IRatuie IRotes : 
Ube Selborne Society’s flDaoa3me. 
No. g. SEPTEMBER 15, 1890. Vol. I. 
THE PROTECTION OF PLANTS IN 
SWITZERLAND. 
HAT there is a necessity for some action in the direction 
of protecting the ■wild flowers of the Alps, no one who 
has visited those regions can doubt. And this is 
specially true of the plants which grow at moderate 
elevations, such as are well within the reach of the average 
tourist. Down below in the valleys, and even some way up the 
mountains, the flowers can be gathered without injury to the 
plants, and there is little danger of any mischief being done ; 
but when the sub-alpine and alpine flora is reached, the case 
is altogether different. The plants are small and grow among 
loose stones, and it is difficult to gather the flowers without 
pulling up the roots at the same time. And as they are all the 
more bright and tempting from their dull surroundings, and 
more attractive on account of their novelty to the traveller, it 
follows only too often that large masses are wantonly torn from 
their haunts and left to perish after they have been admired for 
a few moments. 
It is not the botanist who is chiefly to blame, although he is 
often supposed to be so. He is usually content to select a 
few good specimens for his collecting-case, and to pass on in 
search of other novelties. Judging from my own observations 
in Switzerland this year and last, I fear ladies are most 
guilty. Coming down from the Faulhorn last month I passed 
a young lady — I am afraid she was English — with a basket and 
handkerchief crammed with flowers, among which I could see 
Gentians, Forget-me-nots, Androsaces, and a host of other cha- 
racteristic plants. Now if one such visitor ascended the 
Faulhorn every day during the season, and brought away a like 
quantity, the botany of that mountain, varied and beautiful as it 
still is, would soon be despoiled of its chief treasures. 
