THE SAXIFRAGES 203 



And to me they partake of the wildness, oft weird- 

 ness, of their haunts. 



Say to the Saxifrage, " Have you any Highland 

 kin ? " 



" It would be more to the purpose to ask if we 

 have any Lowland ones," will be the stiff reply. 

 " Or, should we be so unfortunate, will a stream 

 of rushing water acknowledge any relation 

 with the portion withdrawn from it for the 

 mean domestic uses of those who dwell on the 

 banks ? " 



So like their Highland pride ! And yet the boast 

 would be true. They are our hill plants par 

 excellence. Nor is it enough to call them the 

 alpine of our alpines. They are that, and some- 

 thing more. They overflow the hills into more 

 distant and drearier regions. 



Just about the time when the blue violets are 

 at their best, there appears among them a showy- 

 white flower, not recumbent as they are, but up- 

 right, and twice as tall. It does not cover all the 

 area of the violets never, so far as I know, stray- 

 ing into the woods. It selects where the turf is 

 fairly firm and old, with a marked preference for a 

 slope. Such is the only Lowland relation of the 

 saxifrages ; but for which they could claim, as far 



