44 ALPINE FLOWERS AND GARDENS 



instance, is that the Globe Flower shows a certain 

 independence. It is to be found, up to some 

 7,000 feet, on damp pastures, sunny or shady, 

 wellnigh anywhere in the Alps, whereas the Nettle 

 does not roam on its own account ; it does not 

 spread to every desirable nook and corner of the 

 Alps — indeed, as circumstanced in the Alps, it can 

 scarcely be called wild ; it seems, really, to detest 

 Alpine conditions, and to hug whatever it can find 

 of the grossness of lowland, civilized soil. Per- 

 haps, then, this want of independence bars the 

 Nettle, if not from admittance, then from official 

 recognition within the charmed circle of Alpine 

 vegetation. 



But independence is not always the necessary 

 passport, or what are we to say of the Dock ? 

 Here is a subject which offers us another instance 

 of the apparent attachment of some plants to man, 

 especially when they find themselves in Alpine 

 places. Unlike the Nettle, however, the Dock is 

 admitted to books on the Alpine flora, and is there 

 given as Rumex alpinus. But what is the plant's 

 origin ? What is its history ? Does its present 

 habit of sociability with man date, like that of the 

 swallow, from prehistoric times, from the times of 

 the cave-dweller ? There are certain grounds for 



