74 TYPICAL FLOWERS OF ALPINE PASTURES 



often with a yellow or red "eye." In one species, 

 however {A. carnea, Linn.), they are rose coloured, 

 and in another {A. vitaliana, Lap., Plate XXXVIL, 

 Fig. 1) they are yellow. It often happens, however, 

 that the flowers of species which are usually white 

 may be rose-coloured. 



The commonest and most widely distributed 

 species is A^idrosace chamasjasme, Willd., the Dwarf 

 Androsace (Plate XIV., Fig. 2), in which the whole 

 plant except the flowers is covered with long hairs, 

 especially on the edges of the leaves. The Obtuse- 

 leaved Androsace, A. ohtusifolia, All., and the Ked- 

 flowered Androsace, A. carnea, Linn., are also com- 

 mon, especially in western Switzerland. They have 

 short hairs on the leaves and flower- stalks, but are 

 otherwise very similar in habit. 



^^^^^ K^L-/ >^ The Saxifrages. 



The Saxifrages (natural order Saxifragaceae) are 

 among the most characteristic of Alpine plants. 

 Though the individual flowers are often rather small 

 and not very showy, they are rendered conspicuous 

 by the mass of bloom borne by each little colony of 

 these plants on some rocky shelf (Plate XV.). 



Britain is rich in Saxifrages, possessing no 

 fewer than thirteen species, some confined to our 

 highest mountains, others common in the meadows 

 and woods of the Lowlands. Two of these occur 

 in Alpine Switzerland, where there are also to be 

 found about eighteen other species. Of these eighteen, 



