SWISS FLOWERS. 63 



out much leaf at the divisions, but some are axillary. 

 Bushes, meadows, and rocks of the plains and the moun- 

 tains. 



44. Linnaea. 



(PLATE XXIV.) 



We were only once favoured to see a bunch of these 

 pretty drooping pinkish flowers in full bloom, and that was 

 on the table of an hotel at Visp, when, in answer |to our 

 inquiries, we were assured they might be gathered in the 

 neighbourhood ; and so no doubt they might be, but it was 

 not our good fortune to find them then. They are not 

 very uncommon in some of the Swiss valleys, and we saw 

 the plant afterwards at Sils (Engadine) in bud. 



L. borealis (Fig. 44) is an evergreen plant of a shrubby 

 nature, and trails along the ground with opposite, rather 

 round, and rather crenate, stalked leaves. The flower-stems 

 are three or four inches high, and terminate in two droop- 

 ing flowers, white or rose-tinted. The calyx of the flower 

 has five segments, and there is a kind of calyx to the fruit, 

 consisting of four bracts, two of which are larger than the 

 others. This calyx is at the base of the dry berried fruit 

 which is crowned by the withered calyx of the flower. 

 Stamens four, rarely five, two of which are longer than the 

 others. Much loved by Linnaeus, whence the name. Com- 



