THE ALPINE GARDEN AND THE FLORA OF LE LAUTARET. 807 



THE ALPINE GAEDEN AND THE NATIVE FLOEA OF 

 LE LAUTAEET.* 



By Miss F. A. Welby, F.E.H.S. 



The Alpine Garden or Alyinum is no new idea. In the sixteenth 

 century Charles de l'Ecluse (Olusius), who botanized extensively in 

 the Austrian Alps, transplanted many alpine species to his garden at 

 Vienna. To him horticulture owes the Auriculas, derived from a 

 liybrid [Primula pubescens = P. Auricula x P. hirsuta) which he dis- 

 covered in the Tyrol. After cultivating them at Vienna, he despatched 

 them in 1852 to Belgium, whence they quickly spread to France, 

 England, and Germany. 



Again, more than three centuries ago, Eicher de Belleval, who, 

 under Henri IV., founded the Botanical Garden of Montpellier, devoted 

 a corner to " la Montague," of which traces are still visible. 



Before 1769, Arahis alpina was cultivated along with Anemone 

 narcissi flora, Hedysarum ohscurmn, and other alpine flowers by 

 Krantz, an Austrian botanist. Of his numerous failures, he 

 remarked: " Periit in hortulo, translata saepius." At the same 

 epoch Linnaeus expressed admiration and astonishment at seeing 

 Draha alpina cultivated in the Jardin Academique of Ley den. 



Yet, while in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries strenuous 

 efforts were made to introduce exotic plants into parks and botanic 

 gardens, there was no attempt at forming a representative collection of 

 alpine plants as such. 



De Candolle was the first who, in 1817, when the Botanical 

 Garden of Geneva was" started, set apart a space for alpine species, but 

 it was not till 1865 that the famous " rocailles " were formally insti- 

 tuted. In 1835 GoTTWALD and Lorenz collected all the flora of the 

 Austrian Alps, at Lilienfeld, in the valley of the Traise (Basse- Autriche) 

 and planted them on a terraced rock-work. In 1837, when the 

 Botanical Garden of Ziirich was founded, an " alpinum " was planted 

 on a rocky spur, which was much enlarged and reorganized in 1879 by 

 Oswald Heer, who did excellent work on the glacial flora of Switzer- 

 land. From 1846 Kerner aspired to repeat the experiment of Lilien- 

 feld, but only achieved his wish when in 1860 he became Professor of 

 Botany at Innsbruck and Director of the Botanical Garden. This 

 collection is still one of the finest in Europe. The Munich " alpinum " 

 was instituted in 1860. 



All these are rock-gardens — i.e. " a collection of plants from the 

 high mountains, exiled to the plains, forced to flower when their 

 kindred in the Alps are still sleeping under the snow, subsequently 



* This article is in part a transcript, by permission, of " Les Jardins Alpine 

 et leurs Buts," by Professor Mirande (Grenoble, 1911), and "Les Jardins 

 Alpins," Professor LachmanN (Grenoble, 1904). 



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