SWISS WILD FLOWERS — WOOD 507 



and Lucerne, an apology is due to the reader for this scant treatment 

 of the theme. However, the following are a few of the most attrac- 

 tive plants the writer has seen in his rambles about the Vicrwald- 

 stattersee. 



Edelweiss, the "noble white" or, to give its high-sounding but 

 cacophonic systematic name, Gna'pKalium leontofodium^ is popu- 

 larly supposed to be a denizen of only the high Alps, but although 

 it is now found only in wild and secluded mountain areas, usually 

 about 10,000 feet above sea level, this is in part the result of the 

 ruthless fashion in which it has been plucked by the root for the 

 past century by careless or unscrupulous tourists and flower sellers. 

 Throughout Switzerland, as a protection against complete extinc- 

 tion of this plant, the taking of the root is forbidden by law. More- 

 over, as a further preventive of the eradication of this pretty plant, 

 its cultivation at low levels as a garden flower is almost universal 

 throughout the Confederation. For many years the edelweiss flour- 

 ished in a famous Alpine garden conducted by Herr Stierlin, a 

 well-known hotel proprietor, on the Kigi-Scheidegg. Since the 

 World War this garden has, unfortunately, been abandoned. How- 

 ever, the flowers are successfully cultivated in a private garden at 

 Gersau, on the Lake of Lucerne, Canton Schwyz, where the size of the 

 plant has much increased and the colors of the flowers have greatly 

 improved under domestic care. It is now well understood that the 

 plants may be raised from seed, and Stuart Thompson notes that 

 it has grown well and flowered profusely on the top of a house 

 in the center of London (pi. 3). 



Taking it all in all, the most interesting flower that blooms in 

 Alpine heights is the blue Soldanella alpina L. There are four 

 species of this genus, at least one variety of which, the blue moon- 

 wort, has been grown at low levels and naturalized in foreign 

 gardens. We are indebted to that charming writer. Grant Allen, 

 for one of the best descriptions of this wonderful species and of 

 its ice-boring qualities. The appearance of the crocus and other 

 early flowering plants as they push their way through the snow 

 is always a source of joy and wonder to the lover of spring flowers, 

 but the activities of a plant that actually drills a passage to air 

 and sunshine through several inches of solid ice is not observed by 

 every naturalist. 



Li the autumn the soldanella develops thick, leathery leaves, well 

 provided with fuel (starch, protoplasm) for the coming winter. 

 These lie flat upon the ground (see fig. 1) expectant of the snow 

 and ice sheet that may cover them to a depth of several feet. When 

 the spring arrives and the hot sun melts most of the snow and some 



