RARE AND LOCAL PLANTS. 225 



as the Saponaria officinalis, whose seeds have been 

 carried down to the warmer coast region. 



The Greeks called a violent, headstrong torrent 

 of this sort a " scraper," " Kharadra " ; and rightly, 

 for it lays bare more ground than it can occupy. 

 " Kharacter," or as we spell it " Character," is the 

 same word ; for it is the mark which the will has 

 scratched or engraved upon the plastic elements which 

 it controls. The Eomance word, " Torrent," allied to 

 " torrid," implies that the ground is burnt bare, as it 

 were. Any one who looks down upon the Paillon or 

 the Var from the hills near Nice, will appreciate the 

 force of these two words. 



M. Burnat says, " Dans les Alpes Maritimes on 

 trouve a quelques pas de la mer certaines especes 

 montagneuses : par exemple, Primula grandiflora, 

 Betonica hirsuta, Cerinthe minor, Erinus alpinus, 

 Anemone ffepatica, etc." He mentions also a few 

 Alpine plants which descend into the Olive region, 

 below 800 metres. The nearer the snowy summits, 

 or in other words the more abrupt the slope, the 

 greater the number of Alpine species which invade the 

 lower regions. Thus the Rhododendron actually 

 reaches down to the level of the Lago Maggiore. 



I shall now mention an extremely rare plant 

 which my daughter was fortunate enough to find on 

 the southern slope of the Mt. Vinaigrier : Vaillantia, 

 Hispida. 



It is a small annual of the Stellate Order 

 (Rubiacere), allied to the Galium. The leaves are in 

 whorls of four ; the fruit has three tips, and is covered 

 with white hair. It was on April 28th, 1890, that we 

 found this treasure. It is now in the possession of 



15 



