110 J. W. REED ON PLANTS COLLECTED IN THE PYRENEES. 



Wales, but have never seen its delicate yellow flowers displayed so 

 freely as at Gavarnie. There are only about nine species in the 

 genus Meconopsis, one belonging to Western Europe, two to N.W. 

 America, and six Himalayan. 



Our old friend — Narcissus pseudo-narcissus — daffodil or Lent 

 lily, was found in myriads on the mountain slopes near the Col de 

 Vignemale. Of this species, about 200 forms are distinguished by 

 names by English growers. The mucilage of this plant was 

 formerly used as a violent emetic. 



Astrocarpus sesamoides, belonging to the Resedacea, grows 

 freely on the banks of the glacier stream which comes down from 

 the mountains of the Cirque de Gavarnie. There are only five 

 species in the genus Astrocarpus, all South European. Our garden 

 mignonette belongs to the same order, but what was the origin of 

 this favourite plant is a mystery no one has yet solved ; it has 

 nowhere been found wild. This question may yet be cleared up 

 like that of the origin of the Common Onion (Allium Cepa). 

 Though cultivated from the earliest times, being mentioned on the 

 Pyramid of Cheops, where is inscribed, in Egyptian characters, an 

 account of the quantity consumed by the workmen, it was not 

 found wild until within quite recent years, when it was discovered 

 in Western Siberia by Dr. Regel. 



Erinus alpinus, the only species in the genus, sometimes occurs 

 with white flowers, and it also is a favourite plant in cultivation in 

 English rockeries. 



Iris xiphiodes, with which towards the middle of last July the 

 meadows and pastures of Gavarnie were everywhere blue, is a 

 native of the French and Spanish Pyrenees, and extends to 

 Asturias. It is the well-known so-called English Iris of gardens, 

 and of which several colour varieties were cultivated 250 years 

 ago. 



Vincetoxicum officinale, the milky juice of which has been used 

 as an emetic, we had often seen in Switzerland. It belongs to the 

 order Asclepiadece, which is not represented in the British Flora. 

 Rhododendron ferrugineum, the " Rose des Alpes," the leaf- 

 scales of which are a beautiful microscopic object, is common in 

 the Pyrenees, Alps, Appenines, etc. Its buds are still used by 

 the natives of the Alps in preparing an anti-rheumatic liniment 

 called "Marmot-oil." There are about 130 species of the genus 

 distributed over the mountains of Europe, Asia, the Malay 



