of spring (May-July in the mountains); in our gardens, where it requires the north side of the rockery or wall, it has flowered as early as February or March. S. Rudolphiana, which Gremli cites as found in the Alps of Valais and Grisons, but which ] have not yet met in Switzerland, differs in its shorter leaves, closer branches, more compact habit and the glanduliferous hairs on the calyx-lobes. S. biflora. A native of icy heights and lofty moraines. Differs from oppositifolia in the much looser nature of the tuft, much larger flowers, in 2-3, of variable colour (from rosy-white to blood-red), with petals twice as long as the sepals. $§. Kochii or macropetala has stil] larger petals, obovate in shape and twice the length of the sepals, and reddish-yellow stamens. S. retusa, which Gremli notices as a native ot the south walls of Monte Rosa, but which | have only found on Italian ground, is distinguished by the triangular, 3-5 pointed tip of the leaves, by the much denser habit of its sombre green tuft, and its small, clear carmine flowers, in 1-3 on the tops of the branches. The above varieties are best grown in deep, open Joam in a deep fissure, packed with broken limestone ; retusa may be better for a little peat. Those who have seen oppositifolia burst in glowing sheets of pink the moment the snow melts will infer that copious, even dripping water is necessary in spring; but there must be no stagnation, drainage must be perfect, and especially so 22 334 THE ALPINE FLORA with the higher climbing varieties, Rudolphiana and biflora, in whose case the proportion of loamy material may with advantage be much decreased. Saxifrages have no medicinal properties, though some have wished to see in their reputed character of ‘‘stone- breakers” an allusion to the disease of calculus, which was said to be able to be healed by them. Glorious beyond all praise is the Queen of Saxifrages, the Pyrenean S. longifolia, whose enormous rosettes of silver-grey far exceed in beauty those of S. cotelydon, and whose panicled flowers are of marvellous beauty. Yet it succeeds with great ease in cracks of walls or chinks of limestone rocks. Parnassia P. palustris” (Pl. XLV). A familiar herb found in moist places over al] Swiss hills, even those of the great plateau. The ovate-cordate Jeaves and the large, solitary flowers, white with greenish veins, give one of the prettiest touches in the Jandscape which it enlivens al] the summer through and often til] Jate in the autumn. Culture easy, provided it is given a cool, moist position. UMBELLIFER/E 335 U mbelliferz Sch When one considers that the great majority of species included in this extensive order are natives of the north temperate zone (umbellifers being rare in the tropics), its poverty for purposes of alpine gardening is most remark- able. Even comprehensive catalogues seem, asa rule, exhausted with a mention of Eryngium and Astrantia, though here and there one may find Meum and Bupleu- rum considered worthy of inclusion. Not but what the striking effect of a mass of Heracleum in the wild garden speaks of its power to adorn a natural landscape ; and all who have had an opportunity of admiring those exquisite panels of Pau] Robert in the Neuchatel] Museum, which are the glory of our Romance School of painting and charm visitors from al] the world over, must remember the impression of exquisite grace and freshness which the grand white Umbellifers, probably Ligusticum and Pim- pinella magna, give to the picture of the Val de Ruz. Again what a perfect touch is given by the glorious umbels of the Angelicas rising along the water’s edge to Jandscapes stiffened by the straight ruled lines of reeds and willows ! : On the other hand in pastora] economy the importance of the order is considerable, many species being necessary ingredients in the best of hay. To the kitchen and herb gardens it has given carrots, parsnips, celery, chervil, parsley, aniseed, cumin, coriander and angelica; but side by side with plants of value as foods or spices are many dangerous and poisonous in the highest degree—hemlocks, 336 THE ALPINE FLORA dropworts and other such. From the roots and stems of some species are extracted valuable juices and gum- resins, Asa foetida, an antispasmodic, Thapsia, a violent irritant, Dorema, a stimulant and cathartic; the root of Sumbul, strongly scented with musk, is a stimulant recommended in case of cholera. For these reasons the order may be rapidly dismissed from a cultural point of view and the descriptions of species in the main be treated botanically, as they are of interest rather to the collector of wild flowers than to the artistic gardener. | The characteristic of this order is, as the name implies, an umbellate arrangement of the inflorescence. The stem is almost always hollow, with wel] defined nodes ; the leaves alternate, seldom entire (Bupleurum excepted), usually much and deeply divided ; flowers generally white, occasionally yellow, seldom rose or blue, in umbels, which are mostly compound, but sometimes, as in Astrantia, simple or even, as in Eryngium, capitular. Calyx-teeth five, petals five ; stamens five, alternate with petals; styles two. Eryngium Eng.: Sea-holly; Fr.: Panicant; Ger.:; Mannstreue. Individually the flowers are smal] and insignificant, but the dense heads into which they are packed and the whorl] of bracts forming an involucre or cup below at once arrest attention; the teeth of the calyx are spinous and the fruit a blunted oval, covered with scales. E. alpinum (PI. XLVI) or Chardon bleu, Reine de Alpe, Chardon-Roland, Chardon béni. The number of popular names by which one plant, and that a very Jocal one in Switzerland, is known, tells the high place it holds in general esteem. Nor can any picture be much more perfect—a stately, hard, strong stem, which at the UMBELLIFER 337 time of inflorescence takes in the upper half a cool tinge of steely blue ; the broad, hearted-shaped leaves that spring right healthily green from the roots; the feathery bracts and massive cup of violet-blue, placed there (so naturalists tel] us) to bar against thievish insects the way to the honey reserved for higher creatures, but which artists expressly affirm to be created to hail its Maker—a cup wondrous in grace, in dignity and serene majesty—all combine to make the absolute perfection. Queen of the Alp, who set thee there and why unfoldest thou al] these charms? Who hath spun thy royal mantle and dyed it with the blue of the Tyrrhenian sea? Thou seemest to flee from man and choose some secret cliff, hidden far from noise, vulgarity and prying eyes. Abide there, then, mountain flower; sing in thy solitude the joy of living under the blue sky and in the alpine sun ! There are few plants which succeed better or thrive more generously in gardens than the Eryngos. E. alpinum' loves a deep soil], sound and rather dry, where it can thrust far its long taproot, and a situation partly shaded from the sun. It is a majestic ornament for lawns, rockeries, the front of shrubberies and borders. To ensure certain germination, the seed must be sown immediately it is gathered; this is our experience at Floraire, where thousands upon thousands are raised for sale and exportation. There are other species, equally beautiful. From the Pyrenees comes E. Bourgati, of low, squat habit, and flowers of a curious violet-blue; from the western Alps E. spino-alba, equally dwarf, of a clearer blue; from the eastern Alps E. amethystinum, with much divided leaves, and tinged in aj] the upper portion of the plant an 4 Eryngium alpinum has been taken as the base of ornamentation for the chalet at Floraire and the convential scheme of decoration is much admired. 338 THE ALPINE FLORA amethyst-violet; in the Caucasus we find E. giganteum, a splendid plant of architectural forms and of a peculiar greyish-blue ; in Turkestan and the East E. ceruleum and creticum, species with spreading branches, more or less spinous and tinted to the foot with the dark blue of the bracts ; Jastly there is the Siberian planum, a tall-growing kind with smal], violet-blue involucres and stems coloured to half their height. All grow well in any very deep poor sandy soil; alpinum except, they are more robust and of better colour in full sun. Bupleurum Eng.: Hare’s-Ear; Fr.: Buplévre; Ger. : Hasenohr. B. stellatum (PJ. XLVIJ). A curious, uncommon plant, which grows among sunny rocks in the central and eastern Alps (1500-2300 m.). The brownish-yellow flowers are surrounded by an involucre of Jarge, yellowish green bracts, thus forming little bunches, which in turn are united into a compound umbel surrounded by 2-5 Jarge bracts of the same colour. Pimpinella P. magna rosea* (PJ. XLVI1). Burnet-Saxifrages are among the most important herbs of alpine meadow-land. The colour of the flowers varies from yellow-white to the most vivid rose; the higher one climbs, the more pronounced the red becomes. Astrantia Eng.: Masterwort; Fr.: Astrance, Radiaire; Ger.: Thalstern. A. major* (PJ. XLVII1). A big, herbaceous plant with palmate leaves and erect stem, 8-10 in. ; stamen-like flowers in a dense umbe], surrounded or supported by a UMBELLIFERAE 339 kind of cup or Henri-Quatre-collar, which gives it a very distinct character. AJ] Swiss mountainous districts, from 500-1800 m. Rambert has honoured it with charming pages in les Plantes alpines :— ‘‘This is,” says he, ‘‘the plant par excellence of the alpine foothills, a good, sturdy daughter who has in her bearing nothing plebeian or vulgar, yet is equally free from all empty effeminacy.” Fields where the Masterworts abound have an air of gaiety, of country cleanness and honest village plenty. Favrat, a typical Vaudois botanist in his joyous disposi- tion and abundant humour, proclaims in his turn :— “How remarkable ! Since ] saw the Masterwort, ] have sloughed off careworn humanity, eased myself of all that might overcast my liberty, thrown al] the ballast overboard like an aeronaut who must and will rise at al] costs.” On the hillsides near Les Avants and above Caux, on the faces of the Rochers de Naye and the Dent de Jaman a variety with dark-red flowers is to be found, though usually the involucre is greenish-white with a tinge of rose. Culture of the easiest; at home in any good soi] and any partly shaded position. Flowers profusely from July to October. A. minor is a smal], slender and delicate plant; Jeaves deeply cut, with narrow, deeply divided, glossy leaves ; flowers smal], white, surrounded with a white collar— stil] a ruff ala Henri 1V—of linear, veined bracts. Rocky slopes of granitic Alps from 1500-2000 m. This is even more charming than the larger variety and equally easy. Both are propagated by cuttings or seeds. Other species A few other umbellifers are found in our mountains which deserve mention. In any case Meum athamanticum 340 THE ALPINE FLORA and mutellinum cannot be passed over. In silicious soils of the Alps and of a few valleys in the Jura the former plants huge colonies, reigning in places unchallenged over vast expanses. The fresh vegetation is the finest and most delicate in nature, and the foliage would be highly valued for use in artistic arrangements of flowers, were jit commonly known. The culture moreover is easy, if chalky soi] is avoided. The root (known in the hills as racine d’or) is a carminative and has cured consumptives of whom physicians had despaired. Both it and the allied species mutellinum are excellent forage plants and give great value to the pasture and meadow lands in which they grow. Peucedanum or Imperatoria Ostruthium (Racine du guerrier) is a plant with fine, ornamental] foliage, great umbels of white flowers, and grows in damp, mountain places. The root is used in the Upper Alps as a cattle medicine, and once as an old-time remedy for inflam- mations of the mucus, cancer and delirium tremens; it is nowadays employed as a sudorific, carminative cordial. In the Upper Valais (so ] was told at Gruben in the Turtmanthal) when the herds are incensed before driving them to the hills, roots of Ostruthium are burnt on live coals in the stables; this is believed to protect them against mishaps, witchcraft and serpents. Culture easy; succeeds in any cool position in gardens. Laserpitium includes several fine, sturdy herbs; the foliage is sometimes 3-foliate (L. panax) and always decorative with massive umbels of white flowers majestic- ally carried; grows in the alpine and mountain zone. L. siler and latifolium occasionally exceed 40 in. in height. THE EARLIER COROLLIFLORZE 341 The Earlier Corolliflorz Sch There is little to claim attention in the Orders of this Class until] we reach the Composite. One might almost think that nature was gathering her forces for the prodigal luxuriance of the coming jungle. Among the Valerianez (an order characterised by opposite leaves, flowers in corymbose cymes or terminal glomerules, corolla inserted on the ovary, with a 3-5-lobed limb, and one to three stamens), the genus Valeriana is useful] in a rough, blatant style for out of the way corners. The corolla is funnel- shaped with five lobes, and the calyx on maturity developes a pappus or feathery crest above the fruit ; the stamens are three in number. The plant has a bitter taste and a strong scent and contains a principle which | acts strongly on the nerves and is used as an antispas- modic, or a counteragent to epilepsy. V. montana (PJ. XLIX) and V. tripteris (P]. XLIX) are close akin. The stem leaves of the first are of a clear and shining green, entire, ovate-lanceolate, superficially toothed, flowers rose in a somewhat loose cyme. The leaves of tripteris are ashy-gray, heart-shaped, coarsely toothed, the cauline divided into three toothed segments, of which the terminal] is by far the largest. Both species are found on cool, damp rock-slopes in our mountain districts. : V. saliunca, found sporadically in the central Alps, forms dwarf, close tufts and bears flowers in smal], dense capitules. The garden Valerian par excellence is Cen- tranthus ruber*, which, in three colours—pure white, 342 THE ALPINE FLORA fiery red, rose—is most ornamental for rocks, walls, dry spots, sunny slopes, and flowers from June up to winter. In the succeeding order, Caprifoliaceez, there is one dainty plant whose wee loveliness endears it to alpinists, who seek to gather it in the Engadine and in the valleys of Saas, Anniviers, Turtman and Arolla, where it spreads carpets of exquisite green. This is Linnea borealis*. The Jong, running stems ramble over the ground, bearing rounded, opposite leaves, and throwing a multitude of little scapes terminated by a pair of nodding bell-flowers, white and rosy carmine within, sweet scented. It likesa shady, damp, almost boggy corner in sandy peat. The runners should be pegged down and topdressed with Jeafmould to promote the formation of new rootlets. Other showy members of the order are the coral-berried elder (Sambucus racemosa), Lonicera alpigena, L. cerulea, L. nigra, the three familiar Swiss mountain honey- suckles. The typical plant of the Dipsacee is the Teazle, but for garden purposes its value consists in the Scabious, which plant, however, is only sparingly represented on high mountains. This genus is marked by a forked stem, bearing opposite leaves ; the flowers are sessile or nearly so, in smal] heads surrounded by an involucre of many leaves; the four (or five-lobed) corolla is funnel-shaped. Somewhat similar but more coarse and massive is a roughly haired plant found in the limestone Alps and southern Jura, with large heads of yellow-ochre flowers (Cephalaria alpina). \t at once attracts attention by its fine carriage; is easily cultivated and good for cutting, but hardly in place in a choice garden, despite a boldly ornamental aspect. Seep COMPOSITA 343 Compositz se Nature in ordering her floral display has a prodigal habit of sacrificing quality to quantity; the larger the order, the fewer often, speaking comparatively, the number of high-bred beauties. Aristocracy and bour- geoisie are antipathetic. And the Composite are essentially a bourgeois wilderness. Even the Aster, Arnica and Doronicum have something blowsy or blatant to taint their unquestioned merits. Leontopodium is a practical joker ; Gnaphalium, Achillea, Centaurea and Hieracium indecently prolific; the majority of the remainder weedy and utili- tarian. For, to grant them their true value, many are excellent food-stuffs; for example the young roots or leaves of Scorzonera, Salsafy, Lettuce, Chicory or Dandelion. Others are medicinal, secreting, like all Composite or Synantherz, a milky juice, usually bitter and resinous, occasionally narcotic. Wild Chicory is a laxative, the large-rooted variety also familiar in the truly bourgeois role of adulterant in coffee. Lactuarium a product of the poisonous Lactuca is celebrated as sedative and hypnotic—and the tale may be continued, a tale to be read in my volume le Jardin de lHerboriste, except that a chapter should be added on the tonic value of Elecampane or Inula, whose root is sold in the Geneva market for its weight in gold. Even old Horace tells of it as the material of an aromatic sauce for Jampreys. The characteristics of the order are : herbs, rarely shrubs and stil] more rarely trees, with leaves (except in Arnica) alternate and, as a rule, deepy cut, without stipules ; 344 THE ALPINE FLORA flowers in dense heads or capitules on a common recept- acle enclosed in an involucre attached to its walls; calyx generally scaly and membranous; corolla gamopetalous, inserted on the top of the calyx-tube, sometimes tubular, more or less regular, with five lobes or teeth, sometimes divided for the greater portion of the length into a flat strap, notched at the tip. In many species, the Margue- rite for exanple, the inflorescence takes the form of a yellow disk of central florets, surrounded by a wreath of others in the form of white tongues. Adenostyles These are stout growing plants with large triangular leaves, generally white underneath, and big, flat, fluffy heads (compound corymbs) of numerous, small, few- flowered capitules; the corollas are pinkish purple, funnel-shaped, and five-toothed, with four stamens. Both albifrons and alpina are fine plants of wilder parts of the garden, and may be propagated from seed or a division. A. albifrons (P]. L.) A robust plant with very broad, somewhat heart-shaped Jeaves, irregulary toothed and ashen coloured, with a fine tomentum on the underside; stem at least 40 in., bearing a large corymb of flowers in smal]] clusters of 3-6-flowered capitules. June-September. In the neighbourhood of Bourg-Saint-Pierre ] have found a variety with white flowers. Moist places in mountainous and subalpine districts (1000-1800 m.). Al. alpina is distinguished by its somewhat triangular and more elongated Jeaves, which are glabrous on both sides, and by a stem not exceeding 20 in. Flowers (July- August) in cool rocks in the subalpine region of the Alps and Jura. COMPOSIT 345 A. leucophylla has white leaves, tomentose on both sides; 10-20-flowered capitules, forming a compact cluster, violet-rose, fragrant. This variety does not exceed 16-20 in., and forms compact tufts in stony heaps at high altitudes. Homogyne H. alpina (Pl. Ll). A smal] creeping plant, with somewhat circular leaves of dark evergreen, glistening above, pale below; flowers reddish, al] tubular, in a solitary capitule. July-August. Cool alpine and sub- alpine pastures. It succeeds wel] under