124 INTERESTING PLANTS OF ALPINE PASTURES 



yet they are conspicuous objects, quite apart from the 

 large, shining, green leaves. Conspicuousness to the 

 insect world is a matter of the highest importance to 

 the majority of Alpine plants, which depend on insect 

 visits to ensure cross-fertilisation (p. 271). In the 

 greater number of cases, as in Veratrum, it is the 

 corolla or perianth which forms the conspicuous 

 advertisement to the insect world on the part of the 

 plant. The corolla of a Pansy or Violet (p. 161) is a 

 good example. In some plants, however, the stamens 

 play this part. The Meadow Eues (genus Thalictrum, 

 natural order Kanunculaceae), of which there are 

 several species in the Alps, including the beautiful 

 Thalictrum aquilegifolium, with its lilac-coloured 

 stamens, and the Alpine Willows, p. 189 (genus Salix, 

 natural order Salicaceae), are examples of this class. 

 In other flowers, it is the calyx, and not the corolla, 

 which serves as the attractive organ; as, for instance, 

 in the Globe-flower (genus Trollius), p. 207, and the 

 Monkshoods (genus Aconitum), p. 130, both belonging 

 to the Eanunculacese. In other plants, it is the bracts 

 or leaves of the inflorescence, as in Bupleurum and 

 Astrantia (natural order Umbelliferse), the Edelweiss, 

 p. 19, and the Spurges (genus Euphorbia, natural order 

 Euphorbiaceae), which perform this function. These 

 facts illustrate the variety of means by which nature 

 attains a single end. 



