THE VALLON DES FLEURS. 



167 



Without its flowers, the Leafless ^J\\j(Aphyllanthes, 

 Fig. 65) might easily be mistaken for a rush. It is 

 in fact, says Moggridge, intermediate in structure 

 and aspect between the lily and 

 the rush families, and appears to 

 belong properly neither to one nor 

 the other. Hooker places this lily 

 in a small family with a few 

 nondescript genera near to Juncaceae. 

 Aphyllanthes is more plentiful on 

 the Nouvelle Route de Genes than 

 in the Vallon des Fleurs. 



Coris is the only plant of the 

 Primrose order (that I know of) with 

 bilateral corolla. The leaves are 

 thickish, and in habit the plant is not 

 unlike a Stonecrop (Sedum). As to 

 the flowers, they are decidedly pretty ; 

 the colour is given in the floras as 

 a "bluish pink." You may find Coris 

 at the entrance of the Vallon des 

 Fleurs ; and wherever the ground is 

 dry and stony you will see it growing 

 along the top of the railway embank- 

 ments. 



Late in June we have found 

 Catananche ccerulea in the Vallon des 

 Fleurs. The flower, as its name 

 implies, is of a beautiful blue ; the 

 long narrow leaf does not show 

 much among grass, so that when out 

 of flower the plant is not easily found. Catananche 

 is particularly worthy of mention, because Professor 



Fig. 65. APHTLLANTH 



MOSSPELIENSIS, THE 



RUSH LILT. 



