116 FLOWER-FIELDS OF ALPINE SWITZERLAND 



by the tall blue P. Micheli and the little blue 

 P. hemisphcericum of onion-like leaves. The 

 Orchids, also everywhere, are still in full beauty, 

 their numbers having been swelled by the arrival 

 of Gymiiadenia albida. The stately Vcratrum 

 album is in flower, companioning the equally 

 stately Yellow Gentian, to which, in habit and 

 foliage, though not in blossom, it bears a strong 

 resemblance. The Arnica, also, is coming into 

 bloom : the tall, red-brown Martagon Lily is fast 

 filling out its buds ; the Yellow Rattle and 

 Anthyllis are ubiquitous ; the graceful Thesium, 

 with sprays of olive-coloured stems and leaves and 

 tiny white stars (and ugly English name of 

 Bastard Toad-flax), is looking its daintiest ; and 

 hosts of Ox-eyed Marguerites and pink Umbelli- 

 fer^e top the meadows far and wide. On the rough 

 banks and edges of the fields, or on the rocks that 

 so often crop up in these pastures, Saponaria 

 ocymoides^ Helianthemum alpestre, Calamintha 

 alpina, Veronica saocatilis, and Silene I'upestris 

 add respectively their bright pink, orange-yellow, 

 mauve, blue, and white abundance to the radiance 

 of the field-flowers proper. In " the grassy hollow 

 that holds the bubbling well-spring," Myosotis 

 palustris is opening its myriad blue eyes ; the 



