38 TYPICAL FLOWERS OF ALPINE PASTURES 



members are either white, or white slightly tinged 

 with blue on the outside. In the yellow-flowered 

 variety, sidphurea, which is sometimes regarded as a 

 distinct species, the flowers are a beautiful, uniform, 

 pale sulphur-yellow colour. Cm'iously enough, this 

 variety is in Switzerland generally much more 

 abundant than the true "alpina" with white flowers. 

 Often, however, they may be found growing side by 

 side. At one time it was thought that the sulphur 

 variety flourished only on granite soils, but this is 

 really not the case, and the difi*erence in colour 

 between the species and the variety bears no relation 

 to the soils on which they grow. 



The masses of these flowers (Plate VI.), forming, 

 as it were, miniature forests of Anemones, which are 

 often to be seen on the steeper slopes of the pastures, 

 are among the most wonderful sights in the Alpine 

 world. When the flowers are mature, the perianth 

 members open out and catch the sunlight on their inner 

 sides, thus greatly adding to their conspicuousness. 



The plants are only moderately hairy, and in this 

 respect contrast with the Spring Anemone or the 

 Edelweiss, where the conspicuousness of the whole 

 plant, as we have seen, is largely increased by its 

 hairy coat. 



The flowers of the Anemones are constructed much 

 like those of a Buttercup (see Appendix II., p. 328) : 

 except that the perianth is not diff^erentiated into 

 calyx and corolla. If we look closely at the flowers 

 growing in profusion on some bank in the pastures, 



