March i.2, 189^. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
435 
ALPINE PLANTS. 
By F. W. Meyer.* 
Before considering the cultivation of such plants in 
this country a few words about Alpine plants at 
home may not be out of place, as it is only by 
closely studying their peculiar nature, and the con¬ 
ditions under which they flourish in their native 
mountains, that we may hope to grow them success¬ 
fully and surround them, as far as possible, with 
similar conditions in our gardens. The home of 
Alpine plants is in the vast mountain ranges of 
southern Europe and Asia, but by far the greatest 
number has been introduced from the Alps of Switzer¬ 
land. Here we may find within a single day’s walk 
a conglomeration of climates varying from the semi- 
tropical temperature of southern Spain or Italy to 
that of the arctic regions. The lower valleys abound 
in vineyards and fertile land. A little higher up we 
have forests extending to an elevation of from 4,000 ft. 
to 5,000 ft. above sea level. The Alpine region proper, 
which furnishes the plants now under our considera¬ 
tion, is at an elevation of 5,000 ft. to 8,000 ft. or some¬ 
times even 9,000 ft. Above this is the region of 
perpetual snow and ice, where organic life is almost 
extinct and where glaciers and ever snow-clad moun¬ 
tain peaks stand out in their wildest grandeur and 
form a striking contrast to the vegetation below. On 
climbing the Alps it is most interesting to trace the 
seasons as we ascend. It is autumn in the lower 
parts, and most plants have finished blooming and 
are ripening their seeds. At a higher level it is 
summer, and we may see the same kinds of plants 
with blossoms fully expanded. Still higher up it is 
spring, the flower-buds are scarcely developed and 
are not due to open for several weeks longer. 
At a higher altitude still it is midwinter for ever. 
We may thus pass through the four seasons within a 
single day’s walk. During the winter months the 
whole of the Alps are covered with snow—not the 
wet slushy snow we know in this country, but a 
thick covering of soft powdery down, which remains 
in an almost perfectly dry state for many months. 
In the lower parts of the mountains the snow begins 
to melt in April or May, but in the Alpine region 
now under our consideration it is often not till June, 
or even July, that the protecting mantle disappears. 
There is frost every night even throughout the 
summer, and the struggle of Nature to throw oft her 
winter garb would doubtless be much prolonged 
were it not for the timely assistance of a mighty 
agent, the so-called “ Fohn.” The " Fohn ” is a 
warm southerly wind which regularly every year 
sweeps through the mountains and frees them as if 
by magic from their winter covering of snow. 
Immediately all is life and beauty, Nature awakes 
from her slumber, the hills become clad with flowers 
and verdure within an incredibly short space of time, 
and without any perceptible spring we are almost all 
at once in the midst of summer. The short duration 
of summer in the high Alps accounts for the 
Peculiar Structure 
and the dwarf and sturdy growth of the mountain 
plants It is a fact well known to all botanists that 
plants grow more rapidly by night than by day. 
But in these altitudes growing by night is quite out 
of the question. The plants are frozen stiff every 
night throughout the summer ; it is, therefore, only 
during the few sunny hours of the day that any 
growth can take plaae at all. Hence the stems of 
Alpine plants are not elongated, but, on the contrary, 
the internodes are very short indeed, and the leaves 
are packed so closely together as to resemble little 
cushions. When such plants are removed to a 
country like England, where the nights are warmer, 
they increase in size more rapidly. A striking 
example of this is the well known Cobweb House- 
leek (Sempervivum archnoideum). 
The pretty little rosettes of leaves attain with us the 
size of about a shilling or even a two-shilling piece, 
but in the Alps I have seen a dozen or more rosettes 
packed closely together within the space of the same 
coin ; even the largest rosettes were scarcely the size 
of a threepenny piece. The anatomical'structure of 
the leaves of Alpine plants is peculiar, and differs 
greafly from that of plants in the lowlands. Not 
only is the outer skin, or epidermis, very thick and 
tough, and especially adapted to withstand the rays 
of a powerful sun, but the cells are smaller, and the 
cell walls thicker, than in other plants, and designed 
* A paper read at a meeting of the Devon and Exeter 
Gardeners' Association, held on March 2nd, 
undoubtedly to prevent a tearing of the tissues under 
the action of a scorching sun, immediately after the 
severe frost of the night. The leaves of many 
plants have an additional covering in the shape of 
white downy wool, which repels the rays of the sun; 
others are provided with stellate hairs, which when 
seen under the microscope, may be compared to so 
many sunshades spread out for protection. This fact 
is a hint to us that plants with woolly white or silvery 
leaves should have a sunny position, as they have 
been specially fitted out by nature to withstand the 
sun’s fiercest rays. On the other hand, plants with 
leaves of a lively sap-green colour invariably prefer a 
moist and shady position. 
