SUB-ALPINE PLANTS AND WHERE THEY GROW 3 



several species of Carex, such grasses as Poa alpina, P. bulbosa, 

 Agrostis alba, Phleum alpinum, Deschampsia ccespitosa, Festuca 

 ovina and Nardus stricta. He has also observed the following ferns 

 with a range of from about 5800 to 6800 feet in the Alps, viz. : 

 Cystopteris fragilis (up to 8500 feet), Dryopteris Filix mas, D. 

 spinulosa, Asplenium viride (up to 8800 feet), A. Trichomanes, 

 Polypodium vulgar e, and Botrychium Lunaria (up to 8400 feet). 



In comparing the flora of Switzerland with that of the British 

 Isles, the most apparent difference is the absence of the maritime 

 element from that of the former country. Even the Sea-thrift 

 (Armeria maritima) which sometimes grows on hill- tops in England, 

 Scotland, and Ireland, is absent from Switzerland, and its place 

 is taken by the larger and more handsome Armeria alpina. But there 

 are one or two maritime plants, such as the Yellow Horned Poppy 

 (Glaucium ftavum), which find a suitable home on the sandy shores 

 of the Lake of Neuchatel. 



To students of ecology, or plant associations, and to those 

 occupied with the geographical distribution of plants, the absence of 

 certain species from a given area is no less interesting than the 

 presence of others. Let us therefore mention a few types (other 

 than maritime) of plants found in the British Isles which do not 

 occur at all in Switzerland. In the first place we have a few High- 

 land species, such as Saxifraga nivalis and Primula scotica, which 

 do not get so far south as the European Alps. In Ireland there are 

 one or two North American plants, such as Spiranthes Romanzoffiana 

 and Sisyrinchium augustifolium, which occur nowhere else in 

 Europe. 



Owing to the moisture of our climate and the mildness of our 

 winters, we have various Lusitanian species, characteristic of 

 Portugal and the south-west of Europe, which extend their range 

 much further north in these islands, especially in Cornwall, Devon, 

 Dorset, and the south-west of Ireland, than they do elsewhere. 

 Among them are several Heaths, such as Erica vagans (it is found 

 in very few places in Switzerland), Erica ciliaris, and the Conne- 

 mara Heath (Dabeocia cantabrica). The common Bell Heather 

 (E. cinerea) is not found at all in Switzerland, and in only one 

 place in Germany, above Bonn ; nor is Erica tetralix found in 

 Switzerland. In fact, with the rare exception of E. vagans, Erica 

 carnea, and Calluna (Ling) are the only Heaths in Switzerland. 



Other western species found in England and Ireland, but not in 

 Switzerland, are the little Butterwort (Pinguicula lusitanica), the 

 tiny yellow Cicendia filiformis, Cotyledon umbilicus with its peltate, 

 fleshy leaves, and Iris fcetidissima, whose capsules, with bright 

 orange- vermilion seeds adorn many of our Lias woods in autumn. 

 We have also quite a number of bog or aquatic plants which do not 

 occur in Switzerland. They include the Ivy-leaved Campanula, 

 (Wahlenbergia hederacea), the Bog Pimpernel (Anagallis tenella), 



