SOME CHARACTERISTICS OF ALPINES. 55 



The Anemone vernalis exemplifies this, and it is the 



more interesting as the flower is a near relation of the 



Pasque flower of our chalk downs, and in its case a 



similar process takes place. When the blooms of the 



anemone first appear they are close to the ground, with 



hardly any stalk ; but as the season advances the stalk 



lengthens, so that a bunch of anemones gathered late 



in the season forms a prettier sight than one picked 



when they first appear. Were we carefully to examine 



day by day the relative position of the stamens and 



pistils of one of these anemones, it would be found that 



; whereas they were so arranged in their early stage as 



I to prevent self-fertilization, their positions would so 



i change as the season advanced that before the flowers 



[ passed away, self-fertilization was made possible, if 



I not absolutely secured. 



;; Many other questions will doubtless arise as we 



( look over a bunch of Alpine flowers. 

 I We may find our answers in the pages of Kerner or 



\ in other text books on botany. There is for instance 

 j the question of the origin of the Alpine Flora. This 

 ; is too big a subject to deal with, but some light may 

 ■ be thrown on the subject in the succeeding chapter on 

 I British Alpines. 



