6 A DAY IN THE OBERLAND 



gives off from its stalk one long and two shorter white, 

 hairy, leaf-like growths, flat and blade-like in shape and 

 spreading outwards from the circle, so that the whole 

 series resemble the rays of a star (or more truly of a star- 



FIG. 2. The Edelweiss, Gnaphalium leontopodium. 



fish !). They look strangely artificial, as though cut out 

 of new white flannel (with a greenish tint), and have been 

 dignified by the comparison of the shape of the white- 

 flannel rays with that of the foot of the lion and the 

 claws of the eagle. They are extraordinary-looking little 

 plants, and are similar in their hairiness and pale tint to 



