POLLOK 



S. oppositifolia, the golden-flowered S. sancta from far 

 Mount Athos, the fragrant S. apiculata, thickly set 

 with panicles of sulphur-coloured blossoms, exactly 

 the hue of a wild primrose, in early spring; and, 

 earliest and finest of all, the snowy-petalled 8. 

 Burseriana. Then the encrusted section of rock-foils, 

 bewildering in variety, delight in such a position, 

 growing into such exquisite bosses and wreaths that 

 one almost grudges the profusion of their bloom, 

 which conceals the delicate carving of their foliage. 



It is wonderful how readily these and other 

 mountaineers adapt themselves to their unpromising 

 environment. The truth is that, like the red deer, 

 they have taken to the mountain tops because they 

 have been crowded out of the low country, where 

 they were overwhelmed in competition with other 

 herbs ; so they survive only in places where their 

 constitution enables them to endure conditions 

 unfavourable to rank vegetation. A notable and 

 oft-quoted example of this is the common thrift, 

 which is found all round our coasts at sea level and 

 on the summits of some of our highest mountains, 

 both these situations being unfavourable to the 

 majority of lowland vegetation ; but one may search 

 in vain for a single specimen of thrift between these 

 two extremes. That it would thrive anywhere is 

 proved by the ease with which it may be cultivated 

 in gardens at any level ; cultivation, in this inscance, 

 amounting to no more than the suppression of com- 

 peting vegetation. 



H 65 