cultivation in rockeries, given a northward or partly shaded position, and may be easily grown from seed, but is not often seen in gardens, having no really striking merit. Petasites Eng.: Butter-bur; Fr.: Tussilage; Ger.: Pestwurz. A fine and striking plant closely allied to Homogyne, H. alpina formerly being known as P. alpinus, with a stout and aggressive rootstock, and therefore to be treated with due caution. The hollow stem is covered with narrow, lanceolate scales and carries an oblong raceme of numerous heads. A peculiarity of the plant is the fact that the leaves appear after the flowers. Only to be used in wild and bare places. P. niveus (known in the Swiss mountains as ‘‘Contre- peste” or ‘‘Herbe aux teigneux,” on account of a reputed power to cure scurf in children) is a stout plant; the leaves are broad, slightly triangular and not unlike Rhubarb, with toothed edges, white, tomentose beneath, and expand towards maturity; stems 8-20 in., erect before and drooping after inflorescence, bearing spikes 346 THE ALPINE FLORA of white flowers in numerous, close-set capitules. It is the first flower to appear in moist places and beside streams after the snow melts, keeping company with the smal]] Crocus and Soldanella. P. albus differs from the above in the roundish heart- like outline of the leaves which are a little angular and white to greyish below, while the flowers are yellowish- white. April-May. Moist copses on al] Swiss moun- tains. Aster Eng.: Aster; Fr.: Marguerite de montagne or Chamois bleu ; Ger. : Sternblume. The magnificent mountain Daisies are of the easiest cultivation in any warm, sandy soil. But their superb magnificence deserves better than the careless neglect which their obliging disposition too often invites. They are apt to grow out of the ground Jeaving the stalk bare and a plaything to the wind; this must be met by due precautions, of which a spring top-dressing is the best. Alpinus in cultivation may grow coarse and throw flowers of unnatural size; it is al] the better for a little starvation. Nor should one be Jed to plant it in too sunny a place, because it is a child of sun-baked alpine slopes. In our Jowlands it welcomes some protection from extreme heat. Other true and indispensable alpines are acris, amellus (of which many fine hybrids have been raised), and. the Himalayan diplostephioides. The common garden Michael- mas Daisies are of American origin and need much more liberal treatment. Both groups, however, require fairly frequent division. The characteristics are an involucre, whose imbricated bracts suggest overlapping roof tiles ; disk-flowers with five teeth; ray flowers strap-like and radiating like those of a Daisy. COMPOSITE 347 A. alpinus (Pl. Ll). A tufted greyish-green plant; leaves entire, obtuse, hairy; stem 4-8 in., bearing one Jarge, solitary capitule, with ligules of violet-blue surrounding a golden-yellow disk. Flowers from July to September on al] sunny Swiss mountain slopes. At Floraire several forms are grown, including varieties with white, rose or reddish flowers, some varieties having Jarge flowers or even multi-capitate stems. A. amellus, a native of dry limestone hillsides, has a branching stem, capitules in varying number, smal], with bright violet ray-flowers and a golden disk. Flowers in autumn. Bellidiastrum B. Michelii (P). LI1). This is the large daisy that is sO common on al] moist slopes in our mountains and is popularly named in Swiss countries ‘“The false Daisy’. The leaves are ovate, toothed; the flowers, resembling small, nodding daisies, are white, turning to rose Jater. Its chief merit is the prolonged season of flowering. Propagated by seed and division. Erigeron Eng.: Flea-Bane; Fr.: Vergerette: Ger. : Berufungskraut. This genus is closely akin to the Aster, from which it differs in more numerous ray-flowers, which are many- seriate, either al] very narrow and ligulate or forming smal] filiform tubes on the inner rank. Alpinus is but a poor caricature of its noble cousin and is altogether unworthy of cultivation. For good varieties one must go to Central Asia for aurantiacus, multiradiatus, or to North America for glabellus, salsuginosus, speciosus, etc. E. alpinus* (PJ. L1]). Most usually covered with hairs; flowers in fairly broad heads, the ligules very 348 THE ALPINE FLORA slender, rosy-purple, twice as Jong as the pale yellow disk. Alps and Jura, on dry, rocky pastures. (1000- 2000 m.). E. uniflorus differs in its more hairy character, short and seldom branched stem, woolly involucre, and clear lilac ray-flowers. July-August. Alpine pastures. (1900- 2500 m.). E. glabratus differs from alpinus in a stem glabrous for all the Jength, leaves simply ciliate, and female disk- flowers very few. E. neglectus differs from uniflorus in its rosy ligules, very short radical leaves, Jonger and slender stem, and reddish capitular bracts. Eastern Jimestone Alps. E. Villarsii is a sturdy plant, viscous, with numerous glands and large capitules. The stem is much branched and may reach 16 in.; the branches carry 1-3 heads of rosy violet. July-August. The alpine region of the Alps. Gnaphalium Eng.: Cud-Weed; Fr.: Gnaphale, Immortelle, Cotonniére ; Ger.: Ruhrkraut. ; This genus is a fine instance of the confusion which has overtaken garden nomenclature. G. arenarium, a poor thing, is now a Helichrysum, G. dioicum and carpa- thicum are handed over to Antennaria, and G. Leontopo- dium is the Edelweiss, L. alpinum. The French names are happy descriptions of the white, woolly foliage, and everlasting flowers. The leaves are entire, the involucre consists of imbricated, adpressed, semi-transparent bracts, with 2-3-seriate female flowers. G. dioicum* (PJ. L111). Forms large tufts of dwarf, silver-grey foliage; flowers many, white, rose or carmine, in compact simple corymbs, persistent because of the COMPOSITE 349 scarious involucral bracts, and consequently preserved like Everlastings. In male individuals the capitule is rounded and short, in female narrow and elongate. May- July. It is a popular plant with gardeners who employ it for artificial border-work and even for the abomi- nations known as carpet-bedding. Swiss mountaineers cal] it popularly cat’s-foot, and gather it for use as a vulnerary and as a cure for coughs. G. carpathicum. Stem not stoloniferous; leaves not unlike those of Edelweiss, but green above and tomentose below; stem 2-6 in., simple, cottony, with 3-6 heads of dingy white in a compact corymb. Alpine escarpments (1800-2300 m.) in non-calcareous soil. G. supinum is the very minute, grey-green herb, with dingy white flowers in a smal], short, close raceme, whose densely cespitose sheets are so abundant in the snowy pastures of the granitic Alps. (1500- 2200 m.). Leontopodium L. alpinum (PJ. LI}}). It is unnecessary here to describe the Edelweiss, the most familiar of our alpine flora. It is sufficient to say that the flowers are insignificant and yellowish, the whole secret of its beauty being the star-like collarette or involucre which supports the flower as though in a silver cup. Thanks to the densely tomentose character of this involucre the flower does not wither and furnishes an alpine everlast- ing dear to the tourist’s heart. Since French tongues mangle the German name | suggested twenty four years ago (le Jardin, 1887, p. 16) ‘‘Etoile d’argent” or ‘‘du glacier” as a French name for this flower. My neologism appears to have become common, and it were desirable that it should continue. Swiss mountaineers call it “‘Belle Etoile’. 23 350 THE ALPINE FLORA It is a common mistake to regard the Edelweiss as peculiar to Switzerland and the Alps. It is found on the Himalaya, in Siberia, Japan and China. It can only be this mistaken idea and the general sentiment that has so undeservedly attached itself to a plant, no doubt beautiful enough in itself but with no claims to be the typical alpine of alpines, which has given rise to a superstition that the cultivation is difficult. As a matter of fact it can be raised with the greatest ease from seed, and nothing but winter wet can kil] it. Like all other woolly plants it must be kept perfectly dry during the cold damp season and should be planted sideways ona slope packed among protecting stones in very gritty, calcareous soil. Annual division is advisable. As the removal of mountain specimens is unwise and difficult of success, it is wel] to raise seedjings or procure established roots. To preserve the characteristic white tint of the involucre, nothing, so far as my experience goes, is equal to an admixture of mortar rubbish in the soi] where it grows. Occasionally Edelweiss may be seen to attain extraordinary dimensions under cultivation; the effect, however, is neither true nor beautiful; far preferable is it to preserve the natural character and freshness. Therefore give it poor soil. At Floraire we have very delightful examples growing in the chinks of a chalk wall, facing full south, or even in pots, where it is grown for exportation. Perfect whiteness is always secured and by this treatment remains unchanged in a chalky soil. Artemisia Eng.: Wormwood; Fr.: Armoise, Artémise; Ger.: Beifuss. The Wormwoods are to be recognised by the small globular heads, in racemes or panicles, of tubular flowers, the outer three-toothed, the inner five-toothed. They are somewhat shrubby plants with finely cut, whitish COMPOSITE 351 foliage, pungent to the taste and very aromatic. Like many other high mountaineers they are woolly and require a warm sunny place, high up and wel] drained, in limestone and coarse loam. Speaking generally the treatment suggested for Leontopodium will answer. A. glacialis is perhaps best worth growing, the others being somewhat weedy, though the silver gray foliage of all is charming, A. mutellina (PJ. LIV). Strongly aromatic; silky silver-grey, the leaves very deeply-partite into narrow, Janceolate divisions; flowers yellowish, in a less than 20-headed, erect, oblong capitule, forming as a whole a very loose and straggling raceme. Glacier moraines (1800-2200 m.). July-August. A. spicata. Leaves less deeply cut, more silvery grey; flowers (12-15) in more rounded heads; perfume less acrid and more resinous; particularly distinguished by the arrangement of capitules in narrow spikes, bracteate to the top. The is the true Alpine Genipi, from which the celebrated liqueur of the Valdotains in made. A. glacialis (P). LIV). Forms the tufts of fine, silvery foliage, which spread in broad carpets over the dry slopes of the Pennines, and are covered in July-August with beautiful golden-yellow spikes. Leaves very finely partite, silky, silvered; stems 4-6 in., erect, with compact, terminal corymbose inflorescence of beautiful yellow. These three Wormwoods are in great request among the natives of the Alps, at Chamonix, in the valley of Aosta and the Grisons, where the refined and stomachic liqueur is distilled from them, which is called variously Génepi, Génipi, Ginépi, or in the Engadine Iva. Report says that they enter into the composition of Chartreuse. They are also a energetic reagents. In case of catching 352 THE ALPINE FLORA cold in the high Alps the liquor from a few boiled leaves drunk while hot acts like a charm. The poison Absinthe is distilled from A. absinthium, common on dry slopes of the granitic Alps. Dans le calme désert des Alpes souveraines, Au sein des rocs brisés, sur les hauteurs sereines, Pres du sommet glacé, Fleurit |’ Armoise aux fins épis d’or pale ; L’arome exquis que son feuillage exhale Ranime un cceur lassé. G. BEaAuverD. Achillea | Eng.: Yarrow; Fr.: Achillée; Ger.: Schafgarbe. The eponymous hero of this genus has not, so far as garden value goes, been honoured in his namesakes, for in the alpine Achilleas that aristocratic stamp of dwarf and compact neatness which is so marked a characteristic of plants from high elevations is far to seek. The fine jagged silver of Austrian Clavennez and the prostrate snow . sheet of Italian rupestris are valuable in carpet work or for edgings; these with moschata, the Greecian agerati- folia and umbellata and the Balkan serbica wil] suffice for an alpine garden. The fernlike foliage and yellow corymbs of tomentosa do well in the forefront of a border and Ptarmica” is excellent for cutting. But most are coarse, leggy weeds. In fact all have a tendency to become Jank, which must be thwarted by poor, sandy soil, frequent division and replanting, and periodic dressings of grit. The usual precautions advised for downy genera are necessary. The genus is distinguished by tubular ray-flowers, the disk-flowers, in one rank, being ligulate with rounded tips to the blades; the capitules are small, in corymbs which may be either compact or loose. They COMPOSIT 353 contain a bitter essence which gives off a pungent perfume; taken in smal] doses, they are cordial and febrifuges. In Swiss districts three dwarf, low-growing, grassy species are found, which occasionally spread into wide carpets of greenery : A. moschata (which on account of the strong Artemisia-like scent is used in the manufacture of Genipi) with greyish-green leaves, pectinate-pinnatifid ; flowers a hard white in smallish heads, but bordered with broad Jigules and arranged in 5-7 in a loose corymb; grows on rocky pastures of the granitic Alps (1800- 2500 m.); A. atrata, distinguished by leaves of dark green, more rounded in contour, the segments being larger and divided into three strap-like sections (in moschata the segments are commonly entire); flowers larger and dingier, those of the disk blackish-purple; rocky pastures of calcareous Alps (1600-2200 m.); Al. nana, a silky, tomentose and strongly aromatic plant, with narrow leaves, finely divided into thin ligulate segments, very hairy; flowers dingy white in compact corymb; glacier moraines and highest alpine pastures (1800-2500 m.), where it forms broad cexspitose sheets of sward; an infusion is taken alike against chills and sudden indispositions. Al. microphylla is found in moist copses and on banks of streams in the alpine and sub-alpine region. It isa strong plant, the large leaves of ovate outline deeply cut in lanceolate, irregularly toothed, dark green segments ; stem 20 in.-2 !/, ft., erect, with large head of white flowers. July-September. Leucanthemum L. (Chrysanthemum) alpinum (PI. LV.). The little daisy with very deeply cut leaves, which makes small 354 THE ALPINE FLORA tufts of bright green, with comparatively large capitules rising from hoary little stems, 3-4 in.; found on alpine rocks and moraines. It is a useful plant, on a well drained slope facing south, in very sandy loam. A spring topdressing wil] often save it from being lost, especially if firmly pressed back into the soil, from which it is apt to lift itself. Aronicum These natives of the highest Alps, from dripping rocky slopes and desolate moraines are near akin to the better known and worthier Arnica, except that the leaves are alternate, soft and ephemeral. The involucre is in two ranks, with equal flaunting bracts; the flowers clear yellow, the ray ones Jarge in one rank. Robust, but not easy and hardly worth growing. A. scorpicides (PI. LV). Rootstock nodose; stem 8-12 in., 2-3-capitate ; Jeaves dentate ; capitule large, yellow, resembling a beautiful golden daisy. July-Sept- ember. Rocky detritus of the Alps, especially the calcareous. 1500-2000 m. A. Clusii and glaciale differ from the above, the first by its thin, ovate or oblong leaves, a 1-flowered stem bearing one large capitule of most brilliant yellow, the second by stiff, fleshy leaves and hollow stem. Arnica This great rough mountaineer with ragged stars af orange rising from a soft rosette of silky leaves is generally reputed to be difficult in cultivation, yet it is reported by some to be as easy as a daisy if abundant room in almost pure peat is provided for the wide ranging strap-like roots. A pale sulphur variety is even COMPOSITE 355 finer than the type. The American, A. Chamissonis, is exceptionally easy. A. montana (P]. LVI). Aromatic; leaves opposite, ovate, oblong, the radical in rosettes close to the ground ; flowers in 1-3 capitules, Jarge, orange-yellow. July- Augist. Pastures of the Alps, rare in the Jura. One of th: most generally used officinal plants; all portions contan Arnicine, and the flowers or leaves, after drying, are enployed as stimulants, sudorifics, vulneraries or antirheymatics. In some districts they are smoked instead of tobacco. Senecio Eng.: Croundsel, Ragwort; Fr. : Senegon; Ger. : Kreuzkraut. The indispensable members of this group are S. Doronicum whose vivid orange disks contrast so glor- jiously wita the filmy silver of leaves and stem, the somewhat dwarfer but not dissimilar aurantiacus, with finer Jeaves and Jess startling flowers, the prostrate incanus and certain non-Europeans, pulcher from Uruguay, of doubtful tardiness but distinct with rosy flowers, and the grand novelties from China, $. Clivorum, spectosus, W ilsonianus, o&° which the first and third are bold, sturdy growers, 3-5 ft, high, and magnificent in damp, partly shaded places by the water side ; sveciosus is a dwarf with beautiful rose lowers. The alpines love sunny, dry banks in sandy Icam and leaf-mould, under the shelter of a low rock face. They are easily grown from seed and very hard to kill »y any neglect. The characteristics of the genus are :—nvolucral bracts in one rank, seldom al] tubular, capitules generally corymbose, but rarely solitary. S. Doronicum (H. LVI1). Covered with a light, woolly down, whici falls on maturity; leaves thick, 356 THE ALPINE FLORA ~ dentate, lower elliptic, upper oblong; stem 12-20 in; capitules 1-3, bright yellow. July-August. Ro«y mountain pastures. S. aurantiacus. Plant with cobwebby nap; lower leaves ovate, oblong, faintly crenate, upper enfire ; flowers saffron in 2-8 capitules forming an erect cofymb ona stem 8-12 in. July. Limestone Alps, 1300-1690 m. Rare. | S. cordifolius. The fine, sturdy, high-coloure ‘plant, whose glorious golden panicles brighten the nia hood of alpine chalets between 1300-1600 m. / Lower leaves cordate-ovate, serrate, slightly grey below. Stem 20-30 in., bearing (July-August-October) a Jarg panicle of small, bright-yellow capitules. To be grownjin partial shade, in a cool situation. S$. Jacquinianus aad Fuchs are tal] plants, over 40 in. high, with narrow, dear-green leaves, and innumerable small, yellow capitules in an open panicle. Gorges and coo] mountain plates. June- September. S. abrotanifolius. Leaves glabrous, dar | green, the Jower finely bipinnate with elongated, linar segments ; flowers fiery scarlet orange in rather lajge capitules, forming a loose corymb. Central Jimesjone Alps and Grisons; 1200-1600 m. Adapted for rockery, in light, wel] drained soi], partial] sun. S. incanus (P]. LVI]). Small, tomertose plant, with ovate, toothed leaves, forming a Jow tuft/ flowers yellow, rather few, capitules ina somewhat Jax g@rymb. Granitic Alps, in dry pastures of the higher zore. S. uniflorus, which is found in the figher Pennines, is to be distinguished by leaves of a dejder white and less deeply toothed, by the solitary capitile on the stem, by the larger flowers of orange-yellovw, S. carniolicus, -a ot ete) th” tl ae 2s COMPOSIT# 357 native of the central and eastern High-Alps, has leaves of a dark green tinged with grey, almost silky, moder- ately toothed and elongate. The three last species, all very similar, may be grown in a dry, sunny crevice with coo], porous soi], but incanus only is needed. Carlina Eng. : Carline-Thistle; Fr.: Chardon d’Argent; Ger. ; Eberwurz. C. acaulis (P]. LVI1}1). This is the beautiful silver- thistle that may be seen al] the autumn through glistening on every sunny slope in the Swiss hills. Our peasant women fashion it into most becoming trimmings for their hats, since the scarious inner bracts, which form the circlet so characteristic of the flower, are persistent and practically everlasting. Legend has it that Charlemagne, whose name the plant bears, cured by its properties his soldiers of the plague in Africa. Natives of the Ormont valleys call it the ‘‘Fair weather Thistle’, since the gigantic head closes on the approach of rain and does not reopen tiJ] the return of sun. The bitter and tonic properties are much used as a stimulant and a sudorific ; the receptacle may be eaten like that of the Globe Artichoke, and some profess to find the flavour very delicate. Haller says that it is a regular dish among the Vaudois highlanders and that he did not find it unpleasant. A valuable plant for rockeries and pleasure gardens. Any rather shallow soil will do, but it thrives best in arid sand, where it will brighten the garden with noble silver flowers which last until] the winter. The silver tone is improved, as in Edelweiss, by finely broken limestone, but, above all, the soi] should be as poor as possible, else the true character is completely destroyed. 