3l6 THE ALPINE FLORA 



AlchemiJla is sacred in Iceland and named 



A few shoots under the pillow are reputed to secure 



tranquil sleep. 



Jl. alpina* (PI. XXXVI I). Stems slender; leaves palmate, 

 5-9-partite; leaflets serrate at the tip, green and glabrous 

 above, silvery- silk below ; flowers in small, panicled 

 corymbs. Flowers the year through; all Swiss mountains. 

 Jl. vulgaris* has nearly orbicular leaves, with 5-9 ovate, 

 dentate lobes, and flowers in small panicles. 



One also meets in Swiss mountains Jl. fissa, a somewhat 

 glabrous plant, approaching to vulgaris, but differing in 

 the shallower dentation of the leaf-lobes, which are sepa- 

 rated from one another by a division running far into the 

 lamina; pentaphyllea, with slender, flexuous stems, leaves 

 palmate and divided into 3-5 small, cuneiform segments. 

 It may further be distinguished at first sight from the 

 others by the stoloniferous stems, putting out roots at the 

 nodes, and by its aggressive disposition. On the flatter 

 snow-slopes of the Alps, between 2oco-25oo m., it creates 

 absolute wastes an infallible symptom of a cold and damp 

 Jocality. 



