X INTRODUCTION 



our shores than they are found elsewhere, especially into 

 Cornwall and Devonshire, South Wales, and the south and 

 west of Ireland ; and this is the case with some of our 

 most famihar plants. So accustomed are we to the glories 

 of our gorse-commons and of our hills clad with purple 

 heather, that we can scarcely believe how limited is the 

 range of these plants ; and it is only gradually that the 

 English botanist visiting Switzerland begins to realise 

 that in her woods there are no bluebells ; on her banks 

 no purple foxgloves; that the gorse and the broom are 

 hardly ever seen; that in her cornfields are no corn- 

 marigolds; and that from her mountain-sides our bell- 

 heathers are entirely absent. To the same category 

 belong also a number of other plants, not so abundant, 

 but yet familiar enough to the botanist, especially in our 

 western counties, which he will fail to find in Switzer- 

 land, or, if at all, only very rarely. Among these may be 

 mentioned the Cornish and the Connemara heaths, the 

 ill-scented Iris fcetidissima, the Pennywort, Cotyledon 

 Umbilicus^ with its singular peltate leaves, and quite a 

 number of bog-plants, such as the fragrant bog-myrtle, 

 the ivy-leaved bellflower, the yellow butterwort, Pingui- 

 cula lusitanica^ the delicate bog-pimpernel, and the bog 

 St. John's wort, Hypericum elodes. There are also one 

 or two arctic aquatic and bog plants abundant with us, 

 such as Lobelia Dortmanna and the bright yellow bog- 

 asphodel, Narthecium ossifragum, which do not reach so 

 far south as the Alps. 



The origin of the alpine flora has been a subject of 

 much controversy among the authorities in geographical 

 botany. The natural orders which are especially charac- 

 teristic of all mountain regions are the Rosaceae, Ranun- 



