B2 ALPINES AND BOG-PLANTS 



I have already sufficiently lauded the easy temper of 

 this group of Silver Saxifrages, but their pictorial effect 

 is apt to be undervalued, owing, as I myself have too 

 readily admitted, to the dull or greenish tones that some- 

 times damage the brilliance of the flowers, as seen against 

 the uncompromising background of English rock or Eng- 

 lish soil. But at last I learned my lesson one day below 

 the Laemmern Glacier on the Gemmi. From a lawn of 

 purple Pansy, snow-white dazzling Ranunculus alpestris, 

 and the amazing blues of Gentiana bavarica and Gentiana 

 Favrati, I came suddenly, unexpectedly, on a high steep 

 shoulder of broken limestone. The whole surface of the 

 ground was covered with white chips, and everywhere, 

 over its expanse, rose crowded colonies of Saxifraga 

 aeizoon, gently waving its sheaves between the gorgeous 

 violet stars of Aster alpinus, while BiscuteUa laevigata 

 made showers of pale gold at intervals, and the hot 

 orange oi Senecio Doronicum blazed here and there against 

 the cool soft silver of its leaves. And to harmonise the 

 whole there were frail, rare grasses, plumy, cloudy, that 

 shivered amid the flowers. And there, in an instant, I 

 learned the full decorative value of Saxifraga aeizo'on. 



But here, on the way from Arolla to the Plan de 

 Bertol, aeizoon is abundant enough on the stones. 

 Sometimes the blooms are heavily peppered with crimson 

 dots; sometimes they are almost pure in their white; 

 sometimes dull and stodgy. And then, all at once, my 

 companion — why should I conceal that this was M. Cor- 

 revon himself.? — darts forward with a cry. There, on a 

 flat rock, thick-set with its ordinary kindred, shines 

 before our eyes the long-sought yellow variety of Saxi- 

 fraga aeizoon I Though not brilliant, this yellow — it 

 is quite clear and soft and pure — is very easily distinguish- 

 able among the duller tones around. 



In my rhapsodies over Eritrichium I have touched on 