358 THE ALPINE FLORA Centaurea Eng.: Knapweed; Fr.: Centaurée; Ger. : Flockenblume. One of the many Compositz that figure so largely in dealers’ catalogues and are unworthy of place in any except the wildest and roughest corners. The involucral bracts are dilated into appendages which are sometimes scarious, sometimes spinous, sometimes foliate ; the outer florets are usually sterile, large and radiate. C. montana (PI. LIX). Cotonny, with large, soft leaves; massive ‘‘corn-flowers”’. June-September. All rich or rocky mountain pastures. There are varieties with white, rose, red, or yellowish flowers, and al] are to be grown with the greatest ease; in fact they rapidly become a nuisance in gardens. 3 C. axillaris is found in Ticino and at Belalp (Valais) ; leaves sinuate-dentate, flowers smaller, involucra] bracts fringed. C. nervosa. Lower leaves entire, upper strongly toothed, greyish-green; stem hardly ever branched; capitule very large, rosy-purple. July-August. Alpine meadows. Crepis Another composite which may attraet the collector, but is useless to the gardener. C. aurea (P]. LX). Akin to the Dandelion, and found on coo] mountain grassland. The orange-brown capitules at once attract attention. C. grandiflora. A plant of sombre green; leaves pubescent, glandular, flowers in big, vivid-yellow heads arranged by 3-8 on the upper part of stems 4-20 in. high. Alpine pastures. Summer-flowering. ae, COMPOSITE 359 C. montana. Leaves unequally toothed; flowers clear yellow on stem of 16 in., which is thickened towards the head. July-August. Grassy slopes of the alpine zone. In C. alpestris the capitules are smaller, the stems more slender and hardly thickened toward the head, and the leaves more regularly cut. Alpine or subalpine. Lastly mention must be made of C. pygmza, a small, creeping plant with cordiform leaves, shining white grey above, brownish below; flowers clear yellow in capitules, tinged with violet near the involucre ; native of the higher peaks among debris. The tiny species jubata is rare in Switzerland. Leaves entire or slightly toothed ; flowers golden-yellow; stem 1-2 in.; involucre very woolly. Found on a few desolate rock ridges of the high Alps. Aposeris A. foetida (P]. LX). Resembles the Dandelion, but the leaves are more deeply divided into regular, triangular lobes ; stem first erect, drooping after florescence. Shady places of limestone mountains. Not wanted in gardens. Saussurea S. alpina*. A plant with running rootstock, grey, sinuate-dentate leaves, cottony below, bearing on a simple, leathery stem, 4-10 in., corymbose heads of small, bluish-purple thistle flowers, whose florets are entangled in cobwebby wool. Sporadic in moist alpine meadows ; 2009-2500 m. Mulgedium Eng.: Sow-Thistle; Fr.: Laitron; Ger. : Milchlattich. M. alpinum* (PJ. LX1). Vigorous plant; stem erect, with glandular hairs, hollow, terminated by an oblong 360 THE ALPINE FLORA raceme of close, viscid, blue-violet heads. July-Sept- ember. Cool places in mountain districts. Up to 1700 m. M. Plumieri, which grows on cool mountain limestone slopes, is distinguished by glabrous, slightly glaucous Jeaves, a stem absolutely glabrous and branching into a broad corymb of fine capitules of very beautiful, reddish- blue dandelion flowers. In its native home it grows about 3 ft. high, but wil] double this under cultivation. The sow-thistles are perhaps the most effective of the coarser Composite but can, of course, only be grown in wild parts. Aridity and sun, or shade come alike to them and they will spread only too rampantly without attention. Lactuca L. perennis. Very glabrous, bluish, with leaves cut into toothed Jobes; stem short, much branched, bearing loosely corymbose heads; flower heads numerous, large, reddish-blue, only opening in the sun and not unlike those of wild Chicory; ] have found a variety with white flowers in the upper Queyras valley. April-September. Dry, stony, sunny places in mountains. To be treated as respectfully as Mulgedium, with which it is often confused. Hypocheeris These are plants with yellow flowers in very large heads and are found here and there in the Alps. There are two different species. H. uniflora (H. helvetica); leaves oblong, toothed, larger than those of the Dandelion, less deeply cut, pubescent; stem hairy, the lower part Jeaved ; one capitule, very large, yellow; higher pastures Wn BE wee 5 eh Se at ‘ COMPOSIT 361 of the granitic Alps. H. maculata or Porcelle differs from the above in that the leaves are often spotted with violet, the stem is shorter, with one or more large capitules; the involucral bracts very shortly ciliate. Mountain grassland. Hieracium Eng.: Hawkweed; Fr.: Eperviere; Ger. : Habichkrant. This multitudinous and polymorphous family would require a volume to itself for complete description and even then, as perhaps might be expected, leave confusion worse confounded. But a special word of warning is here particularly needed, since firms of the highest repute as specialists in herbaceous borders continually attempt upon the strength of the peculiar coppery or sandy red tones found in these plants to foist them, especially aurantiacus, as desirable on the public. No more dangerous weed can get into a choice border, whose inmates it swamps under the close, ugly mat springing from the rambling stoloniferous roots, while self-sown seedlings spring up at surprising distances to make the evi] endemic through the whole garden. Aurantiacus, it is true, with Peletianum, pilosella and villosum, is the most distinctive, but the wise will be content to use them to beautify old and crumbling walls in the open country. The species comprised are perennial (sadly so!), generally hairy, flowers varying shades of yellow, invoJucre of one or more ranks and imbricated. Ht. aurantiacum (PI. LXI]). Stoloniferous plant, throwing numerous runners over the ground; leaves hairy; flowers bright orange, sometimes dark saffron, | united into several close capitules, corymbose. July-— August. Cool alpine pastures ; somewhat rare. 362 THE ALPINE FLORA H. villosum (P). LXI1) is markedly different. Covered all over with long, woolly hairs; leaves bluish, oblong, undulate, capitules large, solitary, with bright yellow flowers. June-September. Rocky places in the limestone Alps and Jura. Rhaponticum, Cirsium, etc. Here and there, on steep and rocky alpine slopes, one meets a plant of great size, like a Centaurea with stiff stems. It reaches a height of more than 40 in.; the Jeaves are entire, greyish; the flowers rosy-carmine, ina very large head surrounded by an enormous, scarious involucre. This is Rhaponticum scariosum or Centaurea Rhaponticum, to be grown in deep and sunny garden soil. Mention may also be made of certain Thistles, known under the names of Cirsium or Carduus; they are picturesque in growth and often beautiful. Cirsium spinosissimum is the pale-green species, with very num- erous, spinous leaves, and stems 10-20 in. high, terminated by a dense cluster of pale-yellow heads surrounded by a spinous, yellow-green involucre. C. Eriophorum is the beautiful, majestic thistle with very large heads of dark rose, the involucres with woolly webs; found on pastures in the calcareous Alps and Jura. ye, CAMPANULACE/E 363 Campanulacez Do This order of herbaceous, rarely shrubby, plants takes its name from the bell-shaped corolla common in the typical genus, though funnel] and tubular forms are also found; the Jimb or expanded portion is in al] nine-cleft or less. The leaves are simple, alternate (seldom opposite) and without stipules; the flowers regular, in racemes or spikes or clusters of heads (glomerules), but occasionally also in panicles; the five-lobed calyx remains adherent even when withered; the stamens are six, usually free, and seldom united at the base of the corolla; the style is practically naked with two to five stigmas. Many of the genera contain a milky juice, full of mucilage, which neutralizes their acrid principles and permits the roots of many (e.g. Rampion) to be used as food-stuffs. Phyteuma Eng.: Rampion; Fr.: Raiponce; Ger.: Rapunzel. It is difficult to believe that the members of this genus are cousins of the Bell-flowers, when one looks at the curious heads or spikes of stalkless flowers, whose corolla is divided into five narrow parts, which join together again towards:the top. As a race they are not easy to manage, particularly two of the best, P. Scheuch- zeri and pauciflorum which should be well packed among limestone in a sunny and dry part of a rockery with a little stiff loam admixed, or in an old wall. Ample depth 364 THE ALPINE FLORA for the tap-roots must be given and the neighbouring stones arranged to guard against winter damp. Frequent top-dressings are of advantage. The P. orbiculare from the downs of Hampshire and the Dalmatian comosum are also excellent kinds. P. hemisphericum is more difficult and seldom successful, but hardly necessary where the better varieties are grown. Slugs are very partial to plants of the genus, eating out the crowns and so destroying al] chance of bloom. Propagation by seed. For the benefit of collectors the botanical description of the genus and the species found in the Alps is given :— Corolla tubular before expansion, then opening from top to base in 5 linear segments; stigmas 2-3, filiform ; capsule ovoid, opening by 2-3 longitudinal valves; stem simple; flowers small, in one solitary capitule or in a compact spike. P. betonicefolium (P]. LX11}). Lower leaves lanceolate or cordate-lanceolate, on long petioles ; scape erect, stiff, bearing one short spike, passing into an oval and then elongated; flowers blue, often with 1-2 bracts at the base. July-August. Dry, rocky alpine slopes. P. scorzonerefolium differs from it in glabrous or only ciliate Jeaves, the lower elongate, linear, imperceptibly narrowing towards the stem. P. spicatum*. A widely spread plant, found in all] wooded and mountainous parts of Switzerland; radical Jeaves cordate-ovate, crenate, toothed, often marked with a brown spot in the centre, upper Jeaves narrower ; flowers close-set on a pyramidal] or cylindrical spike, yellowish-white, rarely blue. In P. Halleri, an alpine or subalpine species, the lower Jeaves are rounded, on Jong, slender petioles, the margins twice toothed; flowers very deep blue, in long, close spike, with two bracts at the base. CAMPANULACEE 365 P. orbiculare* (PJ. LXI11). Stem 16-20 in., erect, stiff ; leaves crenate-serrate, somewhat pubescent; flowers violet-blue, in globose capitules, with rounded-ovate bracts at the base. Abundant in meadows of all] mountainous districts. May-July. Useful plant for cultivation in rockeries and borders; partial sun, light and rather cool soil. A white flowered variety which we had in cultivation has been lost. P. Scheuchzeri is a glabrous evergreen; radical leaves ovate-oblong, margins serrate; upper leaves elongate, linear ; stem erect, with a round head of close-set flowers, deep violet-blue, above a whorl of narrow, spreading or reflexed bracts, which are Jonger than the flowers. July- August. Rock-crevices in the central and eastern Alps. 1000-2200 m. P. hemisphericum (PI. LXIV). Small, grassy plant ; leaves graminiform, long, Jinear, numerous ; stems slender, many, 2-6 in.; capitule of violet tinted blue, with ovate- Janceolate bracts. Summer flowering. Poor turf in the granitic Alps. 1500-2200 m. P. humile differs in its Jarger leaves, finer flowers, with bracts as long or often longer than the flowers. July-August. Eastern Alps. 2000-2700 m. P. pauciflorum (P]. LXIV). An altogether dwarf plant, forming small, Jow carpets of glabrous leaves, the upper part of the lamina enlarged, obovate; flowers blue, 5-7 on smal] heads. July-August. High, dry and rocky pastures of the Alps. 1500-2500 m. Campanula Eng.: Bell-flower ; Fr.: Campanule ; Ger.: Glockenblume. To choose among Campanulas is a work of superero- gation ; the simplest and most satisfactory advice is that 24 366 THE ALPINE FLORA none should be rejected, for very few will be a cause of disappointment as regards elegance and charm, nor man a trouble by exigences or caprice. Given light and air, and al] will go well, if excessive damp is avoided and ‘plenty of limestone provided, except for such granitic species as Allioni, excisa and pulla. \n order to be effective the scheme of planting should be bold and generous, the taller varieties, of which persicifolia is the best, in the borders, and the dwarfer, among which pulla is the gem, to trai] over and among rocky ledges. All the Swiss varieties are good, but no collection should omit the dainty but difficult Allioni from the western and southern Alps, Raineri from nothern Italy, and Zoysii from Austria. A periodic division in autumn with liberal dressing of Jeaf-moned acts Jike a charm; it is difficult to imagine without seeing the difference made, to the taller varieties especially. Propagation by seed is ridiculously simple, and if some species, like thyrsoides, prove biennals, next spring is pretty certain to see an abundant crop of self-sown seedlings. A monograph on the culture was published in The Garden, June-October, 1910. Description :— Calyx short with five narrow lobes, Janceolate or ovate; corolla five-lobed, bell-shaped ; stamens free, with filaments dilated at the base; three thread-like stamens. C. pusilla (P]. LXIV). A low-growing, matted little plant, with longish oval and toothed Jower Jeaves, and dainty racemes of handsome bells on slender, nodding 4-5 m. stems. June-October; mountain slopes, especially on chalk. The flowers are variable in colour, deep Jilac- tinted blue in the type, and white in an altogether exquisite variety. Nothing seems to come amiss to this ‘“‘most beautiful of all weeds,” as it has been described ; it is invaluable as a carpet or edging in borders, rockeries, CAMPANULACE 367 old walls, sunny or shady alike. Very gritty, moist Joam. C. rotundifolia* or the common meadow ‘‘Hare-bel]”’. Only the basal leaves are rounded, those on the many- branched, erect stem being linear or oblong, lance-shaped and entire. The charming violet-blue bells are carried on many-flowered racemes. Horticulturists have produc- ed garden varieties of pure white, differing in size and fullness of bel]. A magnificent blue variety is soldanel- leflora fl. pleno. C. Scheuchzeri (linifolia) differs from the last in a shorter stem with linear, dentate leaves; in fewer but very large flowers (two or three only) of deeper violet blue. High alpine pastures in very wet ground. C. Valdensis is similar, except for a covering of greyish down. C. rhomboidalis (P}. LXV). A fairly strong grower, peculiar to rich and sunny meadows or high pastures. Lower leaves rounded ovals, crenate and slightly gland- ular; the upper longer and toothed; flowers deep blue, in narrow panicles. Mr. Farrer reports a variety of soft, very delicate, silvery blue from the Schwarzwald- gletscher near Rosenlaui. A white variety also exists. C. barbata (P}. LXV). Woolly; leaves oblong, in Jarge rosettes spreading over the ground; flowers large, drooping, interior bearded, clear porcelain blue, lilac or white. Al] dry alpine pastures: 800-2000 m. Few plants are more accommodating as to soi], but it requires a sunny slope and may rot off in winter. Deserves to be more widely known. C. latifolia*. Tall plant, with milky sap; leaves ovate- lanceolate, roughly serrate, pubescent; stem hollow, stiff, unbranched, stout, 40-60 in.; flowers large, on a 368 THE ALPINE FLORA Jong spike, erect, pale lilac-blue, lobes ciliate; calyx glabrous. Mountain woods. June-August. C. persicifolia. A beautiful bell-flower nearly 40 in. high ; flowers very Jarge, deep glistening blue: corollas widely opened, in 2-6, on Jong, thin stems; leaves linear, crenate, finely serrate. Peculiar to wooded slopes in the warmer parts of Switzerland, and a wonderful ornament to the whole landscape. It succeeds in any soil that is not too heavy and in partial shade, but care must be taken to examine the basal rosettes, which are apt to lift and cause loss of root-hold. The variety alba is a charm- ing foi] to the type and humosa a splendid form with immense satiny bells and a double corolla. C. cenisia. In the high parts of the Alps, on glacier moraines or in sunny heaps of earthy rubbish, one finds between 1800-2500 m. a dwarf, little campanula with recumbent stem, forming charming trusses of clear green foliage ; the Jeaves are ovate, ciliate and rosulate ; flowers are solitary, of medium size, greyish or Venetian blue of the shade sometimes called electric; the cups with 5-deeply cut lobes are flattish, widely opened and upturned. Madame Julia Correvon found in 1889 a delightful variety with pure white flowers on a moraine of the Valsorey glacier. It is rather difficult to establish in gardens, but once at home flowers profusely, even to death. The soil] required may be described as artificial moraine, chiefly sand and grit. Winter damp and snails must be guarded against by a plentiful dressing of similar grit. C. excisa is a curiously beautiful native of the granite from among the Simplon group and near Belalp. It gets its name from the smal] and perfectly rounded hole by which the lobes of the corolla are divided as if by a punch. This small, delicate, grasslike campanula with thin, airy CAMPANULACEE 369 wires of stems recalls pusilla but it is altogether slighter in build, and the foliage narrower and more linear. 2000-2800 m. A hater of lime. C. thyrsoides (P]. LXV1). One of the gems of alpine campanulas. Leaves woolly, in broad rosettes ; from the centre around the stiff, hollow, thick scape, rise a compact spike of very many, yellow, flagrant flowers with a hairy corolla. July-August. Rocks of the limestone Alps and Jura. To be grown in deep soil, rich in humus, and exposed to the sun. The plant dies after flowering, but produces self-sown seedlings freely. C. spicata in a granitic counterpart with blue flowers. 