WHERE DO 'ALPINES' BEGIN? 39 



rose and the Squill {Scilla hifoUa), positively refuse 

 to wander far upwards from their home, whilst 

 others, like the common Coltsfoot and the Stinging- 

 Nettle, are astonishingly daring travellers in Alpine 

 altitudes. The prevailing tendency appears to be 

 upwards rather than downwards, as if the flowers 

 were moved by human aspirations, and sought for 

 an ever purer clime. Whereas quite a large 

 number of lowland plants climb with seeming 

 ease and impunity, true Alpines do not show 

 corresponding ease in descending. The grosser 

 conditions of the civilized zone appear to unnerve 

 and undo them, and they languish and die in the 

 lap of unwonted luxury. Luxury kills more surely 

 than hardship, and these sturdy children of harsh 

 conditions succumb to an easier state of things. 

 It may be that their greatest difficulty is to cope 

 efficiently with the excess of dampness. They 

 have been evolved in harmony with conditions 

 which are dry for a good three-quarters of the 

 year. They are the product of what for lowland 

 plants would be drought, for only when the snows 

 are melting, or when there are storms and mists, 

 do they obtain moisture. Drainage is rapid, and 

 almost immediately the ground is again dry. This 

 it is that makes the growing of Alpines (even the 



