Introduction 



No one can visit Switzerland for the first time without being 

 struck with the singular beauty of its wild flowers. In the 

 early summer the whole country from the lowland meadows 

 right up to the snowline is ablaze with beauty. Probably 

 in no other part of the world are the forms of the flowers 

 more pleasing and their colours more brilliant. Hence it is 

 that almost everyone who visits the Alps, however little 

 interest he may take in the wild flowers of his own home, 

 desires to know something of the wonderful new forms that 

 everywhere meet his gaze. Here the charm of novelty also 

 comes in, for at least half the flowers met with in the Alps 

 are absent from the plains, and many of the species that 

 occur in both situations have, as we shall see later, acquired 

 such different characters at high altitudes as to be with 

 difficulty at first sight recognised. Those who would see 

 Switzerland in all its beauty, and as far as its floral treasures 

 are concerned, at its best, must visit it in early June before 

 the hay is cut. Otherwise they will miss the glory of the 

 unmown meadows, and although many of the spring flowers, 

 like the Crocuses and Primulas (Plate 35), may still be found 

 in small quantities at high altitudes even in July, the striking 

 effect of the large masses of these flowers will be entirely 

 wanting. 



If we travel to Switzerland by the ordinary tourist route, 

 across Germany or France, and then ascend the mountain 



ix 



