412 THE ALPINE FLORA 



smaller, creamy white, with two yellow spots on the lip. 

 Alps; 800-2200 m. July-August. Peaty soil with rough 

 gravel. 



Globularia 



The type of the order Globularise. An essentially alpine 

 genus of pretty plants with persistent leaves, lilac-violet 

 or bluish flowers, globular or conical in shape, which all 

 grow on dry, sunny mountain slopes, especially on chalk 

 formations. 



G. cordi folia is a familiar dwarf plant, which spreads 

 like a carpet over earth or rock, with spreading, prostrate, 

 branched shoots, bearing many small leaves, spathulate 

 or cordate, emarginate at the tip, in rosettes from which 

 the scapes rise; flowers bluish lilac, in small cones or 

 compact, flattened balls. May-July ; 800-2000 m. Moun- 

 tain slopes. There is good variety with white flowers. 



G. vulgar is. Leaves large, dark green, glossy, ovate, 

 blunted, slightly emarginate, in a large rosette ; from the 

 centre of the rosette spring the floral scapes, which are 

 leafless, erect, stiff, 4-12 in.; flowers violet, in terminal, 

 globular umbels. May-September. Warm, dry hillsides 

 in the chalk. Sometimes it is found with white flowers. 



G. nudicaulis. Leaves oblong, very smooth, dark, 

 glossy green, in sturdy, caespitose tufts. Stem 6-12 in., 

 often violet or blackish; flowers many, violet-blue, in 

 coarse, terminal ball. June-July. Grass slopes of the 

 limestone Alps ; 1000-2000 m. 



Another excellent kind, perhaps the best of all, is the 

 Pyrenaean G. nana with thyme-like leaves and charming 

 blue flowers. 



All the species are excellent and ornamental plants for 

 the rockery, for dry banks in the wild garden. For 

 decorative effect and to lovers of quaint beauty they have 



