SWISS FLO WEBS. 69 



roundish corymb. Like so many of the Artemisias, it is 

 aromatic^ bitter, and used in medicine. The Alpine shep- 

 herds, who know its sudorific properties, employ it in 

 cases of chill. On high mountains, among schists, near the 

 snow : Edge of the Cervin-glacier, Riffel, Glacier du Bon- 

 homme, Mont Cenis, at Ronche. 



51 and 52. Gnaphalium. 



(PLATES XXIX. and XXXI.) 



This family comprises many of the plants known as Ever- 

 lasting, and, though it is chiefly represented in England by 

 the weedy Cudweeds which have little to recommend them, 

 it includes one of the most typical plants of Switzerland, 

 G. leontopodium (Fig. 51), round which a good deal of 

 romance gathers. Who that has been among the high moun- 

 tains there has not seen or heard of the Edelweiss, literally 

 the Noble White? It is now so much sought after, that it is 

 said laws are being made to prevent its extermination ; and cer- 

 tainly, if the present rage for it continues, they will be neces- 

 sary. Perhaps it is valued more for its peculiarity than for its 

 beauty, though it is a handsome flower in its way ; or, possibly, 

 because it is found only at considerable heights, and a bunch 

 of it in the hat speaks of mountain-expeditions. The great 



