224 THE ALP1NE FLORA 



struggle for existence and toiling for the common good. 



The higher the flora climbs the mountain, the more we 

 see vegetation shrink, gathering its forces about the root 

 and seeking to nestle against a soil that is warmer than 

 the air. Gradually the annual species grow rarer, till at 

 extreme heights they entirely disappear. The brief summer 

 allotted to such plants does not permit them to accom- 

 plish in one season the cycle of existence. Here all are 

 perennial except a few gentians and eye-brights. Every- 

 where one sees plants with permanent roots, breaking 

 into branches right from the base and spreading their 

 offsets close to the ground. Genera, which in our plains 

 are familiar as shrubs or even as grand majestic trees, are 

 represented now by dwarf and creeping species, which 

 crouch and closely hug the soil. Between the rocks, in 

 every crack and fissure nestle close-shaven plants, dense 

 pincushions, as it were, or hemispheres compact of an 

 infinity of clustering rosettes, and covered with such a 

 profusion of sessile flowers, sitting as tight as embroidery 

 upon the surface of the plant, that one often hardly 

 notices the foliage through this veil, which is at times 

 one of dazzling brightness. The leaves, when found, are 

 small, very small, persistent, and imbricated or overlap- 

 ping one another like tiles. 



These are the jewels of the alpine flora these tiny, 

 crowded balls marvels every one, of which the eye is never 

 wearied. They gleam upon the high passes and rocky 

 ridges like so many pure stars, radiant in glory and in 

 beauty, pictures which no painter, however great an 

 artist, can paint nor any writer tell of in their splendour. 

 The climber's most laborious efforts to win to their con- 

 templation are well repaid by a sight which recalls that 

 ancient Latin phrase " terrestria sidera, flores", or the 

 more profound proverb of the Chinese " Stars are the 

 flowers of heaven ". 



