SUB-ALPINE PLANTS AND WHERE THEY GROW 7 



themum), Bladder Campion {Silene inflata), Ragged Robin (Lychnis 

 Flos cuculi), and, in autumn, Colchicum autumnale. 



Among Alpine meadow plants not, or in one or two cases very 

 rarely, occurring in British meadows, there is a large number which 

 especially tend to give such a wonderful colouring to the scene. 

 The following are but a handful : Campanula rhomboidalis in sheets 

 of azure blue ; the Rampions (Phyteuma orhiculare, P. beionius- 

 folium, and P. spicatum) ; Salvia pratensis in every shade of mauve 

 and purple ; the goatsbeard or Tragopogon ; Yellow-rattle [Rhinan- 

 thus) of several kinds ; various large Hawkweeds, and particularly 

 the pale yellow HypochcBris unifiora ; Biscutella Icevigata, with its 

 disc-shaped seed-vessels ; pink, red, and yellow species of Pedi- 

 cularis ; andgthe beautiful Astrantia major. Among the most 

 handsome of the Monocotyledons are various Orchids, St. Bruno's 

 Lily (Paradisia Liliastrum), Anthericum Liliago, and the madder- 

 red Lilium Martagon. 



In the drier portions of many sub-alpine meadows are found 

 Cerastium [arvense, Potentilla aurea, Saponaria ocymoides, the 

 mauve Gentiana campestris, the rich purple Calamintha alpina, 

 and the magenta Cenfaurea unifiora, whose plumose involucral 

 bracts form a curious feathery ball when in bud. Gentiana verna 

 and G. utriculosa sometimes make sheets of blue in the damper 

 parts of a field, but the large Gentiana excisa does not often grow 

 in the meadows proper, but, like the Anemone sulphurea, prefers 

 the lower pastures skirting the forest. 



There is hardly a meadow without some huge boulders here and 

 there. They may be partly screened by a growth of the lovely 

 Rosa alpina ; and the rocks themselves usually afford shelter to 

 patches of Sempervivum, Sedum, or Saxifrage. If the great yellow 

 Gentian (G. luted) or Veratrum album with similar foliage grows in 

 the meadows, these bitter or poisonous plants are always left by 

 the mowers, just as they are avoided by the cows on the steep 

 pastures where they are more abundant than in the meadows 

 themselves. 



It may seem quite unnecessary to specially mention any large 

 stretches of fine Alpine meadows, for they are to be found almost 

 everywhere in the Alps. But in Switzerland it would be difficult 

 to come across a more magnificent expanse of meadow land refulgent 

 with sub-alpine flowers of every kind and colour than in Val Ferret, 

 above Orsi^res, in Valais. This paradise of flowers, backed by 

 stupendous mountains, is within easy reach of Lac Champex, 

 now one of the most popular Alpine resorts. On the steep descent 

 from Champex to Val Ferret can be found many species which 

 delight in sun-baked, shaly slopes, such as those which lead to the 

 village of Pras-de-Fort. 



The Jura mountains are much more wooded than the Swiss Alps. 

 They also afford very excellent opportunities for collecting and 



