2 INTRODUCTORY 



interesting comparison may result. But we may seek 

 to know more of these Alpines than a "flora" can 

 tell us. We have come to recognise that all plants 

 are living beings like ourselves, face to face with 

 certain difficulties of existence, such as adverse climatic 

 conditions, and competition with their neighbours. 

 How are they adapted to meet these conditions, 

 and so to survive in the struggle for existence ? 

 How are we to explain in these terms the various 

 characteristics of Alpine plants, their similarities 

 and dissimilarities to one another? 



It is this newer and wider view of the vegetation 

 of a district such as the Alps which has opened 

 up such an interesting field for study and reflection. 

 We pass beyond the limits of a flora, or catalogue 

 of species, to enquire how these plants can live under 

 conditions so dissimilar to those which prevail in 

 Britain, and with which we are more familiar. We 

 may well adopt the attitude of one of the earliest 

 of the great German botanists, Christian Konrad 

 Sprengel, who, in 1793, sought to unravel the origin, 

 meaning, and uses of the various features exhibited 

 by plants, starting with the hypothesis that the wise 

 Author of Nature had not created even a single hair 

 without a definite purpose.^ 



We shall adopt a somewhat similar standpoint 



^ " Ueberzeugt, dass der weise Urheber der Natur auch nicht ein 

 einziges Harchen ohne eine gewisse Absicht hervorgebracht hat," C. K. 

 Sprengel, Das Entdechte Geheimniss der Natur^ in Bau und in der 

 Befriichtung der Blumen ; Berlin, 1793, p. 1. 



