108 FLOWER-FIELDS OF ALPINE SWITZERLAND 



remains of Rhododendron being found in peat 

 deposits on the plains, gives us a ghmpse of this 

 plant slowly retreating up the mountains with the 

 glaciers. And yet, on the south side of the Alps, 

 it is still to be found upon the plains ! This is 

 one of the mysteries of Alpine plant-life, and one 

 for which I have seen no satisfactory theory. 

 Gentiana verna shows us, I believe, the same 

 seeming inconsistency, descending to the sea-coast 

 in Ireland, yet rarely, if ever, found below 1,300 feet 

 in Switzerland. 



Like the English Dog Rose — and this, perhaps, 

 is its greatest likeness to a Rose — the Rhododen- 

 dron develops galls (Oak-apples or Robin's Pin- 

 cushions, as they are called in England) upon its 

 leaves. Some of these are produced by insects 

 and some by a fungus {Exobasidiuvi rhododcndri), 

 the latter gall being yellow, and turning pink or 

 rose on the sunny side. The leaves and flowers 

 are used in infusion for rheumatism ; also as an 

 ingredient of Swiss tea. This shrub, too, is the 

 food-plant of one of the handsomest of Alpine 

 butterflies, Colias Paloeno, a Clouded - Yellow — 

 anything but clouded, though it lives where 

 clouds are born, for with its clear citron wings 

 boldly bordered with jet-black and rimmed with 