370 THE ALPINE FLORA Vaccineze Depp This order of smal] and almost glabrous shrubs contains several plants, which, if not of first-rate merit, must be acknowledged at least ornamental; the many- branched roots are wide foragers and stoloniferous; the regular flowers consist of a calyx with four or five teeth, and a one-petalled corolla, whose five lobes alternate with the teeth of the calyx; the stamens number five or ten; the single style carries a blunted stigma; the fruit is a fleshy berry. Vaccinium Small sub-shrubs, forming low, spreading bushes; the Jeaves, which are carried on short stalks, are either evergreen or deciduous; the urn or bell-shaped flowers hang downwards on short peduncles, either solitary or in clusters. They should be planted in peaty soil, with somewhat of permanent moisture, and partially shaded. Propagation by cuttings or seeds, though the latter is a very slow process. Ve Myrtillus* (PI. LXV] I). Eng.: Bilberry; Fr.: Myrtille, Embresaille, etc.; Ger.: Heidelbeere. A familiar shrub, with semi-prostrate branches spread- ing among moss or soft turf; stem angular, with deciduous, toothed leaves; flowers reddish, solitary. The blue- black fruit is much esteemed by our thrifty housewives, who use it for many purposes, for desert, or stewing, VACCINE 371 or preserving or making into really excellent sirops and fermented drinks. It has a cooling effect and is consider- ed a specific against diarrhoea or dysenteric attacks. V. uliginosum * (Pl. LXV1]). Eng. : Wortleberry; Fr. : Airelle bleue, Orcette; Ger.: Moorbeere. Smal] shrub with grey, wooded branches, which carry leaves towards their tip but are naked below; leaves deciduous, ovate, wrinkled and bluish underneath; flowers smal], pale pink, in drooping racemes, followed by bluish berries, which are edible but injurious if taken in any Jarge amount. V. Vitis Idza* (Pl. LXVII1). Eng.: Cowberry; Fr.: Airelle rouge; Ger. : Preiselbeere. Smal] tufted shrub, like a trailing box ; leaves evergreen, ovate, of a beautiful shining green; Rowers smal], white or clear pink, in nodding racemes; berries hard, bright red, edible. June-August. Shady mountain peat. The fruit is much used, especially in Germany, for stews, sirops and pastry. Wine too can be made of it. 372 THE ALPINE FLORA Ericacez Dopp Shrubs or sub-shrubs with abundant leaves; leaves simple, alternate, opposite or in whorls, smal], almost always evergreen; flowers regular or nearly so; calyx persistent, 4-5-fid; corolla monopetalous, 4-5-lobed or - toothed ; stamens 5, 8 or 10, with 2 tubular tips; style 1, filiform. Erica Eng.: Heath; Fr.: Bruyére; Ger.: Heide. The rock garden is an ideal position for Heaths, which are as accommodating as they are charming. Given very sandy well-drained peat they will look after themselves, but a certain amount of moisture is necessary and there- fore a Jevel position is best. As with al] plants of this order seedlings are very slow in reaching maturity. Switzerland is not rich in this genus, but a Swiss Heath, E. carnea, is one of the parents of a magnificent hybrid, E. hybrida, which every one should possess for the sake of a January sheet of bloom. E. cinerea*, in various shades, is also most desirable. Characteristics are a calyx with five coloured divisions ; a tubular, four-cleft corolla, and eight stamens. Switzerland has two Heaths; one, Erica or Calluna vulgaris” (Ling), is the smal], tufted shrub which is our most beautiful autumn mountain ornament. Branches many; leaves minute, evergreen; calyx membranous, persistent; inflorescence pink, spiked. July-August. ERICACE 373 The other, E. carnea, is known in Romance Switz- erland as Bruyére d’Ollon. A small, trailing bush; branches ascendent, furnished above with smal], linear, evergreen, needle-shaped leaves, dark green in colour; numerous vivid pink flowers with long tubes, in terminal spikes. Flowers in early spring, after the melting of the snow. Both the type and a variety with white flowers are alike charming and favourite garden plants, flower- ing as early as January. Requires full sun and light soil. Azalea or Loiseleuria A. procumbens. A trailing, miniature shrub, with depressed branches, covering in the high alpine zone (1500-2700 m.) vast areas with tufts of shining, reddish foliage. Leaves numerous, small, ovate, margins revolute, Jasting through winter ; flowers smal], bright rose, 2-4 in subcorymbose clusters. July-August. Arctostaphylos Eng.: Bear-berry; Fr.: Arbousier; Ger.: Barentraube. The neat habit and elegant box-like foliage of these plants makes them admirably suited for rockeries in peaty loam. A further recommendation is that the leaves are usually evergreen and the berries of the most ornamental species (A. Nevadensis and A. Uva Ursi) remain on the plant til] winter. Both are very easy and do wel] in any soil. A. alpina does best on margins of boggy land. They are distinguished by the five divisions of the calyx and of the corolla, the Jatter of which is globular with reflexed lobes; the stamens number ten; the berry is globular. 374 THE ALPINE FLORA A. Uva Ursi (PI. LXVIII). Low shrub, with long, divided branches, trailing as much as 40 in. along the ground ; leaves ovate, thick, leathery, dark shining green; flowers smal], clear pink, in a short raceme; berry round, bright red. Common in the Alps and Jura; rocky, sunny places. It is a fine plant for rockwork and alpine gardening, suitable for dry banks and similar situations. Medicinally it is astringent. A. alpina* differs in deciduous Jeaves, which turn to red in autumn and then wither; they are toothed, with netted nerves, pale beneath, ciliate at the base; flowers smal], white ; the large jet-black berries are quite distinct. Alpine zone from 1500-2000 m. Rhododendron Eng.: Rhododendron; Fr.: Rosage, Laurier des Alpes; Ger. : Alpenrose. No words of recommendation are needed for these charming shrubs. The dogged perseverance of their slow growth, their utter hardiness, and the vivid splendour of their flowers are al] marks of the truest Alpine. Yet by a somewhat paradoxical perversity, while they succeed readily in England, in Swiss gardens they are almost untractable, though once acclimatised in the lowlands al] goes wel]. Both the white and pink varieties of hirsutum and ferrugineum which fill one of the Floraire borders were raised in England. No garden should omit the delightful dwarf from Tyrol, R. Chame- cistus, with exquisite cups of rosy purple and a good doer in limestone fissures, packed with sandy peat. The Asiatic racemosum (light pink) and Kamschatcicum (deep crimson) are also essential. ERICACEE 375 The characteristics and Swiss representatives of the genus are -— Shrubby ; the branches leafy at the top; leaves coriaceous, entire, persistent; flowers in very short racemes; calyx 5-fid or 5-toothed, the teeth sometimes very small ; corolla 5-toothed, funnel-shaped; stamens 10. R. ferrugineum (P]. LXIX). Shrub 20-40 in.; branches many, woody, twisted, black-brown ; leaves ovate, deep green above, rusty brown below; flowers brilliant carmine, in short racemes. Occasionally a white-flower- ed example is met. Alps and southern Jura. 800-2000 m. July-August. R. hirsutum. Native of the northern and eastern Alps, from the Vaudois group to the Sentis; leaves shining green, marginally ciliate; flowers larger and of clearer pink than in the preceding. 700-2500 m. The Rhododendron is, as Rambert says, the alpine plant par excellence. Not only does it not exist in the surrounding plains, but nothing like to it is found there. Not merely the species, but the whole genus is alpine. The first bush of it marks an event in each excursion; a moment sees it robbed and bare, to grace button-holes or hats or bodice. Free child of the mountain, drinking through every pore that brisk and tonic air which - quickens the blood and banishes gnawing thoughts, is there not some mysterious harmony between thy flower- ing shrub, al] radiant with health and light, and the ringing peasant jodel, echoing from hill to hill, which feeble Jungs or downcast hearts could never learn to utter ? M. Je Dr. Hermann Christ, in his remarkable work Flore de la Suisse, has written an excellent and scholarly account of these two Swiss Rhododendrons. Nor is it possible to speak of these plants without calling to mind 376 THE ALPINE FLORA the charming verses of the Vaudois poet H. Durand, entitled la Rose sans épines :— Sur nos rochers se cache un doux trésor, Qu’en vain ailleurs cherchent les hommes; Plus haut en prix que ]’argent et que l’or, ]] ne se vend pas pour des sommes. Est-ce une mine, un puits a découvrir, De diamants, de perles fines? Non ! le soleil] Ja voit croitre et fleurir, C’est une rose sans épines. Medicinally considered, they are in request among our mountaineers, who take infusions of the leaves and flowers for rheumatism, herpes and skin complaints. They are also used in the composition of thé Suisse or de Glaris. PYROLACE 377 Pyrolacez Sop Natives of mossy woods ; stems stoloniferous ; flowers regular ; calyx persistent, with five sepals united at base ; petals five, free; stamens ten, in two ranks; style single. Pyrola Eng.: Wintergreen; Fr.: Pyrole; Ger.: Birnkraut. All the Pyrolas, which are plants with characteristics identical with those given for the order, are natives of woods and reedy places, especially among the mosses growing about the foot of pine trees. P. rotundifolia and a beautiful rosy counterpart, P. incarnata from the Rockies, are easy, given well rooted plants, in sandy peat or leaf soil. Unfortunately the most delicate, P. uniflora, is not so kindly in disposition. It is unnecessary to add that cool root moisture and shade are essential. They should be propagated by cuttings, for it is not easy to raise seedlings. P. uniflora~ (Pl. LXX). Low plant with trailing, subterranean stem; leaves clear green, weakly crenate; flower solitary, large, wax-white, with delicate scent of oranges. July-August. Dans Ja mousse et sous les sapins Ou se cache ta fleur de cire. Bien souvent j accorde ma lyre Pour chanter tes charmes divins. 378 THE ALPINE FLORA De ta grande corolle blanche Le parfum grise mon cerveau; Et je lis un chant tout nouveau Dans le sein de ta fleur qui penche. Dans le fond du bois protecteur Vis en paix, Pyrole uniflore, Et que jamais nul ne déflore Ton innocence et ta candeur. P. rotundifolia* (P1. LXX) or ‘‘Faux muguet”. Forms Jarge trusses of noble and severe green, enhanced in July and August by beautiful racemes of rosy white flowers which are faintly perfumed and remind one slightly of lilies of the valley (muguet). P. secunda* (PJ. LXX), differs from it in ovate, acuminate leaves, small, greenish flowers. PRIMULACE 379 Primulacez S28 Herbaceous plants; leaves simple, generally entire, exstipulate ; flowers usually regular; calyx persistent, with four to five divisions: corolla monopetalous, four- to five-lobed; stamens inserted on the corolla-tube, in number equal to the lobes; style single. The roots contain a peculiar constituent, which gives them a strong © scent of anise. Primula A genus, only second, perhaps, to the Saxifrages in value and, alas, second also in confusion of nomenclature. Some one hundred and fifty mountain species have found a place in gardens and the number grows almost daily with introductions from hitherto unexplored areas of central Asia; of almost every species, too, are many forms and varieties. Needless to say, the constitution and requirements vary widely; some are sun lovers — generally those with Jeathery rather than viscid foliage — some lovers of partial shade or bogs. Some require peat, some lime, some sandier material; but sound loam with plenty of broken stones suits most. For like all true rock plants they are deep rooters and must have deep crevices in which to bury their immense thongs. Like many other alpines with similar root structure they are very apt to lift during frost, and neglect to remedy such an accident may easily be fatal. Propagation by seed is slow, though sure, but absolute truth to kind 380 THE ALPINE FLORA must not be expected from garden grown seed, since cross fertilisation is almost more the rule than the exception. Seedlings should be planted in permanent quarters as soon as may be. The variability of require- ment make it necessary to give brief cultural notes to each species, rather than attempt to deal collectively with the subject. Nor is it possible in this work to make a: selection from the Chinese, Himalayan or other such novelties. The characteristics are a five-toothed calyx ; a Jong, funnel-shaped corolla, with five-lobed limb, usually emarginate. P. elatior™ (PI. LXXI]): the ‘‘Bardfield” Oxlip and parent of the garden Polyanthus, probably a natural hybrid between officinalis and acaulis. This is the beautiful pale yellow species, with large flowers in umbels, which is found on moist and shady mountain slopes, where it flowers in the first days which follow the disappearance of the snows. P. officinalis (PJ. LXXI1). (Herbe a Ja paralysie) : Cowslip. Differs from the above in the smaller, scented flowers, with five orange marks on the throat; by the inflated calyx, with a whitish tomentum. Grows in the lower meadows. March-May. Likes limestone. P. acaulis (P. grandiflora or vulgaris). The large and charming Primrose of French Switzerland. It is curious to note now this species seems to shrink from the German language and follows close along the inner side of the frontiers of French Switzerland, where it spreads its fine, lemon-yellow flowers in every cool place of the plains and sheltered valleys. It thrives best in rich, dampish Joam, and in rockeries should be given a north or north-west aspect. The above three species have yielded by artificial hybridisation a multitude of different forms, whose (Naauvo VAVNNIT) FUUAId-LNIVS-DUNOU LV AYANION PRIMULACEE 381 many-coloured flowers are among the most beautiful of our garden ornaments in spring. To England, where the Primrose, like the Rhododendron, has become a necessity of life, is due, more than to any other country, the perfection to which the flower has reached. Lord Beaconsfield’s favourite, the emblem of the Primrose League, is P. acaulis. The flower of officinalis is gather- ed by the inhabitants of the Swiss hills ; the infusion is used for coughs, or as a tonic and sudorific; the root is employed in cases of paralysis. P. auricula (P}. LXX1]]). One of the gems of limestone rocks in the Alps. 1200-2200 m. June-July. The beautiful and very fragant golden flower rises from the heart of a rosettes of leaves, and the meal with which it is powdered has won for it an immemorial popularity, for it was introduced into cultivation in Holland and England as far back as 1596. It is the type from which the immense number and manifold forms of garden Auriculas have sprung. As such, the florist’s Auricula has established a cult of its own and it would be here out of place to deal with the subdivisions made by fanciers or the minutiz of cultivation. Sound light loam, packed by preference between fissures of rock, is suitable and a sunny position, but precautions against excessive drought should be taken. There is a beautiful white form, P. aur. alba, and another with powdery leaves and a white edge to the flowers, P. aur. marginata which should be wedged between limestone. It is totally distinct from the south alpine and Piedmontese species P. marginata which is named from the powdery edge to the leaves and whose flower is lavender, darkish blue or rosy lilac. This species also has given rise to many beautiful hybrids. P. minima (PI). LXXI1). A wee little alpine not exceeding one inch, with disproportionate sessile flowers, 25 382 THE ALPINE FLORA generally solitary, of beautiful rosy-lilac, rarely white. Leaves glabrous, cheerful green, and deeply toothed at thetip. June-July. Easternlimestone Alps. 1700-2200 m. A well drained niche of very sandy peat, with a liberal topdressing of silver sand. It grows best in partial shade, but flowers best with sun. P. hirsuta (P. viscosa) (P1. LXX1]}1). The well known, rosy flowered primrose from the granitic rocks of the Swiss Alps, found from the valleys up to the snow-line, which gives such wonderful touches to the landscape at the time of nature’s re-awakening. Ordinarily bright carmine, it is here and there found with white flowers. Naturally hybridising with P. auricula, it has given rise, in the Alps of Vaud and Jower Valais as well as in Tyrol, to numerous crossbreeds which are welcomed into our gardens. The collection at Linnza is admirable and well worthy a visit. Into the resultant minute differentiations it would be wearisome to go. Perhaps the best varieties, in addition to the type, are P. vis. ciliata and P. pubescens alba or helvetica which is identical with that commonly, but incorrectly, known in gardens as nivalis, as the true nivalis is a Caucasian. The flowers of P. helvetica are more boldly displayed than those of viscosa and of much more telling white. Both are charming and easy plants, preferring sandstone and granite to chalk. P. latifolia or graveolens is not unlike a Jess viscid and robuster viscosa, with larger and broader leaves, which sometimes measure 4><2 in. ; the stem, often twice as long as the leaves, carries a fine umbel of 2-15 fragrant, lilac-violet flowers. Sunny, sandy peat slopes of the Grisons with plenty of summer moisture. Top dress regularly. P. integrifolia (syn. P. Candolleana) is a small species ; leaves elliptic-oblong, greyish-green, glandular-ciliate on PRIMULACE 383 the margins; flowers fairly large, rose-lilac, on stem of 11/,-3!/, in.; calyx petaloid, ciliate and very prominent. It literally carpets rock-slopes in the limestone Alps of eastern Switzerland. 