CHARACTERISTICS OF ALPINE PLANTS 55 



was no friend of the violets : he would have trampled 

 upon them, destroyed them he was repelled by 

 them ; yet there is many a man who is friendly, 

 who will tend and cultivate them and rejoice in 

 their scent whom, in fact, the violets invite. In 

 short, I incline to the belief that, by one and the 

 same manifestation, a flower is both repulsive and 

 seductive, and that it has been so from the 

 beginning, and in the very best interests of the 

 plant. Mr. Robinson says, ' Nothing is ever 

 wasted in Nature ' ; and I think we may add that 

 nothing in Nature is ever simple. That is to say, 

 there is nothing in Nature which is not double- 

 edged : nothing whose properties or capacities are 

 not many-sided in effect and purpose. Why 

 should flowers be, or have been, an exception to 

 this complex efficiency of design ? 



Moreover, it seems just possible that Alpines 

 may have something to say in modification of 

 Mr. Robinson's theory. According to a logical 

 application of that theory, the more brilliantly 

 coloured, more profusely produced, and, in many 

 cases, more highly scented and heavily honeyed 

 blossoms of Alpines should go to prove that there 

 exists in the Alps a browsing fauna which is more 

 numerous than in the plains. Whereas, actually, 



