122 FLOWER-FIELDS OF ALPINE SWITZERLAND 



Distaff; the tall mauve Midgedium alpinum, the 

 Laitue des Alpes or Alpine Lettuce of the French ; 

 the equally tall red Adenostyles albifrons ; and the 

 Lesser Foxglove {Digitalis lutca), with dark, shiny 

 foliage and packed spikes of pale yellow blossoms. 

 The orange-yellow Leopard's-Bane, Senecio Doroni- 

 cum, and the pink and white Valeriana montana, 

 are upon the dry, turfy banks ; and down upon 

 the lower slopes, among the shrubs or out in the 

 sun-baked open, is a brilliant concourse of yellow 

 Ononis natrix, pink O. rotundifolia (here and there 

 white in form), blue, Thrift-like Jasione montana, 

 tall, rich-blue, open-flowered Campanula persici- 

 folia, and pure yellow, red-stamened Verbascum 

 phhmoides, finest of the Mulleins. Intense-blue 

 clumps of Hyssop enliven the hot, shaly spaces ; 

 and here, too, is Linum tenuifolium, a Flax with 

 delicate Hlac flowers; the Golden Thistle {Caj^lina 

 vulgaris), which, with the white C. acaulis, is so 

 useful for winter decoration : the exquisite pink 

 and white rambhng Vetch, Coronilla va7ia; and 

 Dianthus sylvestris and Z). Carthusianorum are 

 wellnigh everywhere in pink and red abundance — 

 the latter sometimes running to so deep and fiery 

 a shade as to be found worthy of the additional 

 name of atroruhens. 



