46 FLOWER-FIELDS OF ALPINE SWITZERLAND 



so appropriate in point of illustration for this 

 chapter is, that above it towers the mighty Aiguille 

 Verte, decked as in winter with its snows and ice, 

 and in the foreground lies the frozen remains of 

 a great avalanche strewn with fallen rocks and 

 pierced by stricken larch-trees. 



Yes ; from the lichen, Umhilicaria virginis, the 

 furthest outpost of vegetable life as it clings to the 

 Jungfrau's awful rocks at an altitude of 13,000 

 feet, to the yellow Primrose of the woods and 

 meadows of the plains, there is no plant of Alp- 

 land that is so precious, so rare in its very abund- 

 ance as Gentiana veriia. Nor is there another 

 Alpine that can make so wide and so certain an 

 appeal. Spread broadcast and alone upon the 

 awakening turf of mountain slope and meadow, it 

 captivates the instant attention of even the merest 

 passer-by. And if amongst its abounding azure 

 there happens, as will often be the case, a vigorous 

 admixture of healthy rose and yellow — the rose of 

 the Mealy or Bird's-eye Primula, the yellow of the 

 Sulphur Anemone and Marsh Marigold — then this 

 were a scene to "make the pomp of emperors 

 ridiculous " ; a scene of subtly true magnificence, 

 of perfectly balanced delight. 