The Soil 
In which Alpine plants grow in their native home 
must be our guide for their cultivation, and a little 
reflection will show how absurd and unnatural it 
would be to plant them in well-manured garden soil. 
In the lower Alpine regions, it is true, rich soil may 
be found, sometimes to a considerable depth, and the 
coarser and more common plants from those parts 
will grow with us anywhere, and without the sligh¬ 
test trouble, but the exquisite gems of the higher 
altitudes grow in scarcely any perceptible soil at all. 
Even the extensive mountain pastures, which are 
studded with flowers in abundance, have a stony soil, 
sometimes less than an inch in thickness, and thou¬ 
sands of lovely plants spring apparently from the 
bare rocks themselves. If we closely examine such 
rocks we find that the roots are firmly embedded in 
narrow crevices, which have become filled with 
small particles of decayed vegetable matter, mixed 
with an abundance of small stones and grit, deposited 
by wind and rain. This scanty food is all that is 
required by the modest mountain flowers. Wedged 
in, as they are, in such a position there is no possi¬ 
bility for a spreading of the roots, which are, there¬ 
fore, compelled by nature to penetrate deeply into 
these narrow fissures to find the cool moisture neces¬ 
sary for their existence. Blasting operations have 
proved the fact that plants only an inch or two in 
height had sent their roots into the rocks to a depth 
of actually several feet. This explains why the 
plants are not easily affected by either excess of 
moisture or exposure to the most scorching sun. 
Their roots are far down, out of harm's way, and 
actually touching the stones, which are not only cool 
and moist, but by their porous nature act as excel¬ 
lent drainage, and prevent any excess of moisture. 
It will be readily seen that plants torn from such a 
position even with the greatest care cannot possibly 
be removed with the whole of their roots, and would 
die quickly if transplanted. The chemical nature of 
the rocks is of great importance to the Alpines. By 
far the largest number of theseplants have a decided 
preference for 
Limestone. 
Sometimes plants indigenous to limestone rocks are 
found in granite, flint, or sandstone ; but their nature, 
and sometimes even the colour of their flowers, is 
changed. The celebrated botanist, Dr. Kerner, of 
Innsbruck, in the Tyrol, has given some interesting 
statistics on this point. He gives, as an example, the 
white form of Anemone alpina, which is found exclu¬ 
sively on limestone rocks, while the yellow form of 
the same flower (Anemone alpina sulphurea) is never 
found except on sandstone or flint. The learned 
doctor also assumes that the two distinct forms of 
Alpine Rhododendron (R. hirsutum and R. feru- 
gineum) were originally the same, and that the 
different character may be directly traced to the 
chemical composition of the rocks. In the Alps, 
whole hills may be seen completely aglow with the 
beautiful crimson blossoms of these Rhododendrons 
which the Swiss call the “ Alpine Rose,” but R. 
hirsutum is only seen on limestone, and R. ferugi- 
neum on granite. Many Saxifrages, too, are at their 
best only on calcareous rocks. Thus with the beau¬ 
tiful Queen of Saxifrages (Saxifraga longifolia) the 
rosettes of silvery leaves are never so white as when 
growing on limestone. Another illustration is the 
famous “ Edelweiss ” (Gnaphalium leontopodium), 
. which the Swiss call " Etoile du glacier ” or star of 
the glacier, because, as a rule, it is found in the most 
inaccessible parts, near the snow line. The German 
name Edelweiss means " noble white," and refers to 
the peculiar white woolly bracts of this interesting 
flower; but the white colour changes to a dirty grey 
when the plant grows on other rocks than limestone. 
