224 THE ALPINE THICKETS AND FORESTS 



Vaccinium myrtillus and V. uliginosum. Horned 

 anthers, though somewhat different in shape, are also 

 found in Arctostaphylos alpina, another shrub, which 

 we shall mention presently, belonging to the same 

 family, Ericacese. 



The Alpine Honeysuckles. 



The Alpine Honeysuckles are exceedingly in- 

 teresting plants. Unlike our English Honeysuckle, 

 or Woodbine {Lonicera peridymenum, Linn.) (natural 

 order Caprifoliacese, the Honeysuckle family) — the 

 only species which is regarded as a true native 

 of Britain, though two others commonly occur 

 naturalised — the Honeysuckles of Alpine Switzerland 

 are not climbing plants, but erect bushes — often, in 

 fact, large shrubs. They are frequent in the dwarf 

 thickets and on the margins of forests, and often 

 extend considerably higher than the tree limit. They 

 are commonly associated with the Alpenroses and 

 Bilberries. 



There are three species in the Alpine zone, which 

 differ greatly as regards their flowers. These are 

 not nearly so conspicuous as in our British Woodbine, 

 where they are bunched together in heads, and thus 

 gain in conspicuousness by massing. In the Alpine 

 species the flowers are borne in pairs, arising in 

 the axils of the leaves, by which they are partly 

 hidden. 



