MOUNTAIN FLOWERS 28 1 



bald hills at high altitudes. It is a most uncanny plant. The 

 tiny, pale green, juicy leaves, crowded on the thick short 

 stems, are, Hke human flesh, easily bruised ; and each of the 

 bright yellow flowers, which grow in dense clusters, has four 

 or five narrow pointed petals. There are ten stamens, the 

 alternate ones being attached to the petals. The five erect 

 carpels are tipped with long conspicuous and divergent styles, 

 crowned by fat stigmas. 



The smooth clammy foliage of the Stonecrop reminds the 

 traveller forcibly of the narrow gap which lies between the 

 Animal and the Vegetable Kingdoms, for the touch of its 

 fleshy leaves is most repulsive, resembling that of some cold 

 moist body. Fortunately, however, it is redeemed from being 

 entirely objectionable by the twinkling little golden blossoms, 

 which are as healthy and natural in their appearance as the 

 foliage is the very reverse. 



" Flower in the crannied wall, 

 I pluck you out of the crannies. 

 I hold you here, root and all, in my hand, 

 Litde flower — but // I could understand 

 What you are, root and all, and all in all. 

 I should know what God and man is.'' 



''No deeper thought was ever uttered by poet," says Jonn 

 Fiske, in his beautiful work, TJwougJi Natiwe to God; ''for 

 in this world of plants, which, with its magician, chlorophyll, 

 conjuring with sunbeams, is ceaselessly at work bringing life 

 out of death — in this quiet vegetable world we may find the 

 elementary principles of all life in almost visible operation." 



Care must be taken not to confuse the Yellow Saxifrage 

 with the Stonecrop. The former has tiny, thin, ordinary leaves, 

 while the latter has leaves that are thick, fleshv, and very 

 juicy. This peculiar foliage of the Stonecrop enables it to 

 retain a quantity of moisture during the dry season, an attri- 

 bute which proves extremely useful, since it grows in crevices 



