76 Mr. James Cosmo Melvill on 



up who knew all about the subject, the best localities, &c, and said he thought 

 we might find some late specimens, but that the bulk of it was over, the proper 

 flowering time being May or June, and not July and August, as stated in most 

 botanical works, and that this year was an earlier one than usual, owing to 

 the small amount of snow which had fallen in the winter. He advised us to 

 try the Watschiger Alp, and not the Kuhweger, though the latter is easiest to 

 get at. So we settled to start at 5 the next morning, driving as far as possible, 

 and engaged Josef Gobendorfer as guide. 



July 26. A perfect summer's day. At 5. 10 we were off in an einspanner, 

 and in about three-quarters of an hour arrived at the village of Watschig. 

 Here we alighted, and, crossing the Gail by a wooden bridge, found ourselves 

 in shady pinewoods, which we traversed for a mile or so till we came to a 

 brawling stream, where the ascent soon began in earnest. We had to mount 

 along the bed of this stream, crossing it many times. Then up a very steep and 

 rocky mule track till we came to a small lake with wonderfully transparent 

 water (the Watschigersee). It was full of pine trunks. Then up again till we 

 came in sight of the chalets on the Alps, and our guide pointed out to us 

 the first plants of the Wulfenia, but, alas ! utterly over. We began to doubt 

 whether we should find any flower at all. However, we found some other 

 plants quite new to us and very pretty, especially one white flower of the order 

 Caryophyllece. Having rested awhile, we mounted yet higher up the slopes 

 of the Gartnerkofel, and now we came upon the Wulfenia in extraordinary 

 abundance, covering in places every atom of the ground, young plants growing 

 almost on the top of old ones, and seeming to struggle with them for 

 existence; but nearly all were out of flower, the tall seed- spikes rising in every 

 direction, and showing what a splendid display there must have been earlier in 

 the year. Our guide told us the whole mountain side here appeared dark blue ; 

 but higher up than this (we were about 6,000 feet) the plant is entirely absent. 

 The whole appearance of the Alp is like one vast garden ; lower down, where 

 the Wulfenia does not occur, there are great beds of Alpine roses, and by the 

 stream many saxifrages and other flowers. It is appropriately called " The 

 Garden Mountain." The Alpine roses were in places covered with curious 

 galls, looking like small peaches, and some bright scarlet, like tomatoes, of 

 great size. To return to the Wulfenia — after a long search we found about a 

 dozen specimens, some of them with flowers still perfect, and some good enough 

 for a sketch in our Nat. Hist. Journal. 



Wulfenia may be thus characterized. 



A glabrous herb, with perennial stalk. Leaves nearly 

 all radical, stalked, crenulate. Flowers in a one-sided cyme, 

 blue, calyx 5 -partite, sepals narrow. Corolla with cylin- 

 drical tube, narrowed. Lobes four, the upper bifid, the lower 

 ones either undivided or crenate. Stamens two, exserted f 

 inserted between the upper lobes ; anther cells divergent, 



