110 ALPINE FLOWERS AND GARDENS 



hitherto, have known only the mushroom and one 

 or two brown toadstools. But the season's riot of 

 conspicuous colour is due in large measure to the 

 profusion of wild fruits and berries. Mention has 

 already been made of the fiery robe with which the 

 Berberis {Berberis vulgaris) clothes itself. A 

 thickly-fruited group of this graceful shrub growing 

 in some rocky ravine is a truly arresting sight. The 

 Swiss make an excellent jam and jelly from the 

 fruit, and confectioners use it for colouring sweets. 

 No stranger to England (it is to be found, for 

 instance, in Shakespeare's County, on the banks 

 of the Avon), the wood was at one time employed 

 by tanners, and it is said that the Ancient Britons 

 extracted from it a yellow dye, with which they 

 were wont to stain and beautify their savage 

 persons. Another of the season's fiery bushes is 

 the Mountain or Grape Elder {Sambuciis racemosa)^ 

 with its bunches of closely-packed, coral-red berries. 

 In spite of all superficial appearances to the con- 

 trary, this is a member of the Honeysuckle family, 

 and more than often it associates with two of the 

 shrubby Honeysuckles — Lonicei'a alpigena, with 

 red, cherry-like berries, and L. nigra^ bearing black* 

 twin berries. Then there is the Holly Thorn 

 {Cotoneaster vulgaris), with small, violet-red fruit ; 



