CHAPTER I. 



The Androsaces. 



These beautiful little plants are amongst the first and 

 most precious of Alpine plants. They are typical of 

 their class, and have all the winning grace and charm 

 which distinguish the best mountain plants. Who- 

 ever loves Alpines must love the Androsaces, so 

 exquisitely are they dowered with the most pleasing 

 attributes of hill flora. They are small, tufty, ever- 

 green plants, and generally will be found to be villose 

 or hairy, this being particularly marked in the charm- 

 ing species called villosa. Most are of European 

 origin, and visitors whose earnestness carries them to 

 the higher ranges of the Alps and Pyrenees will have 

 made acquaintance with several of the species. The 

 plants carry their love of pure air down with them to 

 lowland gardens, and soon suffer from the sulphuric 

 acid in the neighbourhood of large towns. Although 

 Androsaces are not among the cheap, free-growing, 

 easily managed plants which fit the resources of the 

 beginner, they are certainly among the first that 

 ought to be taken up when the time for speciaHsing 

 comes. The species cannot very well be lumped 

 together and given similar treatment, like the varieties 

 of some everyday vegetable, inasmuch as they have 



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