94 ALPINE FLOWERS AND GARDENS 



affect awesome cliffs and precipices although, no 

 doubt, it may at times be found so situated that 

 the gathering of it would, for those who wish, 

 entail some risk. And in a humbler, less noisy 

 way it is popular if nomenclature is any test of 

 popularity for it is known variously as Mountain 

 Cudweed, Chast weed, Mountain Everlasting, 

 Cat's-ear, and Cat's-paw. It has, too, variety of 

 blossom in its favour. On the male plant the 

 flowers are round, arid on the female they are long; 

 while the range of colour in both male and female 

 runs from white, through pink, to a deep rose. I 

 know of few things more charming in this regard 

 than a bouquet of this little flower in all its various 

 tints. And if the Edelweiss is beloved of sheep 

 and chamois, well, so also is the Mountain Cud- 

 weed, with its soft, woolly leaves ; moreover, it is 

 used most readily by the peasants for the making 

 of an effective cough-mixture. 



But the Mountain Cudweed cannot pretend to 

 be purely and simply an Alpine; although it is 

 found up to about 8,500 feet on wellnigh every 

 mountain, it is common in the plains. There is, 

 however, an Alpine * everlasting ' which might 

 reasonably oust the Edelweiss from some of its 

 pride of place. This is Eryngium alpinum, the 



