52 ALPINE FLOWERS AND ROCK GARDENS. 



heat. To quote again from Kerner, " On the Alps 

 the drying up of flowering plants by the sun only 

 occurs in a very few cases, viz., where the scanty soil 

 on the narrow ledges of steep projecting rocks and 

 crags and on rocky slopes is only watered by rain, 

 mist and dew. If no showers fall for several successive 

 days and the south wind blows over the heights with 

 a clear sky day and night, these scanty layers of soil 

 may dry up to such an extent that they are unable to 

 supply the necessary fluid food to the plants rooted in 

 them. Under these circumstances plants growing 

 there have most pressing need of means of lessening 

 transpiration in their leaves. In places such as these 

 are to be found, almost without exception, plants whose 

 leaves and stems are thickly covered on all sides with 

 hairs, together with succulent plants and Saxifrages 

 incrusted with lime.'* He gives as examples of this 

 class of plants the Edelweiss, a Ragwort, a Cinquefoil, 

 and the scented Edelraut (Artemesia Mutellina). Akin 

 to them in habit is the Mouse-ear Hawkweed of our 

 sunny banks at home. Its bright yellow flowerets 

 are familiar objects from the late spring to the autumn, 

 and should there be a period of summer drought, the 

 Hawkweed may be seen with its leaves curled up, dry 

 and shrivelled, looking the picture of discomfort. Yet 

 this habit and its coating of hairs give it no small 

 measure of protection, and like some undeserving 

 mendicant, its sufferings are not nearly so great as they 

 appear to be. 



We might find many other points for discussion in 

 the leaf structure of Alpine plants, but the flowers 



