82 ALPINES AND BOG-PLANTS 
I have already sufficiently lauded the easy temper of 
this group of Silver Saxifrages, but their pictorial effect 
is apt to be undervalued, owing, as I myself have too 
readily admitted, to the dull or greenish tones that some- 
times damage the brilliance of the flowers, as seen against 
the uncompromising background of English rock or Eng- 
lish soil. But at last I learned my lesson one day below 
the Laemmern Glacier on the Gemmi. From a lawn of 
purple Pansy, snow-white dazzling Ranunculus alpestris, 
and the amazing blues of Gentiana bavarica and Gentiana 
Favrati, I came suddenly, unexpectedly, on a high steep 
shoulder of broken limestone. ‘The whole surface of the 
ground was covered with white chips, and everywhere, 
over its expanse, rose crowded colonies of Sawxifraga 
acizoon, gently waving its sheaves between the gorgeous 
violet stars of Aster alpinus, while Biscutella laevigata 
made showers of pale gold at intervals, and the hot 
orange of Senecio Doronicum blazed here and there against 
the cool soft silver of its leaves. And to harmonise the 
whole there were frail, rare grasses, plumy, cloudy, that 
shivered amid the flowers. And there, in an instant, I 
learned the full decorative value of Saxifraga aeizoon. 
But here, on the way from Arolla to the Plan de 
Bertol, aeizoén is abundant enough on the stones. 
Sometimes the blooms are heavily peppered with crimson 
dots; sometimes they are almost pure in their white; 
sometimes dull and stodgy. And then, all at once, my 
companion—why should I conceal that this was M. Cor- 
revon himself ?—darts forward withacry. There, on a 
flat rock, thick-set with its ordinary kindred, shines 
before our eyes the long-sought yellow variety of Saai- 
fraga aeizoon! ‘Though not brilliant, this yellow—it 
is quite clear and soft and pure—is very easily distinguish- 
able among the duller tones around. 
In my rhapsodies over Eritrichiwm I have touched on 
