Alpine rose

“ The Alpine Rose is a shrub sometimes 8 or 10 feet high, and only a single branch is shown in the photograph. It is found on the borders of mountain woods and in bushy places, from the lower slopes up to about 7000 feet, and flowers in May, June, and July. The leaves consist of seven to eleven leaflets, and there are broad stipules at the base of each leaf. The sweet-scented flowers are of a rich rose-red colour. The sepals are exceptionally long and project beyond the petals ”

“ Then the snow on the towering peaks of the environing mountains glows with at first a golden light, which passes through pearly tones to bright rose pink as the sun sinks behind the soaring crags. The last gleams of the sun linger upon the highest peak as though loth to fade through rose to pale purple, and in turn to change to steely blue, and finally to that blue-black which challenges the deeper indigo of the Alpine sky. ”

“ For some reason the flower-plunderer has either stayed his hand in this valley or has passed it by, for here several of the rarer and choicer sorts of Alpine blossoms, almost extinct, or at least very rare in most parts of Switzerland, are still flourishing. Martagon lilies, for instance, are common, though how long they will remain so I cannot say. The paths are often literally bordered with the true Alpine rose, deepest crimson in hue. Many a meadow is purple and gold with the starry flowers of the Alpine aster, common here as a field daisy; many a rock slope is overgrown with mountain pinks ”

“ Of goodly and varied company, they are such important units in the rich composition of most Alpine meadows, and, where they grow, they form so compact a groundwork of colouring and so admirable a setting for many of the taller flowers, that it were, indeed, a dereliction of memory to overlook them! What could be lovelier than a wide area of these Clovers in June sown with lilac, rose-tinted, and white Orchids, deep, lustrous-blue Phyteumas, paper-white Paradise Lilies, and infinite hosts of the bright and fascinating little Euphrasia? ”

“ A hundred hues of grey fill the vapour-laden air and are mirrored in receptive waters—hues with which the fresh rose of the Primula and the rich, full yellow of the Marsh-Marigold blend with perfect felicity, lending that touch of human appeal which makes the scene ideal.
The forests, too, are never so picturesque as when clouds cling to the pine and larch, softening the tone and carriage of these somewhat formal trees, and breaking up every suggestion of monotony in their reiterated masses. A soft, weird, intimately mysterious beauty reigns over everything. ”

“ In descending I gathered a bunch of Alpine roses, Edelweiss, spikenard, arnica, and other flowers and plants and pinned them on the front of my hat, like a love-sick lad. For whom art thou taking home the nosegay? For wife and child? Ah, thou stupid old man!
But when I am away from her, as I was up there on the Alm, I see that she is still lovely. She will surely accept a bouquet of Alpine roses from me. I will be polite and not force it upon her. Had I but a single drop of old Rüpel's blood in my veins, I would recite a poem appropriate to the flowers! ”

“ But if for the present we cannot bring ourselves to continue systematically the work of the Romans, let us at least take in hand some of the field-plants [Pg 154] we have already with us, and induce them to become more general and abundant. Even in that way we should approach to something of Alpine prodigality; for there is quite a goodly number of British plants among the colour-giving subjects of an Alpine meadow. There is, for instance, Geranium sylvaticum (the rose or blue-mauve Wood Crane’s-bill) , rare, and found mostly upon pastures in the north ”

“ I look around, and as far as my eye can stretch up and down the valley are ranges of grand mountains, covered with firs, Alpine roses, and wild rhododendrons, and above these splendid peaks, some covered with snow, almost overhanging us, and standing out in bold relief against the bluest of skies. ”

“ All nature is dressed in its brightest robes. Great belts of blue gentian hang like a zone on the mountain slopes; masses of yellow globe-flower star the upland pastures; nodding heads of soldanella lurk low among the rugged boulders by the glacier's side. No lowland blossoms have such vividness of colouring, or grow in such conspicuous patches. To strike the eye from afar, to attract and allure at a distance, is the great aim and end in life of the Alpine flora.
Now, why are Alpine plants so anxious to be seen of men and angels? ”

