120 FLOWER-FIELDS OF ALPINE SWITZERLAND 



flowers ; but ere the arrival of this careful, callous 

 friend of the cows, we have a few more hours in 

 which to cast another greedy look around. The 

 Bistort and Buttercup, Orchid and tall Rampion, 

 have become, or are fast becoming, dingy and seed- 

 full, but there are several handsome and interest- 

 ing newcomers ; and many of these subjects, such 

 as the Martagon Lily and Field Gentian, which 

 at the commencement of the month had only a 

 bloom or two open here and there, are now at 

 perfection. The red Centaurea unijiora is a vivid 

 object among the grasses : a " distinct advance," 

 as nurserymen would say, upon C scabiosa, our 

 common Hard-heads or Knobweed, blooming be- 

 side it. The sturdy Brown Gentian {Gentiana 

 purpurea) and its near relation, the cream-coloured 

 or greenish-yellow G. punctata, are conspicuous 

 objects, and Hieracium aurantiacum, the fiery, 

 orange-red Hawkweed or Grimm the Collier, 

 burns as a jewel among them. Astrantia major, 

 the Great Masterwort, unique and charming — 

 more particularly when its flower-heads take on 

 their truly Alpine tint of rosy magenta — is here 

 with its little brother, A. minor, pale and fragile, 

 perhaps from its habit of living in shadier places 

 than major. The Campanulas are glorious, and 



