SWISS FLOWERS. 89 



is perhaps the most coramon, and has the widest range ; 

 Bavarica loves the snowy heights ; but they may be found 

 growing near to each other. Mr. Robinson tells us he saw 

 both in great abundance near the monastery of the Siraplon ; 

 both have the pretty white and blue lobes between the 

 division of the corolla. The difference is said to be — that 

 G. Bavarica has the style divided deeply, G. verna not at all ; 

 that the leaves of the former are more Box-like in shape, 

 more yellowish-green, and more thickly imbricated on the 

 stem ; and that the plant forms denser tufts, of which Fig. 69, 

 taken from a group gathered on the Riffel, may give some 

 idea. The five white stamens cannot be seen, as the mouth 

 of the tube is prettily filled by the expanded stigma. If the 

 above distinctions could be depended on, there would be 

 little difficulty in deciding the species, but they are probably 

 all modified according to situation; and, after beginning — 

 as an old attendant at the Botanical Museum of Geneva 

 did, when asked the difference between Verna and Bavarica — 

 with '* Oh, they are very easy to be distinguished,^' and 

 failing, as he did, to make the distinction very clear, we may 

 be glad to ask the situation in which the plant was found ; 

 for another of the distinctions between them is that Verna 

 loves dry ground, Bavarica spongy boggy spots, where some 

 rill saturates the ground. 



G. nivalis (Fig, 68). In walking along the high Alps or the 

 Jura, the eye may be suddenly caught by something which 



