SUMMER IN THE ALPS 69 



for various Briars are in fullest beauty all along the 

 path to the forest through which we must ascend. 

 What a wonderful range of red and rosy colour ! 

 First and foremost is the dwarf and dainty Alpine 

 Eglantine {Rosa alpina), of vivid magenta red, single 

 blossom : a Rose belying the proverb about thorns. 

 It is surprising that the Germans, generally so 

 precise, should give the name of ' Alpenrose ' to 

 the Rhododendron, when this Eglantine exists as 

 so distinctive, exquisite, and dazzling a feature of 

 the Alpine flora. Mere beauty is not its only 

 grace : a very wholesome and refreshing tea is 

 made from the seed of this rose — a tea which is 

 drunk by many vegetarians. Spreading bushes of 

 Rosa pomifera are also here, with their abundance 

 of fiery salmon or intense pink flowers harmonizing 

 so admirably with their warm, blue-green foliage. 

 And besides these two distinct roses there are 

 many intermediate forms, their blossoms varying 

 from shell-pink to white. Indeed, there are some 

 which look uncommonly like our old friend the 

 pale or blushing Dog Rose. The Genus is not an 

 easy one to classify, there being so many forms 

 which link up the varieties. 



Rose-pink takes no second place to sky-blue in 

 human esteem. Of all colours, pink — the pink of 



