Notes of a Tour in Switzerland. 5229 



only, as with us, on moist boggy places, but I observed it also on dry 

 slopes. Sometimes the blossoms were as large as a shilling. 

 Near the hospice or inn at the top of the Grimsel, among 



" The living flowers that skirt the eternal frost," 



was to be seen Soldanella alpina blossoming close to the very edge of 

 the snow, and even under the snow itself. The plant occupied the 

 entire surface for a considerable space, itself forming, as it were, the 

 turf. Hard by was a handsome species of Pedicularis (P. recutita, 

 I believe), which I did not observe elsewhere. Viola biflora was scat- 

 tered about in abundance, and enlivened the scene with its merry yel- 

 low flowers, as did the snow-white blossoms of Ranunculus aconiti- 

 folius. The double variety of this last plant has from my earliest 

 recollection been a common ornament of our gardens, under the name 

 of " Fair maids of France ;" but I never could meet with the single in 

 any nursery or collection, and have often asked for it in vain. Why 

 it should not find a place in the parterre 1 am at a loss to understand, 

 as it strikes me as being a very elegant plant, quite as well worthy of 

 our notice as the double variety, and most probably of no less easy 

 culture. I cannot admit the justness of Mr. Curtis' s remark on this 

 subject in one of the earlier volumes of the ' Botanical Magazine,' 

 where he says : — " This is one of those plants which derives its beauty 

 from the multiplication of its petals; in its single state no one would 

 think it deserving of culture as an ornamental plant ; when double, 

 few plants come in for a greater share of admiration. 1 ' Who would 

 have thought that such a remark could have fallen from a botanist ! 

 I can scarcely think that any one who had once seen this Ranuncu- 

 lus in bloom upon the mountains could so malign its character. It 

 was one of the plants I had long craved to see alive, and which, ac- 

 cordingly, gave me especial pleasure to behold. The truly elegant 

 and unassuming plant, Astrantia minor, I had been told and taught 

 to believe was a rare species even on the Alps; accordingly, the first 

 specimen I met with 1 looked upon as somewhat of a trump, but soon 

 found that few plants are more common : it grows all about the Grim- 

 sel pass, and in many other places. A. major, a far more common 

 plant in the gardens, I did not chance to meet with. 



In such elevated situations as the Alps many of our early spring- 

 blooming plants, like the Saxifrages already alluded to, do not come 

 into flower till late in the summer; thus, Cardamine pratensis and 

 Caltha palustris were to be seen in full beauty towards the top of the 