“ On the summit of Long's Peak, nearly three miles up, in a number of places I have seen bright primroses and polemonium, blue mertensia and lavender-colored phlox. There are ragged wild gardens of alpine flowers nearly thirteen thousand feet above the sea. More than one hundred varieties of flowers brighten the ledges of the cliffs, [Pg 182] fringe the snow-piles, and color the moorlands of the heights above the limits of tree growth. The alpine blooms that live in dry or wind-swept places are dwarfed and flattened. They keep their beauty close to the earth. ”

“ The nearness to the snow has certainly an effect in enhancing the charm of these Alpine meadows. The flowers, wearing the colours of the sun, rush bravely to the very edge of the snow-fields as though they were jostling the winter aside. The white has barely disappeared before there is green and gold and red to give cheerful greeting to the spring sky, and declare another foot of territory won from the frost. ”

“ On the Arlberg we gathered our first Alpine roses. They are not so very pretty, except as they grow often in masses so luxuriant as to give a rosy effect to a broad slope. That is, they are pretty, but their graceful cups droop so quickly when you take them from their native air and native heights, that they are disappointing.
At St. Christoph, which is almost at the top of the Arlberg, we stopped long enough to refresh ourselves with a glass of Tiroler wine, and were taken into a little chapel behind the inn to see a wooden statue of St. ”

“ The Hairy-Leaved Alpenrose
(RHODODENDRON HIRSUTUM)
The Alpenrose is the commonest and best known of all the Alpine plants. It abounds almost everywhere; were it not so it would have become practically extinct years before, for it is gathered unmercifully. Nor are the visitors to Switzerland alone responsible for this. Every Sunday throughout the summer, crowds of the native peasants, both children and adults, may be seen returning home, each bearing in his arms an immense bunch of the favourite flower, and often with a second and smaller nosegay tied round the top of his alpenstock. ”

“ The Bernese Alps in miniature. A dark violet sea, and Alps in burnished silver, with the colors of the rainbow dissolving among them. Lofty ridges, of the shape of flames, have the tint of flame; out of the purity of lilies bloom the pink and rose; sky-blue shadows sleep in the defiles; I will not say cloth of gold drapes, but water of gold washes—water of green, of orange, scarlet, crimson, purple, wash the crags and steeps; strange metallic tints gleam in the shaggy caverns—copper, bronze, and gold. Endless grace of form and outline!—endless, endless beauty! ”

“ But it is in connection with their flowers that the wonderful adaptation of Alpine plants to their surroundings is perhaps best seen. The plants of high altitudes generally bear more numerous and more brightly coloured flowers than do their relatives of the plains. The low stature of the plants that bear them gives rise to the impression that the flowers of the Alps are also larger than those of lowland districts, but though undoubtedly more numerous and more crowded together they are of about the same size as those of other nearly related species. ”

“ Of this genus there is at present only one known species, the alpina here figured, which is a native of Germany, and, as its name imports, an alpine plant.
Its blossoms are bell-shaped, of a delicate blue colour, sometimes white, and strikingly fringed on the edge.
It flowers usually in March, in the open ground; requires, as most alpine plants do, shade and moisture in the summer, and the shelter of a frame, in lieu of its more natural covering snow, in the winter; hence it is found to succeed best in a northern aspect: will thrive in an open border, but is more commonly kept in pots. ”

“ As the support was plucked from about them, they left their sleeping places in the sandstone and marl and rolled to the levels below. Frost tore at their vitals; rain fell into the crevices and freezing there, expanded, until many of the finer logs are now merely heaps of gleaming jewels, opaline and rose, lavendar and mauve, deepest brown and softest yellow, black and purple, blue and red. In their range of color they leave the beauty lover breathless. And these colors are permanent, too, having endured through the aeons. ”

“ The eastward mountains, which had been grey, blushed pale pink, the pink deepened into rose, and the rose into crimson, and then all solidity etherealised away and became clear and pure as an amethyst, while all the waving ranges and the broken pine-clothed ridges below etherealised too, but into a dark rich blue, and a strange effect of atmosphere blended the whole into one perfect picture. ”

