vi INTRODUCTION 



familiar to the English tourist being passed over. The 

 range of this latter book does not extend to the Pyre- 

 nees ; and in neither of those already mentioned are 

 there any illustrations. The illustrated work most familiar 

 to the English botanist is probably Seboth's "Alpine Plants 

 Painted from Nature," also translated by the present writer 

 (Sonnenschein), in which 400 of the most beautiful and 

 interesting plants arc admirably delineated in coloured 

 plates. Correvon's pretty little Flore coloriee de Poche 

 des Montagues (Paris, Klincksieck) has a wider range, 

 including also the Pyrenees, and is illustrated by beauti- 

 fully executed coloured drawings of 180 species ; but the 

 total number described is comparatively limited. 



In the present work every species of flowering plant 

 which is reported by competent authorities as growing 

 wild in Switzerland is at least named, and a short 

 description given of all except the commonest English 

 plants, which are familiar to every one interested in our 

 wild flowers. But with regard to the other more south- 

 ern countries named on the title-page, the lowland plants 

 (not found in Switzerland) are not referred to, since they 

 belong to a totally different flora, the Mediterranean ; but 

 only those which, from the altitude at which they grow, 

 have a claim to be regarded as alpine. 



In choosing the illustrations for the present volumes, 

 an attempt has been made to represent every leading 

 type of alpine flowering plant. At least one plate is 

 given to every natural order which includes any consider- 

 able number of alpine species ; and in the case of those 

 genera which especially attract the attention of tourists, 

 such as the Pinks, the Saxifrages, the Gentians, and the 

 Primulas, drawings are given of several species. As the 



