WHERE DO 'ALPINES' BEGIN? 41 



(about 4,500 feet) or the high plateaux immediately 

 beneath the cliffs of the Gumfluh ; the Sticky 

 Primula brightens the rocks about Vernayaz as it 

 brightens those about the Col de la Gueulaz (some 

 6,000 feet) ; the Daffodil is apparently as much at 

 home at Champery or at Saas-Fce as it is in the 

 neighbourhood of Morges on the Lake of Geneva ; 

 the Hepatica is as flourishing in the forests around 

 Lac Champex (about 4,600 feet) as it is in the 

 woods around Aigle or Bex ; the Dog's-tooth 

 Violet is as happy near the Glacier de Trient 

 (some 5,000 feet) as it is in the Bois de Chillon, 

 near Territet ; while the Vernal Crocus is no less 

 abundant in the vicinity of the Grand St. Bernard 

 or on the Col de Coux (some 5,700 feet) than it is 

 in the fields at the back of Lausanne. 



All this makes often for difficulty in drawing 

 the necessary line, and in deciding what plants to 

 leave inside that line and what to leave without. 

 One notices the presence of this difficulty in the 

 numerous books on the flora of the Alps. Why, 

 for example, should Trollius europceus find a place 

 in these books and none be given to the Stinging- 

 Nettle ? Both are to be found around the glacier 

 and down in the plains. Is it that the bright 

 golden Globe Flower carries itself with all the air 



6 