“ The most attractive features of an alpine flora, which springs into bloom as soon as the snow melts and forms a rapidly widening belt of colour as the margins of the snow-fields recede higher and higher, is the great profusion of brilliantly coloured blossoms. No sooner does the snow of winter melt than the moist ground becomes enamelled in brilliant colours on account of the springing up and quick blossoming of millions of hardy plants. ”

“ Astrantia major might lose its rosy-magenta blush and assume a more or less livid green-white; Lychnis, Geranium, and Salvia might lack something of their Alpine lustre; a certain mildness might reign generally in the place of mountain briskness; but, on the whole, the loss to the flowers would be small and the gain to the garden or the landscape immense, and we should find that we had annexed much of the charm and joy of Alpine days—
“Days lit with the flame of the lamps of the flowers.” ”

“ First of all, it was Canadian cornel in broad patches that whitened the soil; then it was great areas of the Greenland sandwort; and then golden spaces of the yellow avens. Now, all the world over, mountain-plants, especially those that grow beyond the limit of trees, and close up to the very snowline, are celebrated for their exceptional display of vivid color. Everybody must at least have heard of the Alpine gentians, globe-flowers, and daffodils, that belt with blue or gold or primrose whole zones of mountain-side in Swiss spring-time. Exactly the same thing is true of the arctic flowers ”

“ Nor must we forget to catalogue amongst the greater glories of Alpine winter the snow-laden forests. One day the trees will be burdened down by loads of snow. Another, every sprig and pine-needle will be frosted over by the most delicate incrustation of tiny ice-crystals—a natural lacework of surpassing fascination. When the early sun first shines upon such a scene, which night has prepared to be a revelation to the day, so magnificent a vision is provided that even the dullest perceive something of its beauty, and for a moment forget the trifles of their life. ”

“ ALPINE HERDSMEN.
“This same lover of mountains finds even the snow different. On the Jura it falls on dark-green firs and pines and, mingling with the dreary foliage, gives forth only a sad and cautious half-smile. But in the Alps the white snow makes the mountains joyous. He compares it to a virginal mantle, embroidered with green and azure. When the morning has, for them, brought on the early day, they seem to sing gaily their reveille and their youth; a hymn of light floats high in the air above their heads and finds an echo of joy and of love in the hearts of mortals. ”

“ The deep repose, the purity of aspect of every object, the snow, broken only by ridges of angular rocks, produce an effect no less beautiful than solemn. Sometimes, in the midst of the wide expanse, one comes upon a patch of the so-called red snow of the Alps. At a distance, one would say that such a spot marked some terrible scene of blood, but, as you come nearer, the hues are so tender and delicate, as they fade from deep red to rose, and so die into the pure colorless snow around, that the first impression is completely dispelled. ”

“ If it is not possible to transplant to the plains [Pg 161] the clean, invigorating air which goes so far to form the joy exhaled of Alpine meadows; if we may not lay on the wonderful atmosphere of the Alps as we may the ozone from the seaside,—we can at least take the flowers, those brilliant children of the Alpine ether, and thus help materially towards mountain purity in our parks and gardens. Some of the gaiety might be lost in the process—some of that intensity of colouring which steals over the very grass as it climbs the mountain-side and encroaches upon the kingdom of the Rhododendron. ”

“ The ten miles of road were overpast, the carriage left, the mountain climbed. It stayed patiently, expanding still into richer breath and heavenlier glow—a belt of gentians. Such things may verily be seen among the Alps in spring, and in spring only; which being so, I observe most people prefer going in autumn.
52. Perhaps few people have ever asked themselves why they admire a rose so much more than all other flowers. If they consider, they will find, first, that red is, in a delicately gradated state, the loveliest of all pure colours ”

“ Between the lofty peaks which rise skyward into the very vault of heaven, as it seems to the wayfarer at their feet, stretch lovely, winding Alpine valleys, often well-wooded and with turf of a most delightful greenness strewn with myriads of Alpine blossoms. Through valleys sweet with the odours of pinewoods and flowers run rushing torrents or more quietly flowing streams, which often have their origin in tiny, dark-blue Alpine lakes set amid environing pine forests, in whose tranquil waters are reflected the towering rocks and secluded woods which surround them. ”