44 TYPICAL FLOWERS OF ALPINE PASTURES 



such as the Bell-flowers, the Rampions, the Forget- 

 me-nots, and the Eritrichium, many Geraniums, the 

 Globularias, the Alpine Toadflax, certain Monkshoods, 

 and the Opposite-leaved Saxifrage. But when we come 

 to statistics, we find, as is so often the case, that not 

 only are our first impressions not confirmed, but they 

 are shown to be erroneous. Dr Fisch has pointed out 

 that the colour proportions among Alpines are about 

 30 per cent, white-flowered species to 27 per cent, 

 yellow-flowered, and 19 per cent, red-flowered and 24 

 per cent, violet- or blue-flowered species. In the 

 flora of Davos, he finds that only 36*8 per cent, of the 

 total species have red, blue, or violet flowers, which 

 appears to be about the general average, and is quite 

 comparable to the proportion found among species 

 growing in the plains. 



The blue-flowered Alpines are, however, specially 

 noticeable, owing to the intense depth of the colora- 

 tion and the large number of the individual flowers. 

 It has been shown repeatedly that the pigment which 

 is contained in the petals, and to which the colour is 

 due, increases in intensity as we pass from the plains 

 to the Alpine zone. While this is the general rule for 

 all colours as well as blue, it does not hold good in 

 every case. The flowers of some species, such as the 

 Wood Geranium (Geranium sylvaticum, Linn.), are 

 stated to be less intensely coloured in the Alps than 

 in the plains, while in other species there appears to 

 be no appreciable difference in the depth of the 

 colour in the two cases. 