800-2000 m. Easily grown in rockeries; partial sun. The last three species will readily make themselves at home in walls, given a full -north or a northerly position. P. farinosa* (PJ. LXXIV). Small native of alpine bogs; roots strongly scented with anise; leaves covered below with a white or sulphury meal ; flowers in varying shades of bright red in erect umbel. May-July. Moist grasslands of the mountain districts. Highly recommend- ed for gardens; selective cultivation has produced a variety with pure white flowers. The Balkan frondosa is often sold for it—a charming plant but the petals are not cut in the centre and the farina is much more abundant and covers the Jeaves on both sides. P. longiflora, from moist, high turf in the Pennines, Oriental Alps and Dauphiné, is distinguished by almost entire leaves, few-flowered umbels, Jarger bloom, the corolla-tube three times as Jong as the calyx. Easily grown in sunny, porous and moist soi] and a charming ornament to a rockery. Cortusa C. Matthioli (P|). LXX1V) is a graceful plant with soft heart-shaped leaves, daintily palmate; a slender, downy, leafless flower-scape; a smal], terminal raceme of most vivid carmine, drooping, bell-shaped flowers. July. Torrent banks and shady places in the Grisons. C. pubens a fine, larger-flowered variety, with greyish leaves, flowers well in gardens, but requires a position which wil] be fairly dry in winter. The soi] for both 384 THE ALPINE FLORA should be a mixture of loam, peat and leaf mould. Both, like Primulas, are apt to lift in frost and should be firmly pressed back and made snug with a dressing of peat. Propagated by seed, but slow germinators. Androsace Eng.: Androsace; Fr.: Androsace; Ger. : Mannschild. These children of the highest rock-faces, these most alpine of alpines, may, except so far as mere number goes, be thought by many to queen it above the Saxifrages and vie in royalty with the Alpine King, Eritrichium. The dwarf, compact tufts crowd into carpets or solid spheres of tiny leaves, starred with countless flowers like wee Primroses. Yet among themselves they observe degree, priority and place. Highest are such as Charpen- lieri, glacialis, helvetica, imbricata and pubescens, the group, that is, of close cushioned habit, whose stalks are furnished below with older leaves up to the point where young ones burst to build up tiny serried columns, bear- ing flowers always solitary and often sessile so as to hide the underlying foliage. Members of this group must be multiplied by seeds which are slow germinating. Less compact in habit, with racemed or umbellate heads of blossom on Jonger foot stalks, and with leaves in less natty rosettes, are carnea, chamaejasme, lactea, obtusifolia, villosa and vitaliana. These may be propagated also better by seed than by cuttings. But, even fresh gathered, it is tricky, and always calls for patience except in the case of the unvalued and unnoticed annuals and A. lactea, which stands midway between the annuals and the perennial kinds. Not all are difficult; the easier are mentioned in describing individual species; al] should be planted in such a position as will avoid, so far as may be, winter moisture, and special care, such as coverings PRIMULACEE 385 of glass, must be given to the woolly kinds. The culture of al] the high alpine species in perpendicular walls, facing south, is to be recommended. Most seem to prefer (glacialis is a notable exception) dryish cracks of _ sunny rocks, protected from direct moisture but envel- oped in a warm and humid air. But above all] air, pure air is their chiefest need. And unfortunately, with every care, he would be a temerarious optimist to proclaim any, even those that flourish, long-lived in gardens.’ Smal] plants with leaves in more or Jess compact rosettes ; calyx campanulate, 5-toothed ; corolla-tube short, constricted at the throat, limb 5-lobed. A. lactea (PJ. LXXV). Glabrous; leaves linear- lanceolate, dark green, glossy, in loose rosettes; scapes slender, simple or somewhat branched; flowers 1-4, Jarge, pure white, with emarginate divisions. June-July. Rocks of the Jura and some peaks in the limestone Alps (Stockhorn). Excellent for rockery or pots, even for borders. Only asks a porous soil and partly shaded position. Developes finely under culture, and is easy from seed. A. carnea (PJ. LXXV)._ Differs in narrow pointed leaves, downless and bluish or reddish green, smaller rosettes; flowers brilliant pink. June-August. Dry, rocky slopes of granitic Alps; 1500-2300 m. The variety Laggeri from the Pyrenees has larger flowers, and forms a more compact green sward. Both require deep, light soil, peat and sand, and plenty of sun but not scorching. In these circumstances with plenty of water in dry seasons, especially when the plants are young, and abundant topdressing of silver sand, they are not difficult 1} published in the Garden (vol. XLII], 1903, p. 332, 351, 370 and 391) a full description of all the Androsaces and of the culture of every one of them. 386 THE ALPINE FLORA and often spread by self-sown seedlings to broad carpets. The A. carnea is a chalk fearing plant. A. obtusifolia. Very common in alpine meadows; forms smal] tufts of blunted, lanceolate leaves of greyish green, briefly ciliate; flowers white or rose with yellow eye, generally smal], in compact umbel] on stem of 2-4 in. June-August. A ruby red variety reported near Leuk. It is Jarger and perhaps easier than its kindred chalk- loving Chamaejasme, to which it is preferred by some experts. Deep, well drained peaty loam, wel] covered with broken stone. A. villosa (PJ. LXXV). Small, downy, running plant; Jeaves silky, whitish, in small, glandular, close rosettes; flowers white (bright pink in bud). Southern Jura. May-July. Perhaps the kindliest and most beautiful of the kindlier Androsace, with flowers so big and cheerful. It will even grow in sandy borders, but deserves better treatment. That recommended for carnea will serve, though this variety is more thirsty. It is, however, a chalk-loving kind. A. Chamaejasme differs in that the leaves are without silky down and hairy only beneath, with ciliate margins, in open, flat rosettes; flowers white, with a yellow eye passing to bright rose after fecundation. July-August. Grassy and rocky slopes of calcareous Alps; 1500- 2500 m. Like obtusifolia and villosa it asks for well drained, light loam, plenty of sun and water, and broken stone round the collar. A. helvetica (Aretia helvetica). Forms a pretty, compact cushion of small, greyish leaves, very close-set, which are united round the crowded branches in the form of little cylinders, the old ones persisting in the centre of the tuft and keeping it compact. Sometimes the genera] appearance looks like a mass of tiny hem- PRIMULACEE 387 ispheres, which are literally covered with pear] white, sessile flowers, larger than the rosettes they crown. The mass Of flowers may at times be so great as to cover completely the foliage, leaving nothing visible but the face of the flowers embroidered on the cushion. Summer; in chinks of high rocks of the limestone Alps; 2000- 2500 m. A. pubescens is distinguished by longer and narrower leaves, very downy with star-like hairs, not arranged in cylindric columns but forming a rosette at the end of the branches, thus making the habit Jess compact ; flowers white with a yellow eye. Rock slopes and rock- crevices in the limestone Alps of western Switzerland and Appenzell]; 2000-3000 m. A peculiar differentiation from its kin is a slight swelling on the stem close to the flower. An exquisite variety. A. imbricata (argentea, tomentosa) is similar to helvetica, except that the leaves are silver-white, the habit more compact and dwarf, the leaves shorter, arched, very dense; the overlapping flowers smaller, glistening white with yellow centre. July-August. Rocks of the granitic High Alps, growing in places sheltered from rain under the protection of projecting cornices where it worms a way into the most invisible chinks. A. glacialis (A. pennina, alpina). A delicious cushion of tender rose to be seen springing up in the highest parts of the Alps, especially in the primary formations, and forming at 2200-3000 m. the advance-guard of the upper limit of vegetation. It tells of some summit ridge or icy glacier at hand. Even more than in JA. helvetica do the blossoms huddle themselves close to the surface of the cushion, spreading there an unbroken sheet of glowing colours, white or vivid carmine or intermediary shades according to the variety. They greet, these rosy, 388 THE ALPINE FLORA white or carnation cushions, the climber on his upward way and speak to him of courage and of strength. Dwelling among the fairest, frailest gems of alpine flowers, it hymns with them their maker’s glory. Que de fleurs, de parfums, sur Ja montagne en féte, Que de concerts joyeux s’élevent au Seigneur ; Et combien de bonheurs qui montent de ]’aréte Vers le tréne de Dieu pour chanter sa grandeur ! Androsaces of this group Aretia, that is, al] the species described from helvetica onwards, are unusually difficult to coax into cultivation. But compared with. glacialis, the others three are easy. Glacialis also is peculiar in its habitat, for whereas the others come from deep, narrow clefts where no large quantity of permanent moisture is present, this one comes from soaking morainic debris, with water in abundance but no stagnation. All, especially helvetica, love unlimited sunlight. Water should be freely given in summer but not on the foliage, which would then turn rusty. All need deep roothold, helvetica and pubescens sandwiched between faces of limestone, imbricata in a very sunny wall among broken granite. Al] are benefited by top- dressing of congenial stone-chips, worked al] around to absorb superfluous moisture, for despite the need for copious occasional waterings, all, except glacialis, need absolute dryness such as in a sunny face of a wall Or TOCK: A. Vitaliana (Aretia, Douglasia, Primula or Gregoria Vitaliana). A tiny spreading, tufted plant, forming thick, greyish swards; leaves lanceolate, linear, with a clear streak on the margins; flowers relatively large, brilliant yellow, solitary or in whorls among the leaves towards the tips of the branches. June-July. Dry, parched slopes of the Alps, except in chalk. One of the PRIMULACEE 389 finest of rockery plants, and of those most amenable to culture. In walls, rocks, or even in a border it will make magnificent tufts covered in March and April with - gloriously brilliant yellow flowers. Treat like A. carnea. Soldanella Eng.: Soldanella; Fr.: Soldanelle; Ger. : Alpenglockchen. Charming modest alpines, but quite easy to grow in humid England from strong young plants in a somewhat shady position near a bog. Otherwhere some retentive material such as moss or cocoanut fibre must be packed round them to check evaporation. They are perhaps the best plants for experimenting in England with the sphagnum method described in the General Intro- duction. Propagate by division ; seedlings are tedious. The characteristic of the genus and the representative species are :— Smal] perennials with strongly anise- scented root ; leaves orbicular ; calyx 5-cleft ; corolla bell- shaped, fimbriated. S. alpina (PI. LXXV1). Very familiar; leaves thick, cordate-reniform with two ear-like drooping lobes at the base; flowers three to four, bell-shaped, violet, drooping. Always found near melting snow, at the disappearance of whose white carpet the Soldanella gives a cheerful touch to cool, turfy pastures over all the alpine chain and in one portion of the Jura. S. pusilla, which is confined to the snowy zone of eastern Switzerland (2000-2800 m.), differs in smaller size, leaves sinuate at the base, stem not exceeding as a rule 2 in., corolla of clear lilac with Jonger bel] and briefer fringe to scarcely ‘/; of the length. S. minima (Pl. LXXV1). Leaves still smaller, quite entire, slightly downy; one flowered; corolla relatively %2 390 THE ALPINE FLORA Jarger, narrower, cylindro-campanulate, pale lilac with deep violet streaks within. Eastern limestone Alps ; 2000-2500 m. White flowered varieties of all three are found :— Saluez sur nos monts Ja douce Soldanelle, Cueillez avec amour Ja fleur des champs neigeux; Admirez sa corolle au rebord de dentelle, Sa robe d’améthyste et ses reflets soyeux. Vers le sol tout glace Ja clochette se penche, Le blanc neve qui fond la retient sur son seuil ; Elle parait trembler aux bruits de J’avalanche, Et des bonheurs défunts porter un sombre deuil. Cyclamen Eng.: Sowbread; Fr.: Pain de pourceau, Violette des Alpes; Ger.: Erdscheibe, Alpenveilchen. C. europaeum (PJ. LXXVI1), Everyone is familiar with this native of stony, half-wooded slopes of the chalk formations, filling the autumn air with peculiar and delicious fragance. The medium-sized, irregularly shaped tuber with thin, smooth, yellow rind, often throws out underground stems a foot away among stones and under bushes. The leaves, which appear before or with the flowers, are in themselves most beautifully marked and with the vivid carmine or occasionally white flowers give life to the late summer Jandscape. One of the best of garden plants, succeeding in any sound loam under partial shade, if planted sufficiently deep to provide for the runners and offsets. Naturally it is partial to limestone or mortar rubbish, and often flourishes in the heaps of fallen walls. The name Sowbread, little suited to such an honest beauty, comes to it from the passionate liking of pigs for the tubers, which, again, are valued for PRIMULACE 391 a peculiar principle called Cyclamine which makes them useful as an emetic or purgative. It is also used by rascals to poison streams. C. hederaefolium™ (C. neapolitanum) is to be found near Villeneuve and Port-Valais. Distinguished by angular, crenate Jeaves, which appear after the flowers and fal] in summer; flowers large, scentless, pale pink, preceding the foliage. The rough, somewhat scaly tubers of this variety are enormous and, being absolutely hardy, are excellent for partly shaded places in gardens. There is a beautiful variety with pure white flowers. Care must be taken in planting to allow for the fact that the tuber often produces roots from the upper surface, but, beyond this, they should be as near the surface as possible to permit of thorough ripening, and for the same reason the dying leaves and other rotting substances should be regularly removed. Both species enjoy good friable soil, broken limestone and Jeafmould. Moisture, given ample drainage, is desirable. The Jeaves need shelter from violent winds, and indeed deserve it for their beauty. Both resent disturbance. Seedlings are easily raised in pots, to be transplanted when the first leaves are half developed and put out in the succeeding summer. Established plants increase readily from self sown seedlings. es 392 THE ALPINE FLORA Gentianacez ee t::2) Gentiana Eng.: Gentian; Fr.: Gentiane; Ger.; Enzian. To the ordinary traveller Gentians are, with the exception of that flannelled farceur the Edelweiss. the typical family of alpines; being natives of the lower mountain zone they come within the range of all visitors, the most inobservant of whom cannot fail to notice the matchless azure of, for example, acaulis and verna or the stately carriage of lutea. To pass over the annual species, which, despite much decorative charm, are scarcely suited for the rock garden, one may say that the race as a whole are moisture lovers, comparatively in- different to soil, though partial to peat and Jimestone, sun- worshippers, impatient of disturbance, and easily raised from seeds, though these are very slow to germinate. In addition to the natives of the Alps, species from Siberia and North America are altogether worthy, charming in tint, elegant in form and graceful in carriage. The members of the group purpurea, however, are not easy to preserve. The generic characteristics are :— Calyx tubular or campanulate, 4-10-lobed; corolla funnel-shaped, bell- shaped or salver-shaped, 4-10-lobes; stamens 4-10, inserted on the corolJa-tube ; style ni] or very short, with 2 stigmas persistent on the capsule. G. acaulis (P]. LXXV1]]). This time-honoured species of Linnzeus should not now be recognised in actual nomenclature ; it is composed of four types which are markedly different from one another. All are, of GENTIANACE# 393 course, plants with sessile leaves, large dark blue flowers in the shape of an elongated cup; but there are distinct varieties according to situation and soil, some being peculiar to limestone, some to granite, some to high alpine pastures, some to those of the Jura. These four species are known as (a) G. Clusii (P]. LXXV111). Dwarf, compact, cexspitose; leaves coriaceous, thick, entire, Janceolate-acute, dark green, with central vein; scape 2°*/,-3'/, in. at most; flower large, erect, charming violet-blue, corojla with 5 short Jobes; calyx-teeth acute, appressed to the corolla and separated from one another by acute angles. From thin, rocky pastures of the limestone Alps and Jura; 1200-2000 m. (b) G. Kochiana (P]). LXXVII1). Leaves large, smooth, spread- ing, many-veined, yellowish-green; flowers blue tinged violet, with five blackish-green splashes on the throat; calyx-teeth spreading, oblong, more or less constricted at the base and separated by truncated angles. July- August. Granitic Alps; 1400-2000 m. Some peaks in northern Jura. (c) G. alpina differs from the last in a running rootstock; smaller leaves of an almost bluish green, in ball-shaped rosettes ; smaller flowers of intense blue, never on other than very short stems, and often sessile. Summer-flowering. Poor pastures in the High Alps; 2200-3000 m. Lastly (d), in the Alps of Dauphiny and of Savoy is found the most beautiful of all, G. angustifolia, which under the name of Gentianella has for three hundred years been grown in English gardens. The stem is stoloniferous; leaves linear, of beautiful, shining green; flowers large, a glorious blue on stem of 4-10 in. Easily grown in a somewhat firm soil and partial sun. In England and in some parts of Germany it is used to make unbroken edgings of ideal beauty. The confusion, which has hitherto engulfed these differences under the name acaulis, justifies one in inflict- 394 THE ALPINE FLORA ing upon our readers the above somewhat minute differentiations. There is no difficulty in treating either these or, indeed, most other European Gentians, except of the bavarica group; they want nothing but deep moist peat or fine loam, with plenty of the appropriate rock grit, granite for Kochiana and alpina, lime for Clusii and angustifolia. Firm planting is absolutely necessary and each spring any plants lifted by the frosts must be well pressed back. The soil, though moist, should be well drained to ensure ripened crowns. Above all, avoid over-coddling, from which, more than anything else, they like many other alpines have suffered, and give abundance of pure air. G. verna* (PJ. LXXIX). The most delicious of our Swiss Gentians and the veritable star of our hills, though the Jura folk may absurdly cal] it ‘‘cat’s-eye’. Cool meadows in al] Swiss mountains, from the plain up to the glacier zone, but only attaining its full beauty and brilliance in chalk rather than in granite. Belle etoile, en ta fleur ott Je ciel se reflete, J'ai lu comme en un livre un chapitre nouveau, Et dans l’intensité de ta grace discrete J'ai trouvé du bonheur le récit le plus beau! C’est Dieu qui te sema sur le haut paturage, Pour charmer nos printemps, pour ¢gayer nos jours, C’est Lui qui te placa comme un divin mirage Pour étoiler des monts le tapis de velours, C’est vers Lui que ton hymne, au nom des créatures, Monte chaque matin sous les feux du soleil ; C’est pour Lui que scintille en riches émaillures Ton merveilleux saphir qui n’a pas son pareil. Divin étre d’azur au coeur pur qui scintille, Vis tranquille et joyeux sur le riant coteau. Car partout, fleur du ciel, ou ta couronne brille, Elle enfante la joie et Juit comme un flambeau. GENTIANACEE 395 A white variety (P]. LXXIX) has been found in the Jura and the Alps and these albinos do wonderfully well at Floraire. And, generally speaking, G. verna is a splendid plant for gardens, given sun and just a little firmness of soil. At the same time it is, one must admit, a capricious beauty and a thing of whims and fancies, so that the only real way of making sure of establishing it is to try it in several different positions, not forgetting short clean turf; let each be deep moist sandy loam, facing south; put plenty of stones about the collar and pure sand on the surface and round the roots; water daily in summer, and then the chances are that one or two clumps wil] choose to be content and flourish, but why these more than the others none can say. It is well to nip off the dying flower buds. G. brachyphylla (P1. LXXIX) may be called a smal] and high-alpine form of verna. Leaves shorter, thicker; calyx longer, more fringed, more slender and without wings ; corolla-tube also thinner and elongate. July-August. 