SOME ALPINE GARDENS 27 



Briquet, who acts as Director of the Conservatoire Botanique 

 and the Gardens, was himself largely responsible for their design. 



The Botanical Gardens occupy 75,000 square metres, or about 

 sixteen acres of land overlooking the beautiful Lake Leman, with 

 Mt. Blanc fifty miles beyond ; and they are separated by the railway 

 from the Ariana Park. They comprise a systematic garden with the 

 plants arranged according to Engler and Prantl, a young arboretum, 

 greenhouses, etc., and the fine Alpine garden under discussion. 

 The culminating rocks are those of the Swiss Alps, three groups 

 comprising the flora of calcareous regions, and two granite masses 

 represent the crystalline rocks. In early spring large clumps of 

 Erica carnea give colour to these rocks. Close at hand are several 

 rockeries for plants of the Western Alps (Savoy, Dauphiny, and 

 Piedmont) ; then comes one for those of the Maritime Alps, and a 

 large mass for the Pyrenees, with various endemic species. Near 

 them come the Spanish Peninsula and the Atlas Mountains. To the 

 north-east are the following groups, viz. the Eastern Alps, Car- 

 pathians and Balkans, the Caucasus, the Orient, the Himalaya, 

 Altai and Siberia, Thibet and China and Japan. Among less 

 important groups are the Central Plateau of France, the Vosges, 

 Cevennes, Jura, with a splendid collection of its interesting plants, 

 the Apennines and Sicily, Corsica and Sardinia. Towards the 

 lower end are the isolated masses of the New Zealand Alps, with 

 their shrubby Veronicas, etc., the Andes, and lastly North America 

 with a very rich collection. From a grotto in the highest rocks 

 of the Swiss Alps a stream of water emerges, and descending in a 

 sinuous course across the Alpine garden, forms a small lake where 

 various aquatic plants are grown. 



Probably the first botanic garden at Geneva was the one laid out 

 many years ago on the natural system of classification by Pyrame 

 de CandoUe, who was Professor of Botany at Montpellier University 

 in the south of France and Director of the ancient botanic garden 

 there. It was he who began the famous Prodromus, which was con- 

 tinued by his son Alphonse, the great authority on geographical 

 botany, and finally finished by his grandson, Monsieur Casimir de 

 Candolle, the present head of the family. 



Geneva has given birth to many distinguished men, and the 

 town and district have been the chosen abode of many others ; 

 but her botanists alone were enough to make the place celebrated. 

 In addition to the de Candolles, Edmond Boissier, the author 

 of the Flora Orientalis, lived and died in the vicinity ; and of the 

 distinguished living botanists it would ill become me to speak, 

 except to say that they are carrying on the work which has helped 

 to make their beautiful city famous. There are at Geneva no less 

 than four important Botanical Institutions, including the private 

 establishment of Messrs. de Candolle, with its fine herbarium and 

 unique library, and I'Herbier Boissier at Chambesy, with its hbrary 



