136 FLOWER-FIELDS OF ALPINE SWITZERLAND 



lived and dreamed upon the past, and now we are 

 startled back to the present by this, " the last that 

 the damp earth yields" — last but not least — last 

 but in some ways equal to the first. 



This Colchicum receives, in spring, in summer, 

 and in autumn, as much general attention as any 

 plant in Alpine or sub-Alpine vegetation. In 

 spring and summer the cluster of rich-green 

 Lily-like leaves attracts the eye and raises the 

 curiosity and expectation of even the casual 

 observer, especially when this observer notices 

 what he almost invariably takes to be a flower-bud 

 nestling in the heart of the leaves ; for if there is 

 one family of plants which the world worships 

 more than another, it is the Lily family. And 

 this Autumn Crocus is very commonly taken for 

 a Lily — a Lily soon to burst into rare and glorious 

 bloom. 



But it is not the flower-bud our casual observer 

 sees ; it is the seed-head. The plant blooms, leaf- 

 less, in the autumn ; its seed-vessel is tucked away 

 for the winter a foot or more beneath the surface 

 of the ground, to rise with the leaves in the spring, 

 and to ripen with the leaves in the summer. Yet, 

 if our casual friend is wrong as regards the nature 



