MY MOUNTAIN GARDEN 301 



with pink, and are " sweetest when crushed." 

 Growing in close communion is the rose-coloured 

 marsh-orchis and pink valerian. Where an old wall 

 runs down to the tarn there is a great golden patch 

 of globe-flower a rare and cultivated plant in many 

 districts, but here growing wild. Even now a group 

 of laughing school-girls are returning from the mere 

 garlanded with the golden flowers. A bunch of 

 blue vetchling lights up the bog, and this mare's- 

 tail takes us back to an old-world fossil flora. The 

 blue marsh vetchling is rare in its beauty, and blooms 

 side by side with the grass of Parnassus. Shadowing 

 the sundew and pimpernel is the elegant bog- 

 asphodel with its star-like flower. These were 

 formerly used by ladies for dyeing the hair yellow. 

 Its companion, the curiously-fringed sundew, is one 

 of the few British insectivorous plants a vegetable 

 fly-trap. Not only are the insects held fast by a 

 viscid substance which covers the leaves, but its 

 sensitive hairs quickly close upon any unfortunate 

 victim, and do not relax their hold until death 

 ensues. Everywhere over the bog cotton-grass 

 waves its snowy plumes, and a dozen species of sedges 

 toss their bearded heads to the breeze. As I rest on 

 my oars a blue heron flaps slowly over the mere 

 and takes its sentinel stand on the further side. 



The loveliest marsh plant, however, of my 

 mountain! garden is the frosted buck-bean. Its 



