HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



J69 



BOTANICAL NOTES FROM THE SWISS HIGHLANDS. 



By Dr. De CRESPIGNY. 

 "The Stockhorn." 



HE Stockhorn, 

 7,oco feet. The 

 Riffel in the Valais 

 country excepted, 

 there is perhaps 

 no other mountain 

 in all the Swiss 

 Alps which affords 

 greater gain to 

 botanists than the 

 Stockhorn. It is 

 barely 7,000 feet 

 above the level of 

 the sea ; and as 

 several of the ad- 

 joining peaks of 

 the chain to which 

 it belongs attain 

 nearly the same 

 elevation, there is 

 nothing very 

 striking about it in respect of altitude. Above, bare 

 and rugged crags ; below, dark pine forest ; such 

 is the aspect of the range from near Thun : but 

 from the Simmenthal, steep grassy inclines are seen 

 extending upwards above the pines to the actual 

 summits of the ridge, or nearly so. From the 

 eastward the peak of the Stockhorn does not pre- 

 sent the peculiar truncated form before mentioned ; 

 it appears, viewed from this direction, pointed and 

 more truly hornlike. The formation is- calcareous ; 

 Jura limestone. 



The ascent from Thun is either by Blumenstein, 

 from which village there is a good bridle-path 

 to the Wallalp ; thence an hour and a half of steep 

 and arduous climbing round the horn to the right 

 and along its ridge to the summit ; or by Amsoldingen 

 and Niederstocken, whence by a good footpath up 

 the Aelpithal to the Wallalp, and so onwards as 

 before. Easier, however, is the ascent from Erlen- 

 bach in the Simmenthal by a path which leads up 

 over alpine pastures (of which the lower are 

 separated from the higher ones by a belt of forest) 

 to a very steep ridge between two perpendicular 

 No. 212. — August 1882. 



rocks hundreds of feet high ; over this — rhododendrons 

 here abundantly — into a hollow, with a tarn in it called 

 the Stockensee : and then another hard pull over 

 steep pastures to a long narrow ridge called " The 

 Dog's Back," to the last grassy incline and on to the 

 summit. The alpine rarities at this elevation, 

 edelweiss, &c., have to be sought for in the little 

 patches of soil among the rocks and in the crevices. 

 There is no danger, with proper precaution. Avoid 

 the edge of the vertical precipice on the northern 

 face, and remember that the steep grassy slopes are 

 slippery alike in dry and in wet weather. Strongly 

 nailed shoes and a trusty alpenstock are therefore 

 indispensable. Fatal accidents, through carelessness, 

 are far from infrequent. There is no inn on the 

 summit as there is on the Niesen, and the^view of the 

 high Alps is not so fine, being intercepted in part by 

 this mountain. 



Another approach is from Reutigen near Spiez, by 

 a steep zigzag path up a long narrow slip of grassy 

 slope to the lower pastures in this direction ; or by a 

 rough path up through the forest on the left ; thence 

 round the base of the overhanging heights to the ridge 

 before mentioned, and so onwards as from Erlenbach. 

 A good locality here is a stony gorge to the right, 

 behind the last chalet. On the pastures Geitiiana 

 III tea grows in great abundance, and imparts a 

 character to the scene, alone in its glory ; for the 

 cattle will not touch it, nor the aconite, of which 

 here and there, in little damp hollows, small patches 

 are frequently met with en route. 



I. Lower section up to 5000 feet : Arabis alpina ; 

 AcJiillea macrophylla ; ascent from Stocken. Arenaria 

 ciliata; debris ; Astrantia major ; fine and very plentiful 

 on the steep grassy incline ascending from Reutigen, 

 Apocc7-is fxtida (near, \l t\o\.= Arnoseris), wood left of 

 this incline, high up ; in no way like our species of 

 Arnoseris ; leaves runcinate, all radical, scapes single- 

 flowered, heads large ; achenes few, large. Aco7iituvi- 

 rostration ; bicolor ; varieties, not noticed by Bouvier, 

 of a very variable plant ; the subpentagynous forms 

 are described as panicidatnm, rostratum and hebe- 

 gyuiim, of which the aggregate name is Commarum 

 (see Hegeteschweiler,&c.), all distinct from the yellow- 



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