206 WILD FLOWERS OF SCOTLAND 



rock exposed by the wearing of the mountain 

 torrent cannot even imagine how lovely it is, or 

 how fitly it is named. White, and starry, and 

 saxifrage how charming must that, which has 

 three such names, be ! 



Indeed, both these forms are lovely at once the 

 fairest and the commonest of the tribe. If it were 

 not for fear of consequences, I should say to all 

 Lowlanders, " See them this very autumn, and 

 learn what natural loveliness, when in its proper 

 environment, is." Learn, too, how altogether the 

 saxifrage is a child of the mist and of the rocks 

 not a stone breaker, but a stone adorner, in which 

 the spirit of the scene looks out. 



From these, which thus cluster round the divid- 

 ing line between hill and plain, I pass at a stride 

 over many interesting forms to the rarest of all 

 those that are in the act of disappearing from the 

 mountain-top into space. 



If one climbs Lochnagar and searches diligently 

 enough, he may find the snowy and the brook 

 saxifrages. And if one knows where to look on 

 Ben Lawers, he will see the one site in Scotland 

 where grows the drooping saxifrage. 



These two, Ben Lawers and Lochnagar, are the 

 Aberdeen and Perthshire wild -gardens respect- 



