102 SUB-ALPINE PLANTS 



Alpine pastures on limestone, 4000-5000 feet ; rare. June, July. 

 Distribution. South-west Tyrol, Val Vestino. 

 Silene alpestris Jacq. 



Root tapering, branched, with woody shoots, tufted. Stems 

 erect or ascending, 6-12 inches high, stiff, glabrous, or with scattered 

 hairs, dichotomously branched above, and viscid at upper part, 

 like the flower-stalks. Leaves lanceolate, acute or obtuse, thick, 

 entire, ciliated near the base, otherwise glabrous, connate ; lower 

 leaves narrowed into a foot-stalk. Flowers in a terminal, loose 

 few-flowered cyme, white or pinkish. Petals 4-5 toothed. Corona 

 acutely toothed. Calyx finely glandular, downy, or rough, erect, 

 not changed when fruit is ripe ; calyx teeth ovate, obtuse. Capsule 

 twice as long as calyx, i-celled, dehiscent, with twice as many teeth 

 as styles. Seeds reniform, compressed, surrounded at edge by a 

 radiate, 4-nerved crest of linear scales. 



Abundant in the calcareous Alps and lower Alps, 3000-6000 feet, 

 often descending into the valleys with debris. May to August. 



Distribution. Carpathians, Eastern Alps (Tyrol to Carinthia). 

 Silene Saxifraga L. 



Root tapering, branched, tufted, with woody shoots. Stem 

 prostrate or ascending, swollen at the nodes, 4-6 inches high, grass- 

 green like the leaves, usually simple, finely downy or glabrous above, 

 1-2 flowered, rarely more. Leaves narrowly linear, acute, entire, 

 rough at the edge, sessile, with narrowed connate bases. Calyx 

 turbinate, lo-nerved, glabrous, erect, pale green or brownish ; 

 calyx- teeth ovate or obtuse. Flowers white or pink within, greenish 

 red without; Petals 2-cleft. Corona scale-like. 



Stony places and debris on the calcareous lower Alps ; local. 

 Up to 6600 feet in Valais. 



Distribution. Carpathians, Switzerland to Carinthia. 

 In cultivation there must be lime in the soil, and it should have 

 plenty of sun. 



Silene quadrifida L. (Heliosperma quadrifidum Reichb.). 



Root with fusiform branches, and tufts of procumbent, slender, 

 brittle stems. Stems 2-6 inches high, viscid above, glabrous, or 

 with a few scattered hairs, dichotomously branched above. Leaves 

 narrowly linear, acute, entire, ciliated at the base, slightly connate, 

 the lowermost gradually narrowed into the leafstalk. Flowers 

 in a terminal, loose, few-flowered cyme, white. Petals 4-toothed. 

 Corona sharply dentate. Calyx glabrous, erect, teeth ovate, 

 obtuse, unchanged when fruit is ripe. Capsule as long as calyx. 

 A very slender little plant, growing in shaded, moist limestone 

 rocks and cliffs in the Alps, from 3500 to 7600 feet. June to August. 



