Piora 



dividuals of many species that was to me so 

 remarkable and noteworthy. I will name a few. 

 The Gentiana acaulis was a little past its best, but 

 it was abundant ; and I am not exaggerating 

 when I say that during the week I was there I 

 must have walked over acres of the gem-like G. 

 Bavarica. I had no idea that I could anywhere 

 see it in such masses ; and it seemed to be in no 

 way particular as to its position ; it was abundant, 

 and perhaps most abundant, in the damp ground 

 near the lakes, but it was also in many high 

 places. The whole place was especially rich in 

 gentians ; besides the G. acaulis and Bavarica, 

 there was G. lutea, cruciata, punctata, asclepiadea 

 (not yet in flower), and Germanica. This last one 

 I was especially pleased to see ; it is a British 

 plant, and I know it well, especially on the Cots- 

 wolds. But there is a great difference between 

 the British and the Swiss plants, and it is a 

 difference which shows how largely the colour of 

 flowers is affected by their soil, situation, and 

 especially, perhaps, their elevation. In England 

 the flower is a pale blue : at Piora the colour is 

 all brilliant as that of G. Bavarica, which it so 

 much resembles at first sight, that it is not till 

 you take the plant in your hands and see that 

 it has an annual root, and that it has many 

 flowers in its little stem instead of the one flower 

 that G. Bavarica carries, that you see the differ- 

 ence. As with G. Bavarica, so it was also with 

 the bird's-eye primrose (P. farinosd). It was 

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