lo8 ALPINE FLOWERS. Part I.' 



extensive and. decidedly ugly buildings and terraces upon them ; 

 but they are only specks in a great natural garden, which, even 

 if dotted with smoke-polluted towns like those in the North 

 of England (Sheffield, for example), would still be lovely. Brock- 

 enden is quite right when he says of one of them, " It is worthy 

 only of a rich man's misplaced extravagance, and of the taste 

 of a confectioner." The Maiden-hair fern is abundant on the 

 islands. The vegetation here and on the margins of the lake 

 is often of a remarkable and interesting character, quite sub- 

 tropical in some places ; but as our business is with alpine and 

 rock plants only, we must pass all this by, and hasten on to the 

 shores of Como. "When approaching I sola Madre, the first thing 

 that struck my attention was a plant like a greyish heath, covered 

 with light rosy flowers, growing out of the top of a wall. It 

 proved to be an old friend, the Cat Thyme, and, in beautiful con- 

 dition ; as grown in England, nobody would ever suspect it to be 

 capable of yielding such a sweet show of flowers. Trachelium 

 ccerulewn. grows very commonly on the walls, and so does the 

 Caper, a noble plant when seen issuing from a wall and bearing 

 numbers of its large blooms. 



Arrived at Lecco, the next object is to hunt for the handsome 

 Catchfly on the crest of Monte Campione, and we start at three 

 o'clock in the morning, as it is desirable to get up a little out 

 of the warm valleys before the dew has been dissipated. Soon 

 we find ourselves on the spur of a mountain, on which Cyclamens 

 peep forth from among the shattered stones here and there — . 

 sometimes a solitary bloom or two, at others handsome tufts, 

 where the position has favoured free development, and how and 

 then springing in a miniature condition from some chink, where 

 there was very little nutriment or root-room to be obtained. 

 Then we meet Silene Saxifraga very abundant on the larger 

 boulders and in sandy spots. In a wild state or in cultivation it 

 is not a pretty plant, although it has often been recommended. 

 Lower down we met with the neat Tunica Saxifraga on the 

 tops of walls, and it accompanied us a little higher up, rarely 

 looking so pretty as when well cultivated. The Maiden-hair 

 fern does not ascend up the mountain sides, nor even find a 

 home in the villages up the valley, though in the town of Lecco 

 it adorns the very mill wheels and moist walls near water- 

 courses with abundance of small pretty plants, adhering closely 

 to the wall, and dwarf from existing on moisture or very little 



