58 POPULAR GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS. 



The curious may scramble higher if they will after the plants 

 which, even in the "snow and glacier region" of some 

 mountains, are scattered here and there, springing out of 

 the clefts of the rock like starved and pitiful-looking plants, 

 but nevertheless producing luxuriant blossoms; such, for 

 instance, as the two kinds of Gentian (Gentiana Bavarica 

 and G. nivalis), Valerwna Celtica, Juniperus nana, etc. 



Those who will may mount still higher, and bring down 

 as a trophy some little Arctic plant, some isolated, inch- 

 high Mouse-ear (Cerastium lati/olivm}, or Saxifrage (Saxi- 

 fraga muscoides), growing in solitude at some nine thousand 

 five hundred feet above the world where mortals dwell. 

 But the beauty of the Alpine region has satisfied us ; and 

 not till we have filled our hands with Orchises and Anemones, 

 and other flowers which grow in numbers on the Alpine 

 meadows, can we consent to retrace our steps down the 

 mountain."* 



The multitude of little herbaceous plants of Germany 

 must be sought in botanical works ; here it is only possible 

 to mention the two most predominant families, the Umbel- 

 tifera and Crucifem. We know too in this part of the 



* The above particulars of German vegetation have been gathered from 

 the writings of Herr Carl Sachse, of Dresden. 



