Preface 



THE coloured plates of Alpine plants, which are the special 

 feature of this book, are all reproduced from colour photo- 

 graphs taken directly from nature. The plants were all 

 photographed exactly as they were found, with two excep- 

 tions, in the immediate neighbourhood of Rosenlaui in the 

 Bernese Oberland during the month of July 1909; so that 

 the pictures are true portraits of the flowers " at home." 



The Lumiere process of colour photography which was 

 used, depends on the action of light on a photographic plate 

 after its passage through various coloured starch grains. 

 The process is entirely beyond the control of the operator, 

 and the exact colours are automatically reproduced. These 

 photographs have in turn been carefully reproduced for this 

 work by the three colour process. 



The flowers here photographed were selected as good 

 examples of common and typical species; and, of course, 

 they represent but a very small portion of the rich flora of 

 Switzerland. The present volume is intended as a short 

 introduction to the subject, for the fuller study of which the 

 following works are recommended : 



A. Gremli, "The Flora of Switzerland." Translated 



by Paitson. 



A. W. Bennett, "The Flora of the Alps." 

 G. Hoffmann, "Alpine Flora." Translated by E. S. 

 Barton. 



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