Supplement  to 
March  14,  1901.  JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
211 
Tlje  Destruction  of  Alpine  Plants. 
The  French  authorities  have  followed  the  example  of  the  Swiss 
Government  in  seeking  to  protect  the  Alpine  plants  from  the 
destructiveness  of  the  tourist.  The  Prefect  of  the  Isere  has  published 
a  decree  forbidding  the  uprooting  or  sale  of  a  number  of  the  more 
beautiful  or  interesting  kinds.  Great  as  is  the  Alpine  chain,  with 
upland  valleys  and  peaks  almost  countless,  yet  no  attractive  plant, 
however  abundant,  can  long  survive  the  ravages  of  the  tripper,  and, 
what  is  worse,  of  the  vendors  of  flowers.  Those  of  the  lower  slopes 
escape  by  being  also  common  outside  the  chain,  though  even  here 
the  Cyclamen  is  to  be  protected;  but  at  from  3000  to  4C00  feet 
a  marked  ^change  sets  in.  The  lowlanders  gradually  disappear,  and 
flowers  are  therefore  massed  together,  enhancing  the  colour  effect. 
The  blue  Star  Gentians,  the  Moss  Campions,  and  the  Androsace  are 
often  blots  of  colour,  but  Pansies  and  Bell  Gentians,  Asters,  Geums, 
Orchis,  the  sweet-scented  Daphne,  and  a  hundred  others,  dapple 
the  grass  with  blues  and  purples,  pinks,  yellows,  and  white.  Such 
flowers  may  be  found  from  one  end  of  the  Alps  to  the  other,  together, 
of  course,  with  the  Edelweiss,  which  is  another  of  those  specially 
;  named  for  protection.  There  seems  no  particular  reason  why  this 
little  whitish,  downy  star-flower  should  be  so  greedily  sought  ;  but  it 
is  surrounded  with  legend,  and  the  inexperienced  think  it  is  generally 
githered  at  the  risk  of  life.  In  reality,  it  is  much  more  common  on 
the  rough  grassy  slopes  than  on  precipices,  and  is  still  found  in  most 
parts  of  the  Alps,  but  more  profusely,  we  think,  in  the  eastern 
districts.  In  this  direction,  and  again  in  going  southward,  the  Alpine 
flora  changes  by  taking  in  wanderers  from  each  of  these  quarters,  and 
DENDROBIUM  WARDIANUM.  ( See  page  210.) 
the  highlanders  of  the  botanical  kingdom  take  their  place.  From 
about  5000  to  7000  feet  we  are  in  the  richest  zone  of  the 
Alpine  flora.  The  stony  slopes  are  thickly  covered  with  the  dwarf 
Rhododendrons,  one  of  the  plants  mentioned  in  the  Prefet’s  decree. 
Of  these  there  are  two  species,  one  much  commoner  than  the  other, 
but  at  a  little  distance  birely  to  be  distinguished.  A  Rhododendron 
slope  in  full  flower  exceeds  in  beauty  even  one  covered  with  British 
Heath  or  Ling.  But,  as  most  of  our  countrymen  are  compelled  to 
take  holiday  in  August,  they  know  little  of  the  Rhododendrons  or  the 
other  flowers  i  f  this  zone.  To  see  them  we  must  visit  it  early  in 
July,  for  they  begin  to  wane  before  that  month  is  ended.  Flowers, 
indeed,  there  are  at  8000  feet,  and  still  higher,  which,  of  course, 
come  into  blossom  at  a  later  date,  yet  on  these  stony  places  they 
are  never  in  such  profusion.  In  July,  says  the  “Standard,”  the  sight 
is  worth  a  long  journey.  The  short  turf  is,  in  places,  as  lull  of  flowers  as 
a  garden  bed.  Alpine  plants,  as  a  rule,  do  not  grow  high,  and  their 
is,  perhaps,  nowhere  more  interesting  than  in  the  region  round  the 
great  central  mass  of  the  Dauphine  A  ps,  the  departments  of  the  Isere 
and  H  lutes  Alpes.  The  rocks  are  so  varied  that  they  nourish  a  great 
diversity  of  plants,  while  the  alps  of  the  Col  du  Lautaret,  a  little 
north  of  the  magnificent  peaks  all  about  the  head  of  the  Vendon, 
have  long  been  famous  with  botanists.  Many  rarities  grow  there; 
but  the  beauties  of  the  commoner  flowers  will  satisfy  the  ordinary 
traveller,  while,  perhaps,  nowhere  in  the  Alps  is  there  such  a  profusion 
of  white  Narcissus  as  on  the  upper  pastures  about  this  high  road. 
Yet  not  so  long  ago  all  this  region  was  well-nigh  unknown,  even  to 
French  tourists.  In  the  early  ’sixties,  when  a  few  pioneers  from  the 
English  Alpine  Club  made  their  way  into  the  uppsr  valleys  of  the 
Isere,  Arc,  and  Romanche,  the  inns  were  few,  sin  ill,  and  generally 
squilid;  now  the  decree  we  have  referred  to  has  been  found  necessary, 
so  numerous  are  the  visitors  to  the  district,  and  so  serious  are  the 
depredations  of  the  more  thoughtless  among  them. 
