46 ALPINE FLOWERS AND GARDENS 



exclusion a case of familiarity breeding contempt ; 

 and is this, too, the real reason for snubbing the 

 Nettle ? 



There are, in fact, no lack of examples which 

 might be quoted in support of this indictment. 

 Even Gentiana venia is not altogether free from 

 suspicion, it being frequently met with in the lower 

 valleys, or, as they are termed in Switzerland, the 

 plains, though, with all due apologies to Byron, it 

 cannot be accused of having been seen by the 

 Prisoner of Chillon from his cell ! I have found it, 

 and its beautiful wliite form also, by the Rhone, at 

 Lavey-les- Bains, near St. Maurice (about 1,300 feet 

 altitude) ; and JMr. H. Stuart Thompson, in one 

 of his luminous articles contributed to the Teacher's 

 Times^ mentions this Gentian as having been found 

 by him ' as low as 1,600 feet, near the beautiful 

 lake of Annecy in Savoie.' Gentiana lutea^ too, I 

 have found blooming freely by a stone-quarry quite 

 close to Villeneuve. But I suppose we must take 

 it as quite out of the question to attempt to impeach 

 these two plants, and to bar them from inclusion 

 with true Alpines. Their place on the list of the 

 elect is secure ; we cannot spare them — as we can 

 the Nettle ! 



Enough has been said, however, to show that 