1900-3000 m. _ G. bavarica (PJ. LXXIX). Here we have the most beautiful and velvety sapphire imaginable, azure of ideal perfection. Leaves ovate, blunted, like box, of glossy, shining green, very close to the base of the stems. August-October. Margins of alpine streams and damp meadows; 1400-2800 m. A pure white variety has been met in the Alps near Bourg-St.-Pierre. For this evil- tempered beauty, one can only recommend even more moisture, if only not sour or stagnant, than for verna; otherwise treat similarly and hope, hope for the best. G. asclepiadea (P]. LXXX). The beautiful autumn Gentian of the limestone Alps, whose floral scapes bend under the weight of blooms like acanthus Jeaves beneath that of a Corinthian temple. A strong, vigorous, herb- aceous plant; stems 20-30 in., furnished throughout its 396 THE ALPINE FLORA length with pairs of opposite leaves and terminated with a spike of dark blue flowers, spotted green, set in the axils of the leaves. In some alpine valleys, on the Via Mala, for example, the flowers are of snowy whiteness. Both forms may be grown in deep, cool soil, under shade. Though impossible to dig up whole any fragment of root property treated wil] take hold. In the Wisley Garden, of the R. H. S. it grows like weeds! G. cruciata. On stony and sunny chalk hills one meets a tufted Gentian with glossy, reticulated leaves, oblong- Janceolate and arranged in cruciform pattern; the flowers are without peduncle, in a close cluster, the corolla hea- venly blue and cleft into four opposite lobes. Grown with ease in sunny parts of gardens, and, withal, of great beauty. G. lutea (PI. LXXXI]). A’ magnificent plant of statuesque habit, which stamps al] our chalk downs, but particularly in the Jura, with a beauty that few will wish to contest. Mr. Farrer does not agree with this opinion, but there are not many artists who wil] not join me in my admiration for this fair daughter of our hills. Rambert, too, seems to escape from its attraction. He is pleased to decry its military carriage and assuming of soldier-like airs, to recall the use of the roots in making a spirit strange of taste and strange of perfume, yet for al] that wholesome and refreshing, if drunk, as intended, on a glacier ten thousand feet or more above the sea. In his verses a Moléson again he mentions this property :-— Mais une herbe des monts, distillée au chalet, Herbe que le troupeau dédaigne pour son lait, La Gentiane jaune, ou bleue, ou purpurine, Recéle ce nectar en sa forte racine; Elixir de chasseur, trésor des montagnards, 1] ramene la vie aux levres des vieillards. E. Ramserr. ] have elsewhere, on evidence taken from good authorities, alluded to these medicinal properties and GENTIANACE 397 have mentioned that Pliny thought highly of them. Indeed he prepared a wine which probably is little different from the liqueur made in our hills and which was even in his day regarded as an excellent stomachic, aperient and digestive. In case of a real, honest mountain thirst, cut the tiniest fraction from the root and put it in the mouth; the thirst wil] vanish in a moment, if you can, that is, endure the uttermost of bitters—that of the Gentian. G. lutea does not take kindly to cultivation. Never- theless, in Austria, it is grown for exportation on a Jarge scale in fields or even on railway embankments. It loves a deep, limestone, mellow soil, and, above all, resents disturbance or transplantation. The seed, sown when fresh, germinates readily; when the seedlings have five or six leaves, they should be transplanted into permanent quarters. At Floraire it is raised in pots for export, and, as a rule, succeeds. G. purpurea (PJ. LXXXI]). Not by any means so robust or tall-growing as lutea, scarcely exceeding 16-20 in.; leaves shining, dark green, strongly veined; flowers large, with a narrow cup, crowded in terminal clusters, and pleasantly scented; corolla red-brown, only opening under strong sun and never completely; calyx split on one side to the base. Cool alpine pastures; 1500- 2200 m. G. punctata is distinguished by a short calyx, usually not split, with six unequal, lanceolate, linear teeth; by a pale yellow corolla, spotted blank, with six blunted, erect lobes. July-August. Alpine pastures. G. pannonica, the last of the group lutea, is distinguish- ed by dark red flowers, tinged with violet, spotted black, and by reflexed calyx-lobes. Alps of St-Gall. 26 398 THE ALPINE FLORA None of this group are easy to grow, and it is only in the moist climate of England that they may be seen really acclimatised. They require a deep, porous and not too moist soi], partial sun and yet at the same time a distinct cooJness in the air. G. Gaudiniana, Charpentieri, and Thomasii are hybrids between species of the above group. Hybridisation takes place naturally even in gardens according to Kuznetzow who quotes a case which occured at St- Petersburg among the fine specimens of M. Kesselring. G. Pneumonanthe*. A marsh plant of lower levels, almost of the plains, if the Gentian can be a lowland plant. Stem rigid, 8-20 in.; Jeaves many, opposite, the upper linear, lanceolate, the Jower reduced to simple scales; flowers large, fine indigo cups, in compact clusters on the upper part of the stems; corolla with 5 triangular lobes. August-September. Marshes at the foot of the Jura, from Divonne to Bale, and those of the Rhone valley, especially near the entrance into the Lake of Geneva, etc. A white variety hos been found at Cobham, in Surrey. G. ciliata (P1]. LXXXI11). Smail, autumn plant, with Jilac-tinted azure-blue flowers carried 1-7 on a slender, short stem. Here and there a white variety may be found. Seed is not easy to obtain, as it ripens very Jate; consequently it is a rarity in gardens. Besides one must confess that it is impossible to preserve over winter. Stil] its beauty, unique even among Gentians, compels one to try it in sunny fissures of limestone, packed in rich Joam and grit, or in turf alongside verna. The annual Gentians frequent the meadows and pastures of the mountains. Al] are lowly, very flori- ferous plants, with azure blue or violet flowers. The best known is G. germanica (P]. LXXXII]); stem 8-12 GENTIANACEE 399 in.; branches clustered; corolla 5-lobed, deep violet tending to brown; August-September. G. campestris is distinguished by a lower habit, clear-violet flowers, 4-lobed, and calyx divided to the base into 4 unequal lobes. June-October. AJ] Swiss mountains. A white flowered variety is at times met. G. nivalis* is a tiny plant which is never noticed except when the dainy corolla, of an intense azure—the most beautiful blue that one can dream of — chances to be open beneath the rays of the sun. Stems slender, erect, branched from the base; flowers many, tiny, solitary, on the tips of the branches, opening in succession from July to August. In G. tenella the stems are of the slenderest, scarcely 4-6 in., leafless, branched from the base, never in the upper part, each bearing a smal], violet flower, generally drooping over the stem. July-August. Alps; 1900-2500 m. Moist, sandy soil. Alas that so superb an annual should be so difficult to raise. 400 THE ALPINE FLORA Boraginez DoH The Borage order contains but two genera of value in alpine gardering, but two of supreme merit—Myosotis and Eritrichium. They are to be distinguished by the general hairiness of the plant with rounded or irregularly angular stems; the leaves are alternate, undivided and seldom toothed; the racemose or spiked inflorescence is usually incurved before opening often in a scorpioid i. e. crozier-like form, each flower consisting of a five-cleft, persistent calyx, a five-lobed, monopetalous corolla, with five alternating stamens. Most genera, especially Borage, secrete a mucilaginous juice, which gives them emollient properties. Myosotis Eng. : Forget-me-not; Fr.: Ne m/’oubliez pas ; Ger. : Vergissmeinnicht. M. alpestris* (P]. LXXXIV). A pretty Forget-me-not with flowers of intense azure-blue and a yellow-eyed throat, which is common in the grasslands of the Alps and Jura, sometimes climbing to mountain passes of 2500 m. It is also found with white and rose flowers, and has been introduced into gardens nearly a century ago. Cultivation has enlarged and modified the type— improved it, to judge by the catalogues of seedsmen ! But the use of it for fashioning living carpets, formal beds or even mosaic patchwork has sadly detracted from its natural glory. 1] myself am one of those who have always protested against such an use of the alpine flora, BORAGINE/E 401 which is but to abuse and prostitute it in the service of false, ephemeral taste, and shall continue to protest against such a base interpretation of garden-craft. The proper place for the alpine Myosotis in the alpine garden or among the grasses of a park or to make a picture in some secluded corner; but its very nature, so sweet and delicate, is degraded by employment as mere constructive material, to subserve some garish effect of colour. The nomenclature of Forget-me-nots has become entangled; for example, usage varies as to whether M. rupicola is to be regarded as a superior form of alpestris or as a_ distinct species. In appearance it approximates towards the unique Eritrichium, but is a much more robust and manageable plant. Yet it is more exacting than the commoner forms of Myosotis, requir- ing absolute dryness in winter, wedged among millstone grit or sandstone and covered during the dormant period. In cultivation al] alpine kinds succumb to an amount of winter moisture that would be innocuous in a natural habitat. Both come quite true and freely from seed. Eritrichium E. nanum (PJ. LXXXIV). High, very high on the desolate Alps, on the ridges beaten by the most savage fury of the storm a wonderful jewel sparkles in the sun of the towering heights. Our moutain people know it as The Alpine King, or The blue Moss; at Saas, too, they cal] it Alpenkénig, in Tyrol Himmelsherold. Botanic prose has named it Myosotis nana or Eritrichium nanum. It is a cushion plant, whose tiny leaves are set with grey, silky hairs—a dense little tuft buried in July and August beneath flowers on the shortest of short stalks, the corollas of the most superb of blues. It is one 402 THE ALPINE FLORA unbroken cushion of glorious azure, the leaves no longer visible beneath the shimmering, sheeny covering. The alpine of alpines, the plant of the snows, not to be forgotten by him that has once seen it on his way ! The cultivation calls for exceptional care. Absolute dryness, partial sun, a light and porous soi] are essential. At Floraire it is grown under full sun in Sphagnum. No trouble can be too great to expend up this most glorious of alpines, yet one can offer little hope of real success. Imported clumps may flower once and then die. Yet every now and then some tale of unexpected success whips the undying hopes of enthusiasts to renewed efforts. Mr. Farrer reports well of culture on his moraine ; others flower it from seed, which, by the way, is the only way of propagation. Mr. Clark, in his valuable little book, gives elaborate instructions as to planting in very gritty loam and finely broken granite, which it would be unfair to quote at Jength.' The best plants of Eritrichium nanum | have ever seen were those grown by my late friend the Hon. C. Ellis at Frensham Hall, Haslemere. He had grown then by seeds and had Jarge pans of this beautiful sky-blue plant covered with flowers. Mr. H. Burroughes, at Ketton near Stamford, grew the plant well and kept it for seven years alive. At the botanic garden of Edinburgh, also, it grows well and endures; but, as everything is growing there so Juxuriantly, it is not a wonder that Eritrichium does wel] too. 1] know another case, at Scampston Hall, Rillington, in Yorkshire. Only recently Hr. W. H. St. Quintin wrote to me: ‘‘] have still six Eritrichium plants now growing fast. But they are in a frame and their pots are plunged in Jarger ones into which we give the water. Two of them are from seeds we ripened 1 Alpine plants published by L. Upcott Gill. BORAGINE 403 here, and the other four are from seed which you sent me four years ago.” Sur le rocher bruni que battent les orages, Au sommet de nos monts, un bijou d’un bleu pur Resplendit au soleil] et sourit aux nuages, C’est le Myosotis nain dont la fleur est d’azur. Petite fleur des cicux sur Ja terre oubliée, Bijou que pour Lui seul semble avoir créé Dieu, Nul ne peut te cucillir sans porter sa pensée Vers l’éternel Auteur de ton vétement bleu. 404 THE ALPINE FLORA Scrophularinez eS: An order of plants generally herbaceous, with alternate, opposite or whorled leaves, without stipules, The calyx of the more or Jess irregular flowers is 4-5-cleft and persistent, the corolla one-petalled, with 4-5 unequal lobes, simple or two-lipped. The stamens are either two equal ones, or four to five unequal ; the style is single. The bitter, acrid juice is in some species of medicinal value. Linaria Eng.: Toadflax; Fr.: Linaire; Ger.: Leinkraut. Most valuable for creeping among walls or stone steps; but the wide roaming varieties like the Italian pallida are too assertive for choice positions, however beautiful in flower. In addition to L. alpina (with a precious white variety and a pink one) every one should grow at least the South European origanifolia with long violet racemes of orange-throated blossoms. They succeed in either lime or sandstone, given a dry, sunny, southern aspect, where they will seed freely without attention, though perhaps it is safer to cut off the long flower stalks and buy the seed. L. alpina (PJ. LXXXIV). Glabrous and glaucous ; stems short, many, forming a smal], dense tuft; leaves mostly opposite or in whorls along the stems; flowers beautiful violet, with a bright saffron spot on the lip, in short racemes. Any stony, sandy, or morainic soi] in SCROPHULARINE 405 the Alps. Occasionally flowers may be found which are pure white or pink or carmine red. In L. concolor the saffron mark is missing. L. petrea, which is found in the southern Jura, differs from the type in more upright habit, narrower leaves, flower-spurs longer and more slender, corolla narrower and longer. Veronica Eng.: Speedwell; Fr.: Véronique; Ger. : Ehrenpreis Few words of description are here needed ; for the plant is familiar to everyone. Yet all are not aware that the ‘‘shrubby” Veronicas (not treated here) are from New Zealand, while the ‘‘deciduous’ Veronicas are from the old world and are in many cases deciduous only in appearance, being at the base sub-shrubs. Many which are exquisitely beautiful are too strong for alpine work and only fitted for the border, but good dwarf varieties from outside the Alps, such as the Alllioni (from the western Alps) the pink caespitosa from Lebanon, peduncul- aris (Asia Minor) and the European prostrata are well worth growing. Of those described saxatilis and fruticulosa are for the best and easiest. Propagation by seed, division or cuttings is simplicity itself; every shoot wil] root and creeping kinds root themselves. The botanical description of the genus and the species found in the Alps is as follows — flowers smal], in axillary or terminal racemes; lower cauline leaves opposite, upper alternate and often bracteate ; calyx with four, seldom five divisions ; corolla rotate, tube short, lobes four, the upper broader than the others; stamens two. V. saxatilis* (PJ. LXXXV). Small plant with hard, spreading branches, throwing up stems furnished with ovate, glabrous, slightly toothed leaves; flowers intense 4006 THE ALPINE FLORA blue, shortlived, with crimson ring near base of white cup; stamens prominent, yellow. July-August. Rocks of the Alps and Jura; 1000-2500 m. V. fruticulosa differs in higher, more erect stems ; Jeaves longer, of brighter green; flower reddish or whitish, in elongate, glandular -hairy raceme. July-September. Rocky places in the Alps and Jura. Both these allied species do excellently in rockeries, alpine gardens, or old walls. Sound but somewhat stony soi]; sun. V. spicata*. Brightens grassy, dry banks in autumn with beautiful indigo clumps of pretty blue spikes; leaves oblong, crenate, grey-green, pubescent, the lower opposite, the upper dispersed; flowers small, very numerous, deep blue (seldom white or pink), in erect, crowded, narrow spikes. Easily grown; adapted alike for carpets or edgings. V. bellidioides (P1. LXXXV). Small, tufted plant; leaves obtuse, rather large, grey-green, in coarse rosettes ; flowers small, blue, in short, slightly hairy racemes. V. alpina*. Small, pubescent plant; leaves many, ovate, entire or crenate; stems ascending ; flowers pale blue, in short, pubescent racemes. July-August. High Alps ; 1000-2500 m. V. apbylla (PJ). LXXXV). Differs from the preceding chiefly in a leafless stem with a short, few-flowered raceme of blue, reticulated flowers. June-August. Stony pastures of the Alps and Jura. Digitalis Eng.: Foxglove ; Fr.: Digitale; Ger. : Fingerhut. These stately, erect plants are, as is well known, extremely poisonous owing to the presence of a variable SCROPHULARINE/E 407 quantity of digitaline, which has a marked power to slow the movement of the heart and Jower the bodily temper- ature. Yet, conversely, they have a pharmaceutical value, on which my work entitled Le Jardin de l' Herboriste may be consulted. All varieties are boldly ornamental for wild garden or coarser borders, asking nothing beyond somewhat rocky ground and ful] sun. The distinctive characteristics are the five-fold calyx, the bellshaped, tubular corolla, with fairly similar lips. D. ambigua (grandiflora) (P1. LXXXV1). Stems 24-in., erect, hairy; leaves oblong, lanceolate; flowers large, ochreous-yellow, in terminal spikes. June-September. Mountain districts throughout Switzerland. In D. lutea (P]. LXXXV1) the leaves are glabrous, deep green ; the flowers smal] in long, narrow spikes. Flowers al] summer in mountain and lower regions. Erinus Eng.: Erinus; Fr.: Mandelize; Ger. : Leberbalsam. E. alpinus (Pi. LXXXVI1). One of the prettiest sights imaginable is that of the pink carpet spread by these plants, as they nestle against walls of rock under the full sun or in chinks of old walls. It is a sweetly graceful and cheery plant, whose soft pink flowers, repeated by hundreds at a time upon one clump, fil] the air around with a delicate and highly pleasing fragrance. We have a white and also a bright carmine variety. The Pyrenean cousin, E. hirsutus, distinguished by downy hairs from the glabrous alpinus, has been planted and acclimatised in Swiss alpine gardens. Both forms or varieties are excellent for giving a touch of life to rocks, walls, or banks in alpine gardens. The introduction of them cannot be recommended too highly; just a few seeds 408 THE ALPINE FLORA scattered among the chinks or on mossy rocks is sufficient. On level soil they may die out. The two following genera are of no real garden interest there insect and are, therefore, only described botanically to enable tourists to identify them. Bartsia B. alpina™ (Pl. LXXXVII), Bartsie, Alpenhelm. A sombre looking plant with erect stems, six or eight in., woolly, much lJeaved, especially toward the tips, where the leaves pass into dark-violet bracts; flowers smal], blackish-violet, in erect raceme. Cool, shady places in the Alps and Jura, where it spreads into veritable colonies. Pedicularis Eng.: Lousewort; Fr.: Pédiculaire; Ger. : Lausekraut. Partly parasitic; stems simple; leaves finely divided; flowers in spikes; calyx tubular, 3-5-toothed ; corolla tubular, bilabiate, the upper lip projecting in the form of a beak; stamens four. Varieties : P. tuberosa (P]. LXXVIII]). Stem 8-16 in., erect; Jeaves slender, bi-pinnate into oblong, toothed pinnules ; flowers yellow, shaded brown, in erect spike. Alps; 1300-2200 m.; dry pastures. : P. foliosa a species sometimes reaching 20 in.; stem stout, erect; leaves large, deeply pinnatisect into narrow leaflets; flowers greenish-yellow, in coarse, compact spike. June-July; cool and grassy pastures of the Alps and southern Jura. P. verticillata (Pl. LXXXVIII). A small plant with pinnatisect leaves, a little like those of Asplenium Halleri, SCROPHULARINEE 409 in whorl or collerette round the stem; flowers violet- carmine, spotted purple, incompact spike. Coo] pastures of the main chain. P. rostrata differs from the above in a small] habit, Jeaves not opposite, flowers larger, with crooked beak of bright flesh-pink, the rest of the corolla being vivid purple, in short, few-flowered, racemes. High Alps; 1500-2200 m. | 410 THE ALPINE FLORA Lentibulariz, etc. SB Our survey of the great kingdom of the Exogens is, so far as concerns the alpine garden or even the collector of alpine wild flowers, coming fast to a close. There remains but one genus of supreme merit, the Daphne or Garland Flower, one of curious interest, Pinguicula or Butterwort, and two perhaps of some garden value, Globularia and Polygonum. The rest of the remaining orders, if represented in alpine flora, is little more than a wilderness of weeds, given over to the Dock and the Nettle, or the temple of noble forest trees, chief of which upon the high hills is the gallant and sturdy pine. For the Jatter we refer readers to our work WWos Arbres. The wilderness one may wel] hasten over, glancing at the following. Pinguicula Eng.: Butterwort; Fr.: Grassette; Ger.: Fettkraut. A member of the Lentibulariz with the characteristics of that order :— Jeaves radical, rosulate, glandular-viscous ; flowers solitary, irregular; calyx two-lipped or five partite; corolla monopetalous, irregular, the lower lip spurred; two stamens; one very short style. It is the most carniverous of Swiss plants, being furnished with glands visible to the naked eye, the leaves serving as veritable traps for insects. The viscid secretion acts as a bait to tiny, thirsty flies, which are caught in it, killed, torn to pieces and finally absorbed into the leaf. The LENTIBULARIZ, ETC. 411 greater the heat, the greater the number of insects captured. Cultivation is not easy. It is especially important to remember that after the seed ripens, the leaves wither and disappear, Jeaving nothing but a globular bud which may be blown about by the wind or washed away by rain. This bud is a sort of aerial bulb or pseudo-bulb and care must be taken to bury it in the ground, in order to preserve it through the winter. Needless to say, the situation must be very moist. In Lapland the leaves are used to curdle the milk of the reindeer, which is poured fresh-drawn over them through acullender. After filtration, the milk is allowed to stand for two days til] it turns. The result is a thick curd, firmer than that of milk treated in the ordinary manner ; the whey remains and the taste is more pleasant, despite of a deficiency in cream. It has properties similar to those of yeast, one or two spoonfuls serving to curdle fresh milk and so on indefinitely. The process is like that used by the Bedouins beyond the Jordan in making their lében. P. vulgaris* (PJ. LXXXIX). Viscid, with fleshy, glossy, succulent leaves, marginally incurved, in broad rosette close to the ground; leaves violet-blue. June- July. Bogs. P. grandiflora* differs in a large corolla with spreading oval lobes, as broad as long, and a broader, thicker spur. Very high places, especially in chalk. Increased by basal bulblets. P. Reuteri. Flowers large, beautiful pink with purple spots and a bright pink spur. Commonest in the Jura. P. alpina* (PJ. LXXXIX). Leaves much incurved on the margins, only slightly viscous, yellowish green, occasionally brownish on the circumference; corolla 412 THE ALPINE. FLORA smaller, creamy white, with two yellow spots on the lip. Alps; 800-2200 m. July-August. Peaty soil with rough gravel. Globularia The type of the order Globulariz. An essentially alpine genus of pretty plants with persistent Jeaves, lilac-violet or bluish flowers, globuJar or conical in shape, which al] grow on dry, sunny mountain slopes, especially on chalk formations. G. cordifolia is a familiar dwarf plant, which spreads like a carpet over earth or rock, with spreading, prostrate, branched shoots, bearing many smal] leaves, spathulate or cordate, emarginate at the tip, in rosettes from which the scapes rise; flowers bluish lilac, in smal] cones or compact, flattened balls. May-July; 800-2000 m. Moun- tain slopes. There is good variety with white flowers. G. vulgaris. Leaves large, dark green, glossy, ovate, blunted, slightly emarginate, in a large rosette; from the centre of the rosette spring the flora] scapes, which are leafless, erect, stiff, 4-12 in.; flowers violet, in terminal, globular umbels. May-September. Warm, dry hillsides in the chalk. Sometimes it is found with white flowers. G. nudicaulis. Leaves oblong, very smooth, dark, glossy green, in sturdy, cespitose tufts. Stem 6-12 in., often violet or blackish; flowers many, violet-blue, in coarse, termina] bal]. June-July. Grass slopes of the limestone Alps; 1000-2000 m. Another excellent kind, perhaps the best of all, is the Pyrenean G. nana with thyme-like leaves and charming blue flowers. All the species are excellent and ornamental plants for the rockery, for dry banks in the wild garden. For decorative effect and to lovers of quaint beauty they have LENTIBULARI 413 much to recommend them—a long period of bloom, astonishing hardiness or, as one might say, indestruct- ibility, charming flowers, whose agreeable shade goes wel] with any general colour-scheme. Toensure vigorous growth and prolonged florescence, nothing is needed but a stony soi] and an open, sunny position; nudicaulis, however, requires the soi] to be dense and rich in humus. | Of the Polygonezx, to which belong several valuable sources of food-stuffs, such as buckwheat, sorrel], rhubarb, or medicinal herbs, as bistort and dock, one may mention two, Rumex and Polvgonum. Rumex Eng. : Dock; Fr.: Oseille; Ger. ; Sauerampfer. This genus contains two striking varieties :— R. scutatus (P1. XC). Common on rock-falls ; in itself of no importance but often welcome to a thirsty tourist, who has found relief in the acidity of the leaves. Stems slender, branched; leaves glaucous, with large basal lobes; flowers greenish, unattractive. R. alpinus* (Rhubarbe des Moines, Lappis or Lappé). A plant with coarse, dark green, reddish foliage; stems erect; flowers green and reddish. Abundant round alpine chalets, where it forms literally solid fields, leaving no room for other plants. Valued as a depurative and purgative; recommended by many for cancer. Polygonum Eng.: Knotweed; Fr.: Renouée; Ger. : Knoterich. Among the host of the Polygonums which are a world- wide family of over a hundred and fifty species, mostly 27 414 THE ALPINE FLORA insignificant weeds, several are useful garden plants, some dwarf and charming such as P. affine, of deep green Jeaves and rosy crimson flowers, the rosy-pink P. vacci- nifolium and P. spherostachyum, all Himalayan in origin, some are veritable giants, as the famous rampant climber from Bokhara, P. baldschuanicum, or the noble Japanese bog plants, P. cuspidatum and sachalinense. From the Alps comes P. Bistorta* (Pl. XC). Bistort, Snake-root. The flower is the neat raceme of bright pink, or sometimes of carmine, which brightens the coo] grasslands of the Alps and Jura, in the alpine zone. The thick, tuberous rootstock is twice twisted into the shape of an S, and has avery strong and acridly astringent taste. Used as an astringent. But the one true jewel hereabouts, a diminutive, wee little shrub with fragant coloured flowers and funnel- shaped perianth, comes from the shrubby or subshrubby Order of Thymelez. The members of this Order are distinguished by their fibrous and very tenacious bark; by alternate, exstipulate leaves; a calyx of coloured, rarely green, sepals, with four equal lobes; the eight stamens are set in two ranks on very short filaments ; there is a solitary style. The bark, leaves and fruit, when fleshy, contain exceedingly acrid, vesicant juices. Daphne Eng.: Spurge Laurel; Fr.: Daphne; Ger.: Seidelpast. D. Cneorum (P|. XCl): Thymelée des Alpes, Stein- réschen. A sub-shrub forming a trailing evergreen cushion, with prostrate, much divided branches, naked below, leaved above; flowers of beautiful, vivid rose, very fragrant, the exterior of the corolla-tube downy. LENTIBULARIZ, ETC. 415 May-June. Certain parts of the Jura and Ticino Alps. Often flowers twice a year. La-haut, prés du ciel, au sein de l'alpage, Dans les blancs rochers du Jura vaudois, Le doux Thyméil€ée a la fleur en croix Parfume et bénit tout le voisinage. Tout le long du mont, sur I’agreste créte, La fleur incarnat chante nuit et jour Sous le gai soleil sa chanson d’amour, Une mélodie austere et discrete. La-haut, loin du bruit, loin des cris du monde, ]] s’etale heureux, sous un ciel bien clair, Et sa fleur suave aux couleurs de chair Jette son encens partout comme une onde. D. striata, from the Grisons Alps, differs in erect branches, narrower aud longer leaves, and hairless flowers in more crowded heads. D. alpina (PJ. XCI), from sunny rocks of the calcareous Alps and the Saléve, is a small, erect, de- ciduous shrub, the branches divided, thick, wrinkled, nodose, Jeaved at the top, 20-25 in.; leaves small, ovate-lanceolate, glaucous-green, with silky hairs; flowers white, silky, outside, in terminal umbels. May-June. D. Mezereum* (Bois-Genti] or Garou) is a small, familiar shrub, Stems thick, erect, with very fragrant, rosy-violet, sessile flowers at their extremities. De- ciduous, flowering before the Jeaves are put forth. D. Laureola*, Spurge Laurel, differs in its persistent, Jaurel-like leaves, greenish-yellow flowers in compact, axillary cymes. Both these last flower in the earliest days of spring. All varieties do best when shaded from the mid-day sun; D. Laureola, in fact, is quite happy under trees. 416 THE ALPINE FLORA They require shelter from winter winds and liberal dressings of leaf mould; peat and sand should be added to heavy soil. Mezereumand alpina, at least, come readily from seed, but striata, Cneorum and the rare little Tyrolean rupestris are very difficult to increase in this way and are perhaps best grown when grafted on some commoner, sturdier kind as Laureola or by cuttings, as we do freely at Floraire. Unfortunately the better and choicer the variety, the more capricious does it show itself under cultivation, nor can it be said that the correct method of treatment has yet been discovered; if they succeed, they do, and seem fairly indifferent as to soi]; if not-—they quickly give up the attempt. No collection is complete without the Carniolic D. Blagayana, an exquisite prostrate species; and, as might be expected from the native Jand of exquisite flowering shrubs, Japan sends two of the very best, D. Genkwa and D. odora, the latter, however, of doubtful hardiness. ENDOGENS AND ACROGENS 417 Endogens and Acrogens ie D2) Writers of descriptive works on gardening have so often confined their survey of flora wealth to the kingdom of Exogens, that custom has almost sanctioned the usage of relegating the kingdoms above mentioned to separate volumes. Of course it is very wrong; they were weary of well doing—errare humanum est. 1 myself, for example, have treated the important and glorious family of Orchids in two large volumes, and our Hardy Ferns in a third, to which | must refer for details any who may be interested in these subjects. Swiss mountains, both Jura and Alps, possess rich collections stamped with the picturesque charm which is so characteristic of both orders. Yet to give a rounded completeness to the present work | have included a few of the most typical Swiss alpines from the various orders of the Endogens and from the Ferns, promising that, if the welcome accorded by the public encourages me to a full revision at some future time, al] omissions shal] be made good to the best of my powers. Orchis Everyone must have been struck by the sombre, yet tich colouring of Wigritella angustifolia (Orchis nigra) (PI. XCII), called in French ‘‘Orchis vanille”’, and in German ‘‘Schwarzstendel” or ‘‘Mannertreue’’, on account of the strong vanilla scent of the pyramidal flowers, 418 THE ALPINE FLORA whose tufts of velvety brown seem like so many garnets or rubies set among the emeralds of the alpine fields. July-August. All alpine districts, including the Jura. Orchis globosa (P]. XCl1) grows in grassy parts of the alpine zone, and throws short, crowded spikes of rosy- lilac flowers in the shape of a rounded cone. June-July. Alps and higher Jura; 1200-2000 m. Lastly Gymnadenia albida (P]. XCI]), with a small spike of clear yellow, honey-scented flowers, may be found among the Rhod- odendrons or banks of Heaths and Whortleberries, in the Alps and Jura. Lilium Eng: Lily; r,s Lis; Ger? Like; L. Martagon (PJ. XCII1), Turk’s-cap Lily. One of the noblest sights in the Swiss hills during July- September. Stems strong, sometimes reaching 40 in. ; Jeaves in whorled tiers; flowers beautiful, large, droop- ing; corolla reddish, or the colour of wine-lees, with brown spots, the divisions recurved like a turban; scent penetrating—al] unite to invest it with charm. Three times ] have found pure white examples, and always in the neighbourhood of Bourg-St-Pierre, a district which must have something making it peculiarly favourable to the production of albinos. In English and Irish gardens the white form is common and much sought after. The culture is easy; nothing is wanted but shade, partial or complete, and a light, deep, cool, decomposed soil. At Floraire it is found to develope magnificently in the Jowlying part of the garden, while it is much less successful in the heavy, gravelly soil above. One must wait some years before the true character in shown. Other mountain species in cultivation are; L. pyrenaicum ENDOGENS AND ACROGENS 419 with yellow flowers and bright red anthers; this is a perfect gem, and should not be omitted in any shrubbery ; there are also varieties with flowers of cardinal, vermilion and cinnabar red : L. carniolicum, chalcedonicum and pomponium rubrum, all which do wel] in any light and deep soil, if a little shade can be given to them. The above named lilies belong to the Turk’s-cap group, and are beautiful, decorative plants, deserving a place in every garden, as a kindly, shaded corner can always be found under trees and rough undergrowth; the most meritorious, Martagon and pyrenaicum, do not require the least attention. Paradisia Liliastrum Eng.: St.-Bruno’s Lily; Fr.: Paradisie, Lis de St.-Bruno; Ger. : Trichterlilic. This (PJ. XCIV) is a truly (or rather as falsely) the Lily of the Alps as the Rhododendron is the Rose, a lily pure and spotless, intoxicatingly sweet, with beautiful and Jarge white corolla, six golden stamens, inflorescence racemose, proudly set in the heart of the grassy slopes it loves and where it flowers in July. Native of the Alps and Jura; 1200-2000 m. Easily grown in any lightish soi] and sunny position. For some years we have had at Floraire a magnificent variety with immense flowers not falling far short of the white Madonna Lily. Anthericum Liliago (Paradisia Liliago; St. Bernard’s Lily) (PJ. XCIV) differs from the above in taller, branching stems, and smaller flowers. Grows in lower districts, on warm and rocky slopes of the mountain zone. Lastly, on dry and sunny limestone banks of all the lower hills, one finds A. racemosum, known in French Switz- erland as ‘‘Lis des Rochers”, and at Fribourg as ‘‘J’Herbe 420 THE ALPINE FLORA a laraignée”’. This is a diminutive form of the two species already mentioned; habit tufted; stems slender, hard, filiform, branched, almost leafless; flowers small, white ; anthers saffron ; panicle large and branched. June- August. Very ornamental for rocks and dry banks of gardens. Lioydia L. serotina. A small, lowly, winsome plant; stems thin and slender, rising from a very delicate tuft of linear Jeaves, as fine as grass; flower solitary, 5-cleft, white with pink or yellow spots on the interior. Cool, shady slopes of the High-alps ; 1800-2600 m. Veratrum Eng. : False Hellebore; Fr.: Vératre, Véraire, Hellebore blanc ; Ger. : Germer. V. album (PI. XCV). A stiff and stalwart plant belonging to the Colchicaceze found in al] mountain pastures where it remains undisturbed by the cattle which refuse to touch it. It resembles the yellow Gentian except for the alternate, deeply plicate Jeaves, the greenish tinge of the flowers, which are 6-fid, in numerous spikes forming a compact panicls. July-September ; pastures. V. Lobelianum differs in that the flowers are green within as wel] as without. In V. nigrum the flowers are smaller, more numerous, and blackbrown. July-August ; woody slopes and glades of the Frenh Alps, eastern Switzerland and Tyrol. The Veratrums are most poisonous; the root contains Veratrine, a very energetic and toxical emetic. It is used for scabies and other skin affections and also for ENDOGENS AND ACROGENS 42) inflammatory fevers. As decorative plants they have their value; planted singly or in isolated groups they produce a magnificent effect, especially V. nigrum, whose flowers have a distinctive and piquant flavour all their own. Luzula Eng.: Woodrush; Fr.: Luzule; Ger.: Hainsimse. This plant has the grasslike appearance and narrow, filiform or sheathed leaves characteristic of the order Juncacez. The flowers are small, regular and bracteate. with a somewhat membranous perianth and six stamens. It is a native of woods or, occasionally, of high alpine pastures. L. nivea (PJ. XCV1]). Obliquely rooting plant ; Jeaves grass-like; flowers snow-white, with acute di-- visions, the exterior one third shorter than the interior, in corymbose cymes. Woods of mountain districts ; Jocal. In L. albida the rootstock is horizontal; perianth reddish at maturity, the divisions ovate-lanceolate, the exterior a little shorter than the interior; flowers in a very Jax cyme. The two plants are closely related; both do well in garden shrubberies or on the edges of clumps of trees. L. lutea (P]. XCV1). High pastures of the granitic Alps; occasionally on the transitional formations ; 2000- 2500 m. Eriophorum Eng. : Cotton-Grass; Fr.: Linaigrette ;"Ger. : Wollgras. si Bog plants, to the seeds of which are attached bristles, generally of glistening white and forming a feathery tuft 422 THE ALPINE FLORA which varies in size according to the species. They are members of the Cyperacez. E. Scheuchzeri (E. capitatum) (P1. XCV11). Rootstock slender, spreading; stems cylindrical, 4-8 in.; heads solitary, ovoid-globose. Alpine bogs. E. vaginatum differs from it in a tufted, fibrous rootstock; stems trigonous, 12-16 in.; Jeaves many, stiff, narrow, trigonous; spikelet ovoid. Peat bogs of the Alps and Jura. E. angustifolium (PJ. XCVI1). Rootstock short, thick ; stem up to 20 in., almost cylindrical ; leaves flat but trigonous above the middle; heads 2-6, drooping after florescence, in umbellate cyme. AJ] Swiss marshes. In E. latifolium the tufts are smaller, the bristles shorter, the stem practically trigonous, with scaberulous and