48 



MADRONO 



[Vol. 1, 



On sunny dry calcareous slopes we meet the most popular of al- 

 pine meadow plants, the "Edelweiss" {Lcontopodium alpinum 

 Cass.). The attractions of this plant, caused by its pure white color, 

 the ' ' noble white, ' ' and by its extremely local distribution often on 

 steep slopes, cause more accidents than the difficult ascensions of icy 



■ r- 7 , , . . J • 



/ ■■■''. i 





~*\ ' s ' "• 1 ' *• » "V 4, 



■V •> 



• -^r'^i) 



1. •.- 



$•■ " . ■ **$C/ '~"\ f >— - 





***.' :--\ : , x i$ 



. t - ^' • :•■. ■',. ■-"'''■ ,C 



-v. ■.. \, • ^,Vr 







---■ .'* '..v- N"~" ~^ 





/ I'y'- • v ■ 



■H^bii^HP' m ^ .*' X/ 





p-Jh 





Fig. 23. Edelweiss (Leontopodium alpinum Cass.), Valley of Zerv- 

 reila, Grisons. 



peaks (Fig. 23). It is not an autochthon alpine plant, but properly 

 an inhabitant of Asiatic steppes. It is a typical "xerophyte, " pro- 

 tected against drought by its thick woolly covering of air-filled and 

 therefore snow-white hairs. The so-called flower at the end of the 

 stalk has a very intricate composition ; it consists of several distinct 

 flower heads, each with hundreds of individual flowers. These are 

 four kinds : hermaphrodite, male, female, and honey flowers. These 

 four different flower forms are distributed in various manners 

 among the flower heads. The pseudoflower is rendered still more con- 

 spicuous by a beautiful white star consisting of broadened ordinary 

 leaves, which surround the cluster of heads as an apparatus for ad- 

 vertisement for the insects. The white color serves here therefore for 

 the purpose of the pollination ; but its primary nature is in connec- 

 tion with the role of the hair-covering as a means of protecting the 

 plant, with the result that a certain useful structure has become 

 useful afterward in quite another direction. 



