56 POPULAR GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS. 



gantic branches hang enormous beards of green and dark 

 grey Lichens, types, we may call them, of the giant trees 

 in the primeval forests of the tropics, oppressed by the weight 

 of their intertwining parasites. Long might we loiter on 

 these woody heights; for here, in open spots, and in the 

 mountain meadows too, the ground is covered with flowers, 

 and beautiful parasitical plants attract us : of the Orobanche 

 family we see whole tribes within the limit of a few steps. 



As we mount higher and higher, and reach the dark 

 covert of the lofty Pines and Firs and Beech-trees, we see 

 fewer and fewer of the sunshine-loving flowers, and walk 

 upon a thick layer of twigs and fallen beech-leaves, sinking 

 in at each step as if we were treading on moss. In damp 

 places and by the side of brooks which wander through the 

 forest we find a few flowers again : Saxifrages (Saxifraga 

 rotundifolia) , Pyrola uniflora, Gentians (Gentiana ascle- 

 _piadea), a Cardamine we do not remember to have seen in 

 England (Cardamine trifolid), and one of the Forget- me- 

 not's relations, Bock Scorpion-grass (Myosotis aljpestris) . 



The trees as we get higher up grow further apart, and 

 become dwarfish and more like shrubs ; our prospect widens, 

 and as the wood grows lighter and lighter, the ground is 

 again covered with flowers of various kinds, with large 