often branching peduncles (smooth and simple in angust- ifolium). E. alpinum. A minute species only found in peaty regions of the alpine zone (Alps and Jura). Forms broad, compact tufts; stems 6 in., trigonous; spikelets very smal], almost miniatures; perianth-bristles wavy and scanty. Carex, cic. The genus of the Sedges also belong to the Order Cyperacerz. Nearly a thousand species are known, and Switzerland possesses close upon one hundred. They abound in al] our mountains and wooded districts, spreading their stiff, dry vegetation over waste and marshy moors. Filices A sense of mystery and awe broods over this most ancient, strange and distinctive among the families of the ENDOGENS AND ACROGENS 423 vegetable world, this primeval and wondrous race of Ferns, which reigned over the earth during the carbon- iferous period in forests of gigantic trees measuring, may be, thirty feet in girth of trunk and well outtopping the highest of our time. Some hundred and sixty families, of more than nine hundred species, which then flourished, are known to us by the prints they have Jeft and which have been preserved til] to-day in the deposits of various kinds of coal. Yet paleontology is far from knowing all and the carboniferous beds have not given up all their secrets. The Ferns of our own period are fallen far from their ancient estate and, in the northern hemisphere at least, are lowly denizens of secrecy and shade. But humble and modest though these daughters of the woods and rocks be, no plant is more gracious or ornamental in garden, rockery or room. The delicacy and beauty of the fronds is altogether charming in its airy freshness, and one does not notice the absence of a flower. Intwo volumes | have described the strange method of fecun- dation and reproduction peculiar to these flowerless plants, whose sexual organs are fixed behind a green plate which appears first after the germination of the spores and is known by the name prothallium. One of these publications was very rapidly sold out and quickened many amateurs to give a large and kindly place in their gardens to these winsome children of the woods. Cultivation is easy; it is enough, so far as concerns the majority of our native species, to provide a good bed of decomposed leaf-soil] and a little atmospheric moisture such as is secured by a cool and shady situation. Nothing is more suitable than the ground at the foot of deciduous trees. Botrychium Lunaria* (Pl. XCVI11) : Moonwort. A little plant that grows among the alpine turf, each rhizome 424 THE ALPINE FLORA pushing up a single axis or stem, which carries two fronds or Jeaves, one sterile and expanded half way up, one fertile and forming an erect and composite raceme of clustered sporangia (little yellowish granules) in which the spores or reproductive organs are hidden. May-June. The name, from the Greek for a cluster of grapes, is most happy. Cryptogramma crispa*, formerly Allosurus crispus (P). XCVII1), or Curled Rock-brake, is another true alpine from granitic rocks of over 2000 m. The tufts sometimes grow to considerable size and the effect of the clear green foliage is altogether charming. The popular name, Parsley Fern, is most descriptive of the fronds, which take two forms; the sterile with oval, flat segments, bipinnate with bi-tripinnate pinnules (to the right in the illustration) ; the fertile with oblong, thick segments, as a rule tripinnate below, bipinnate above. Cystopteris or Bladder Fern also is a mountaineer of utmost grace. C. fragilis* (PI. XCIX) has elegant, airy fronds, of 10-20 in., extremely brittle, and oblong in main outline, on a dark green, brownish axis, with ovate- Janceolate, needJe-pointed segments and pinnatifid leaflets. No wall or rock fern is more charming or welcome to similar spots in our gardens, where as a general] rule it does well. C. alpina*, from calcareous rocks, is dis- tinguished by more closely bunched fronds, ovate in outline with crowded, deeply cut Jeaflets, terminating in a few teeth instead of a point. The rarest and most delicate of all is C. montana* from pure chalk. Outline triangular, almost as broad as Jong, on long, bright green axis. No native fern is so finely divided and fretted. Tripinnate. W oodsia hyperborea*, a delicious little fern, found here and there among the granitic Alps and nowhere abundant. ENDOGENS AND ACROGENS 425 It recalls Cystopteris fragilis but the fronds are shorter and smaller, 2-9 in. at most, dead green, with broad almost entire Jobes, bearing green hairs. On fructification the underside of the edges is magnificently embroidered by a pattern of brown points. Blechnum spicant : Hard-fern (PJ. XCIX), spreads in chance spots among wooded and hilly places its tufts, which at times attain large dimensions. The numerous horizontal sterile fronds are furnished with many broad, entire, close-set segments of shining dark green; the fertile are erect, narrow, elongate, with thick, narrow, wide-set segments. Both are smooth. The spore-cases are arranged in a Jong, narrow, continuous line on each side of the mid-rib. Aspidium Lonchitis* : Shield or Holly Fern: haunts the upper woodlands, the ‘‘lappiaz”’, and rocks of the alpine zone as far, sometimes, as 2500m. It forms a pretty tuft of dark verdure, with stiff, erect leaves, enduring through winter. The divisions are close-set, ovate-lanceolate, notched, sickle-shaped with an ear-like lobe at the base. Aspidium lobatum* differs by large, fine, glossy green fronds, leathery in texture. So much, unhappily, is the species in request for winter decoration that it is yearly becoming rarer in the hills. The outline of the frond is lanceolate; the leaflets rigid, spinosely toothed, almost actually spinose, sickle-shaped with basal] ear-lobe. They decrease in size with the distance from the rhizome. This is the best fern for cultivation. The Aspidiums are also known under the name Poly- stichum. Polypodium or Polypody supplies three saxatile species : P. Robertianum* (P. calcareum), (Pl). C) with frond of broadly triangular outline, minutely glandular below; a 426 THE ALPINE FLORA native of woods and rocky debris in al] Swiss mountains, especially in the calcareous ones; P. Dryopteris, the Oak- fern, which differs by a more slender and more rampant rhizome, by shorter, blunter, glabrous fronds, whose segments are always opposite ; a native of woods in the alpine and sub-alpine zones; lastly P. Phegopteris or Beech-fern with toothed and hairy leaflets, the lowest pair bent backward. The main outline is an elongated triangle. It differs also from the two above in that the frond is pinnately divided and not in the least ternate. From cool places in the granitic Alps and odd woods in the Jura. INDEX Numbers in Roman type refer to the coloured plates. References in italics are to the General Introduction. Acclimatisation of alpines 229, 233 Androsace argentea . . . . 386 Achillea ageratifolia . . . . 352 » carne’... J ev; 385 Be OUMOG alae OOS » » (var.Laggeri) 385 Bin aevennae 0.) «352 » chamejasme. . . 386 » microphylla. . . . 353 » Charpentieri. . . 384 wee MOSChAtA. ys 4353 » glacialis. . . . . 386 POMBE NS a ces aD » helvetica . . . . 386 mo Peerimice ys 5954 » imbricata. . . . 386 » rupestris 20055... 352 » paetes oc! Gri. LXkv, 308 i WRENS oN ae O82 » obtusifolia. . . . 386 ~)- umbellata,. ... ... 352 » pennina. acc... 386 Aconitum anthora. . . . . 271 » pubescens. . . . 386 » Lycoctonum. . Ix, 271 » tomentosa. . . . 386 » napellus. . . vill, 271 » villosa . . . Lxxv, 386 » paniculatum. . . 271 » vitaliana . . . . 388 Acteea spicata. . . MESO & Guiey "1 aa ere areay a eR rare b Adenostyles albifrons. ce kel Dhe » PNR I BOG » alpina. . Tay » baldensis . . . . 262 » leucophylla. roe ey » Reabterd 6 pa 86s Alchemilla alpina . . xxxvi, 316 » hepation: (oa ae 36a » a ee Ree et » montana .. . . 261 » pentaphyllea. Paes » narcissiflora, .111, 262 » wulgavis;./..--. «) 5.316 » pulsatilla . . . . 260 Allosurus crispus . . xcvill, 424 » sulfite: Q3.) nye Fg REE REG ear ter at © » vernalis. . . .m, 261 Androsace . . . «+ . . 384 Antennaria carpathica . . . 349 » IMR os faci iae 2Oe » dioica, . . ui, 348 » Aretia. . . . . 386 Anthericum Liliago . . xciv, 419 28 430 THE ALPINE FLORA Anthericum racemosum, Anthyllis montana. ae » vulneraria (var. al- pestris) .° -. 3.00%; Aposeris foetida. “lX, Aquilegia . » alpina » vulgaris. » » Arabis albida. » alpina. 0 “aretiosa ~,~.; » bellidifolia . » cerulea . » pumila Arctostaphylos alpina » nevadensis » Uva Ursi rxvi, Arenaria. : : Arnica Chansons : » montana. . Aronicum Clusii » glaciale. » scorpioides . Artemisia Absinthium . » glacialis. . » mutellina . » spicata . Aspidium lobatum. . » Lonchitis . Asplenium Halleri . Associations of plants . Aster acris. : gag oe PMIDINUSc. 2 rogers ALT, » amellus. ; » diplostephioides Astragalus aristatus » monspessulanus. » Onobrychis . Astrantia major. XLVIII, » minor. Atragene alpina. Azalea procumbens , 4 ¥ (var. atrata) “4 ] ‘ Poe 2317 LVI, AN LIV, LIV, Bartsia alpina. .LXxxvi1, 408 Bellidiastrum Michelii . 1, 347 Biscutella laevigata. 281 Blechnum spicant eine 425 Botrychium Lunaria . xcvin, 423 Bupleurum stellatum . xiv, 338 Calluna vulgaris . ; 37% Caltha palustris ; . 267 Campanula . . S08 » Allioni . : «oe » barbata . » Lxv, 367 » cenisia . . 368 » excisa . 368 » latifolia. 367 » linifolia. 367 » persicifolia . 368 » pusilla . . Lxiv, 366 » Raineri . . 4 368 » thomboidalis xv, 367 » rotundifolia . 367 » Scheuchzeri . 367 » spicata . . . 369 » thyrsoides . Lxvi, 369. » valdensis . 367 » Zoysii . 366 Cardamine alpina . 279 » pratensis , 279 » resedifolia 279 Carduus . 362 Carex. wae? + Carlina acaulis . Lv, 357 Centaurea axillaris. sw oe » montana Lix, 358 » nervosa. 358 » rhaponticum . 362 Centranthus ruber . 341 Cephalaria alpina . 342 Cerastium arvense . . XXIV, 297 » glaciale. « XXV, 203 Chrysanthemum alpinum Lv, EI Cirsium Eriophorum. . 362 INDEX 431 Cirsium spinosissimum . . 362 Dianthus sylvestris 1 KEE go Climate, influence of on alpines. 225 Digitalis ambigua (grandiflo- Cochlearia saxatilis Bia 9, ra) . . LXXXVI, 407 ‘Coronilla iberica . 306 » lutea . LXXXV1, 407 » montana . . . . 306 Draba affinis . 276 » vaginalis . . XxxI, 306 » aizoides . .X1, 276 Cortusa Matthioli . LxxIv, 383 » frigida 276 » pubens . . 383 »- Hoppeana . a 298 Crepis alpestris . 359 » pyrenaica .x1, 276 » aurea . Lx, 358 » tomentosa . 276 » grandiflora. 358 Dryas Drummondii 310 » jubata. 359 » octopetala . Xxx, 310 » montana. 359 >» pygmea . anu ythee® Cryptogramma crispa xcvii, 424 Epilobium alpinum 319 Cyclamen europzum . Lxxvi, 390 » angustifolium . . 317 » hedereefolium 391 » Dodonzi (Fleiche- » neapolitanum. 391 vi). . .xxxvin, 318 Cystopteris alpina . 2 + 424 » hirsutum . 317 » fragilis .XCIX, 424 » obcordatum . 317 » montana , . 424 » rosmarinifolium 318 Cytisus . . 302 Erica carnea . 373 » cinerea. 34 » hybrida. 372 Daphne alpina . xel, 415 » vulgaris ea oer » Blagayana. - 416 Erigeron alpinus Lil, 347 » Cneorum . XC], 414 » aurantiacus . 347 » Genkwa . 416 » glabellus. 347 » Laureola . i apa » glabratus 348 » Mezereum . 415 » multiradiatus . 347 » odora . 416 » neglectus 348 » striata . aay » salsuginosus 347 Delphinium * . 270 » speciosus 347 Dentaria digitata as Bias yf » uniflorus . 348 » pinnata. x, 278 » Villarsii . a osha ae Dianthus : . 289 Erinus alpinus . LXXXVII, 407 » atrorubens . . 290 » hirsutus . . 407 » ceesius, . . . 291 Eriophorum alpinum . 422 » Carthusianorum x1x, 290 » angustifolium xcvi, 422 » glacialis . . 291 » latifolium . -hhe2 » monspessulanus . . 292 » Scheuchzeri xcvi, 422 » superbus. . XIX, 291 » vaginatum, nee + x » (var.speciosa) 292 Eritrichium nanum_ . Lxxxiv, 401 432 ALPINE FLORA Eryngium alpinum. » » » » » » » THE “XEN 90 amethystinum BVT. Bourgati . ee ees ceruleum . i336 creticum 338 giganteum (o30 planum . 338 spino-alba, 337 278 Erysimum helveticum » ochroleucum .x1, 278 » pumilum . 1. 298 Filices gine a, rg ~4a2 Gardens, celebrated alpine 240 Genista andreana . 301 » germanica 5302 » pilosa 18 Ol » sagittalis XXVIII], 302 » tinctoria XXVIH, 302 Gentiana. ee e008 » acaulis. 2 EXXVIN, 392 » alpina . 393 » angustifolia 393 » asclepiadea. . Lxxx, 395 » bavarica . . LxxIx, 395 » brachyphylla ..xxix, 395 » campestris . . 399 » Charpentieri . 398 » ciliata . ; ENXXH; 399 » Clusii . ct SXVINT,. 399 » cruciata . 396 » Gaudiniana, . 398 » germanica . Lxxx11, 398 » Kochiana . ixxvi, 393 » lutea . LXxx1, 396 » nivalis. 399 » pannonica . 397 » pneumonanthe 398 » punctata . «2307 » purpurea. LXXx11, 397 » tenella. 399 » Thomasii . 398 » verna . eLXXIX;- 304 Geranium cinereum . Geranium ibericum . 299 » lancastriense. . 299 » Phzum. - . 308 » » (var. lividum) 300 » rivulare . . XxvI, 299 » sylvaticum .xxvil, 300 Germination, compar. speed of . 237 Geum montanum a ee > veptans. . . . xxx Bid Globularia cordifolia . . 412 » nana. ; ey » nudicaulis . : Fa » vulgaris ee Gnaphalium carpathicum . 349 » dioicum . . iim, 348 » supinum . . 349 Gymnadenia albida. . . xcn, 418 Gypsophila repens. . . .Xxx, 292 Hedysarum obscurum . xxx, 307 Helianthemum alpestre . .xv, 283 » canum . 283 » Fumana. . 283 » grandiflorum. 282 » vulgare . .xv, 282 Hepatica triloba. . 262 Hieracium aurantiacum. Lx, 361 » Peletianum . 361 » pilosella . 363 » villosum . . Lx, 362 Hippocrepis comosa . . xxx1, 306 Homogyne alpina . . . . 11, 345 Hugueninia tanacetifolia ee Hutchinsia alpina . . . x1v, 280 Hypocheeris helvetica . 360 » maculata . 361 » uniflora . . 360 Kernera saxatilis + 29 Lactuca perennis . 360 Laserpitium latifolium . . 340 INDEX 433 Laserpitium Panax. 340 Mulgedium alpinum . Lx1, 359 » Siler . Pee S40 » Plumieri. . 360 Lathyrus . . . 308 Myosotis alpestris. . Lxxxiv, 400 Leontopodium alpinum . Lu, 349 » mana ye es Leucanthemum alpinum. ..v, 353 » rupicola. . 401 Ligue suisse du Naturschutz 231 Lilium carniolicum. 419 ee mi ts halcedonicum 419 Nigritella angustifolia . xc, 417 » Martagon . . xc, 418 dee pcaeeapetaebala 419 Orchis globosa . . xcn, 418 Peps Seem Piet » nigra . . XCM, 417 Linaria alpina - LXXXIV, 404 — Orobus luteus . xxx, 308 “df concolor ; 405 Oxytropis campestris . xxx, 304 » origanifolia . 404 _ fotida’. 305 ane omatie 404 » Halleri. 905 EP capa 405 » montana xxx, 304 Linnea borealis . at Cie a » _ pilosa 305 Linum alpinum . . xxv, 298 > pyrenaica is Bie » perenne . 298 » sibericum 298 » tenuifolium 298 Papaver alpinum x, 273 Lloydia serotina 420 » nudicaule . < 72 Loiseleuria procumbens 373 » rheticum , ben ME Lonicera alpigena . 342 Paradisia Liliago . . XCIV, 419 » cerulea . 342 » Liliastrum . . xciv, 419 » nigra . . 342 Parnassia palustris. Bh 8 Pe BF Luzula albida.. . . . 421 Pedicularis foliosa. Bt HOO » lutea - XCVI, 421 » rostrata 409 » nivea. . XCVI, 421 » tuberosa Lxxxvill, 1, 408 Lychnis alpina ; 5 ist a ROO » verticillata txxxvi, 408 » flos Jovis . . xxl, 296 ~— Petasites albus 346 » haageana . 295 » niveus . pces Ome » Lagasce . . . . 295 Petrocallis pyrenaica . . xi, 276 » sylvestris . . xxi, 296 Peucedanum . 340 » viscaria. . . xxi, 296 Phaca alpina . 307 » astragalina . . 308 Matthiola valesiaca . 280 » frigida. ; . 307 Melandrium diurnum . xxl, 296 Phyteuma betoniceefolium 1 Lx111, 364 Meum athamanticum . 339 » Halleri 5 6p » mutellinum. ree) » hemisphezericum ixiv, 365 Meehringia muscosa . . xxiv, 296 » humile at ee » polygonoides . . 297 » orbiculare . . xi, 365 Mountain Flora, character. of 221 » pauciflorum . ixiv, 365 ALPINE FLORA 434 THE Phyteuma Scheuchzeri . 365 » scorzonerefolium . 364 » spicatum. . 364 Pimpinella magna rosea xivj1, 338 Pinguicula alpina 7 ERRXIX, 94 » grandiflora 411 » Reuteri. ener © | » vulgaris . LXXXIX, 411 Polygala alpestris . .xvil, 288 » Chamebuxus . xvi, 287 Polygonum bistorta . rome ae Polypodium calcareum. . c, 425 » Dryopteris 426 » Phegopteris. . 426 » Robertianum c, 425 Potentilla alba . Pane ip » alpestris 313 » atrosanguinea . 314 » aurea, eC RERIV G3 12 » caulescens. BP: i » Fenzlii . {oe » frigida . : 313 » grandiflora xxxiv, 313 » minima . 5H » nepalensis . 314 » nitida 314 » nivea. ees Se, » reptans plena S12 » Tipestris- < xXxxv, 513 » verna eel Primula . 279 » acaulis . (SOO » auricula rxxit, 38:1 » » marginata . 381 » elatior . . Lxx1, 380 » farinosa Lxx1v, 383 » frondosa . 383 » grandiflora 380 » graveolens Pee | » hirsuta . Lxx1, 382 » integrifolia 382 » latifolia. 381 » longiflora . 383 Primula marginata . oat » minima. Lxxn, 381 » nivalis «iw gee » officinalis . . Lxx1, 380 » pubescens alba . . 381 » viscosa ciliata . 381 » vulgaris . 380 Pyrola incarnata eT » rotundifolia Lxx, 378 » secunda . Lxx, 378 » uniflora . LXX, 9 79 Ranunculus aconitifolius . v, 265 » alpestris . Iv, 263 » amplexicaulis . . 263 » bilobus . 269 » glacialis . . . v, 264 « gramineus . ee » montanus . 266 » parnassifolius. . 264 » platanifolius . 265 » pyrenzus .1v, 264 » rutefolius . . 264 » Thora. . 265 » Villarsii . . 266 Rhaponticum scariosum, » 36% Rhododendron Chamecistus, 374 » ferrugineum LxIx, 375 » kamtschaticum . 374 » hirsutum, . 375 » racemosum. . 37% Rosa alpina XXXVI, 314 » pimpinellifolia . . oe » pomifera . . a¥9 Rumex alpinus ‘a ape » scutatus . xc, 413 Sagina . 29%5 Sambucus racemosa . see Saponaria ocymoides. XX, 293 Saussurea alpina. . sg Saxifraga . Sa INDEX 435 Saxifraga aizoides . » aizoon. . XL, 332 » (var. atrorubens) 332 XLI, 327 » (var. flavescens) 328 e.RiA, androsacea . aphylla aspera. biflora bryoides . cesia . cotyledon cuneifolia . XLII, eb, ee diapensioides . exarata hirculus . Kochii longifolia ‘ macropetala moschata. . muscoides . mutata. . oppositifolia retusa. rotundifolia XL, XLI, 331 331 332 333 332 330 327 328 Rai 7 ane & . 329 jAoge Wi v7" . ao Ai ye pase: & I . XLIV, ae FR Rudolphiana . Seguieri . stellaris . varians Sedum acre » » » » » » » » » » album . alpestre . anacampseros . annuum . atratum . brevifolium kamtschaticum Rhodiola sempervivum , villosum . Seed, propagation by Sempervivum alpinum arachnoideum xxxix, 322 . 323 » » Fauconetti . ae BEDS tae ty f . XLII, 332 333 329 331 328 S233 ee a eee OG : a8 ae 943 . 321 . 320 . 320 . 322 . 320 aoe CF eet yh 323 Sempervivum Funkii. . . . 323 es Gating ss iis cite cs FgQ e - Lagger (4°20, 1-30 » montanum , xxxIx, 322 wo > speclosun 65 1 Fae Re CECIOTUNE Saas » Wilsonianum . . . 320 » Wultent oie oad Senecio abrotanifolius . . . 356 » aurantiacus . . . . 356 » .:) catniolicns 4.4... 1356 oe SEIOVEI o eS » cordifolius . . . . 356 » Doronicum . . Lv, 355 “TRE go. | De repens sree S| » incanus. . . . Lvi, 356 » Jacquinianus. . . . 356 PFU MMIOREE fC uo ooy ete We SeMMOCOUS TL: 6 ek SRS >.) IMNINOTUS “Co ies) BR » Wilsonianus. . . . 355 Sphagnum, culturein . . . . 238 Silene acaulis. . . . . XxI, 294 » PS ORBCADR 264 GOR he os ae a a WY OMGe os ow ek BOR » MCAS ool 5 SON EGO ». Blizabethee ...... .°.°293 es Ae enero |» 1 RO a » quadrifida. . . . . 295 » rupestris. . . . XXI, 294 SPR gas cs es ROMANO ie ne Se a Soil, differences in alpines due to. 227 Soldanella alpina . . 1xxvi, 389 » minima, . Lxxvi, 389 » pusilla: 4s05- + 389 Dpiren atuncits 5. 6. 8 oa IA Thalictrum alpinum . . . . 258 » aquilegifolium 1, 258 436 THE ALPINE FLORA Thalictrum foetidum . » majus . » minus . » saxatile Thlaspi rotundifolium Trifolium alpestre. » alpinum » Badium. » montanum » spadiceum Trollius europzus . Tunica saxifraga Vaccinium myrtillus . » uliginosum » Vitis Idea Valeriana montana . » Saliunca . » tripteris . Veratrum album » Lobelianum . » nigrum. pI; SMLIX; 258 eho a9 Pe Wt) xIv,-281 ~~ BOs 303 «~ 304 Oe a Om . VI, 266 292 . LXV; 370 AXVII, 571