The American humorist, Mark Twain, in hisamusing 
book,” A Tramp Abroad,” describes a tour to Switzer¬ 
land, and also speaks of the Edelweiss as follows:— " In 
the high Alpine regions we found rich store of the 
splendid red flower called the Alpine Rose, but we 
did not find any example of the ugly Swiss favourite 
called Edelweiss. The name seems to indicate that 
it is a noble flower and that it is white. It may be 
noble enough, but it is not attractive, and it is not 
white. 1 he fuzzy blossom is the colour of bad cigar 
ashes, and appears to be made of a cheap quality of 
grey plush. It has a noble and distinct way of con¬ 
fining itself to the high altitudes, but that is probably 
on account of its looks. It apparently has mo¬ 
nopoly of these upper altitudes, however, for they 
are sometimes intruded upon by some of the love¬ 
liest of the valley families of wild flowers. Every¬ 
body in the Alps wears a sprig of Edelweiss in his 
hat. It is the native’s pet and also the tourist’s.” So 
much for Mark Twain. I am inclned to think that 
the Edelweiss described fcy him could certainly not 
have been growing on limestone rocks. I have 
frequently planted the Edelweiss in a mixture of 
limestone chippings and sandy leaf-mould with great 
success, and if the flowers have not been as white as 
snow, they have been at least as white as the ashes of 
a very good cigar. 
An Even Moisture 
Of the atmosphere is indispensable to Alpine plants, 
and this they enjoy in their native home even on the 
hottest and driest days of summer. From the snow- 
fields of the highest altitudes, as well as from the 
glaciers, shallow streams of icy-cold water flow 
continually over the mountains. The air is, there¬ 
fore, laden with moisture, which, in the form of 
invisible vapour, surrounds the plants as with a 
protecting veil against the scorching rays of brilliant 
sunshine. Some of the moisture-loving plants, 
like Saxifraga azoides, Gentiana bavarica, and 
others, may be seen actually growing in the very 
midst of these shallow streams, with their roots 
immersed in the icy-cold liquid and their heads 
exposed to a broiling sun. They are evidently in 
this respect the reverse from human beings, who like 
to keep their feet warm and their heads cool. I was 
particularly impressed with this fact when visiting 
the glacier of Valsorey, near the Italian frontier of 
Switzerland. Noticing some lovely specimens of the 
beautiful blue Alpine Columbine (Aquilegia alpina) 
and the Alpine Toadflax (Linaria alpina) I dug for 
their roots, and found to my surprise that they were 
growing in a layer of gritty sand and stones not more 
than 6 in. or 8 in. deep, and that below that there 
was nothing but a solid mass of ice. The roots of 
these plants must have been in actual contact with 
the ice, graving almost on the glacier itself, and yet 
the brilliancy of their flowers would baffle description. 
The Glaciers 
Are solid masses of ice filling up the valleys between 
the highest peaks in the region of everlasting snow. 
The huge boulders, stones, and grit, which for ages 
past have been deposited on the glaciers by avalanches 
and other mighty agencies, gradually glide to the 
bottom, and are pushed onward by the glacier, which 
acts as a stupendous ever-progressing and resistless 
plough. This vastmass of bouldersand disintegrated 
rocky debris in front of a glacier is called a moraine, 
and strange to say, in these moraines we find so many 
varieties of the rarest and choicest plants that they 
have been justly termed the botanical gardens of the 
Alps. 
(To be continued.) 
--*>- 
SCILLA BIFOLIA. 
The flowers of this Squill are small individually, but 
being produced close together in a short raceme they 
are very attractive, from their star-like form and 
bright blue colour more or less tinted with violet 
As the specific names indicates, there are only two 
leaves to a bulb. Those who like collections of 
Squills will find some variations in this one, for there 
are varieties with reddish or rose coloured flowers, 
and others with w'hite flowers. The type is more¬ 
over the best, and the beauty of the rest is best seen 
and appreciated by contrast. The best effect is 
produced by planting the bulbs in a clump, not in 
the old fashioned way of allowing the bulbs to get 
crowded, but by allowing i J in. to 2 in. between every 
two bulbs so as to allow of some room for increase, 
as then the bulbs get better nourished and the foliage 
is not unduly crowded. The flowers never fail to 
appear in March, sometimes in the early part of it, 
and in late cold springs more especially they make 
their appearance above ground rather in advance of 
other subjects and generally before the other well 
known early Squills, namely, Scilla sibirica. 
