EARLY SPRING AT VEVEY 159 



near Chatel St Denis. For several weeks there were 

 bunches of the mezereum for sale in the market, and it 

 was evidently not uncommon in the neighbourhood. I 

 was fortunate in finding several plants in full flower in 

 a wood on Mont-Pelerin. One other choice English 

 plant to be met with in abundance on the shores of 

 Lake Leman is the dark blue grape-hyacinth (Muscari 

 racemosum, Miller). It is exceedingly scarce in 

 England, but about Vevey it is everywhere on walls, 

 in pastures, on railway embankments, even as a weed 

 in vineyards. A grassy slope close to St Martin's 

 Church was blue with it about the middle of March, and 

 so was the railway embankment between Territet and 

 Villeneuve. 



But if some of the early Swiss wild flowers are familiar 

 friends, others are strangers to our indigenous British 

 flora. A botanical ramble among the orchards and 

 vineyards that cover the mountain uplands above the 

 shores of Lake Leman will quickly remind us that we 

 are not in England. The solitary scilla in flower on the 

 sheltered bank above Blonay on 22nd February was 

 only the herald of a countless host which within a week 

 or ten days was to cover the country-side. We are 

 familiar with the lovely little plant in our English 

 gardens as one of the first to gladden our eyes in the 

 early days of spring. But here, on the slopes above 

 Vevey, especially about St Lgier and Blonay, it is 

 abundant. It may be seen by the wayside, on the slop- 

 ing banks, in the orchards under the fruit-trees, every- 

 where. It was in full blossom this spring during the 

 first week in March, and it presented a truly lovely 

 sight. Never shall I forget one steep bank not far 

 from Chateau Blonay, which was covered with scillas 



