436 



A CHEMIST'S HOLIDAY IN FRANCE. 



1864. 



districts, and what is remarkable, the common mistletoe grows 

 upon it, in preference it would almost seem, to the apple-trees 

 which are sometimes in near proximity. 



Colehicum. The common colchicum, I noticed in many places throwing 

 up its purple flowers among the green herbage of orchards and 

 meadows; and in a few alpine situations, I also gathered 

 Colchicum alpinum, D.C., a species with flower and corm of 

 much smaller size. 



Actcea spicata, L., a rare plant in England, is found in the 

 mountain woods near Bourg d'Oisans ; and its root, which I dug 

 up and dried, is so like that of the American Actcea racemosa t L., 

 that I do not think one could distinguish them. 



Our English foxglove was nowhere seen in Dauphiny, but 

 the yellow Digitalis grandiflora, All., and the small white- 

 flowered I), lutca, L., were of frequent occurrence. Henbane, I 

 often noticed, especially near Brian9on, where it was very fine 

 by the roadside. 



Lavender, the genuine plant of our English gardens, is very 

 abundant in some parts of the country, growing in profusion on 

 the rocky hillsides, but no use appears to be made of it. Many 

 other beautiful labiates are also seen, of which hyssop, with its 

 bright blue flowers is one of the more rare. The great yellow 

 gentian was nearly past flowering at the time of my visit, but 

 it was still conspicuous in many an alpine pasture, as was also 

 the white hellebore (Veratrum album, L.), a plant affecting 

 similar situations. Arnica montana, L., was also nearly out of 

 flower, but it must be a splendid ornament of the mountain 

 meadows in the earlier summer. In many of these meadows, I 

 may mention that grass seems quite a subordinate constituent, 

 so thickly is the ground covered with other plants. 



Proceeding to Brian9on, that little mountain city on the 

 confines of Italy, we were struck with the appearance of the 

 numerous small trees of the Brian9on plum (Prunus brigantiaca, 

 Vill.), the branches of which were often thickly clustered with 

 fruit, still far from ripe. The tree is indigenous to this part of 

 France and is not an object of cultivation. Its fruits, which are 

 hardly eatable, are gathered in the autumn for the sake of their 



Labiates, 



