BOG ASPHODEL 



47 



resemblance to Hclkboriis, and the second Latin name refers to the 

 leno^th of the leaves. 



Essential Stkcikic Chauactkks: — 



290. Hclleborinc longifo/ia, Rendle and 15ritten. — Stem tall, leaves 

 lanceolate, bracts shorter than the flower, flowers green, lip white and 

 red and purple, label blunt, crenate calyx purplish-green. 



Bog Asphodel (Narthecium ossifragum, Ihids.) 



K)o- plant no trace of it occurs amongst the 

 ound in Xorih IJritain and other [larts. It is 



Though a northern 1 

 remains of Arctic plants 

 distributed ■ generally in 

 the North Temperate 

 Zone north of the Alps, 

 Pyrenees, N. Asia, N. 

 America. In Great Bri- 

 tain it is not found in 

 N. Wilts; in the Thames 

 province only in Kent, 

 Surrey, Berks, Bucks; 

 and not in Sufi'olk, 

 Northants, in Anglia ; 

 but elsewhere in \\. 

 Gloucs, S. Lines, Notts, 

 Mid Lanes, S.E. Yorks, 

 Haddington, Stirling, as 

 far north as the Shet- 

 lands, and up to 3200 ft. 

 in the Highlands. It is found also in Ireland very generally. 



Bog Asphodel is a characteristic bog plant growing at high eleva- 

 tions in wild morasses on mountain-sides, as well as in more lowland 

 stations. As Watson says: "The drainage and enclosure of bogs and 

 marshes no doubt must gradually banish this plant from many of its 

 localities". It is rare in the south-eastern counties, abundant in 

 Scotland. 



The flowering stem, at first prostrate, is then erect, surrounded at 

 the base with many sword-like leaves, and .so having the grass habit. 

 The leaves are half as long as the stem, and have marked ribs. 



The flowers are a rich golden -yellow or deep-orange, large and 

 spreading, with woolly anther-stalks. The slender flowering stem has 

 one bract at the base, and is tapering; the flowers have very short 



Bog Asphodel {Xartlicciimi imijniguiii, lluds.) 



