152 SUB-ALPINE PLANTS 



CHRYSOSPLENIUM L. Golden Saxifrage. 



Small, fleshy, but delicate herbs, creeping at the base, with 

 golden yellow flowering stems, orbicular leaves and small yellow 

 flowers in short, leafy terminal cymes. Petals o. Stamens 8-10. 

 Ovary inferior, i-celled. Capsule 2-lobed. 



A small genus found in the temperate and colder regions of both 

 hemispheres. 



Chrysosplenium oppositifolium L. 



In loose, leafy tufts spreading over a considerable area. Stems 

 4 or 5 inches high, usually forked at the top. Leaves all opposite, 

 slightly crenate, with a few stiff hairs on the upper surface. Flowers 

 small, sessile, in little compact yellowish green cymes, surrounded 

 by similar leaves to the others, but smaller and golden yellow. 



Wet, shady places in the sub- Alps and plains. May. 



Distribution. Most of Europe and Russian Asia, British Isles. 

 Chrysosplenium alternifolium L. 



A more slender and rather taller species than the last. Leaves 

 always alternate, and the lower ones on longer stalks and more 

 kidney-shaped. Often growing with the other species. 



Similar situations to the last, but rarer in Switzerland. May. 



Distribution. Europe, Northern and Central Asia, N. America, 

 extending to the Arctic regions. Britain. 



RIBES L. Currant. 



Sometimes given a separate family (RIBESIACE.E). Shrubs with 

 alternate leaves, no stipules and small, axillary flowers in racemes 

 or rarely solitary. Styles 2. Stamens, petals, and sepals 4 or 5. 

 Ovary inferior, i-celled. Fruit a berry, the seeds being surrounded 

 by pulpy juice. 



A genus spread over the temperate regions of the northern hemi- 

 sphere, with a small number of species in the Andes. 



Ribes Grossularia L. Gooseberry. 



A small, much - branched, prickly shrub, 2-4 feet high, the 

 prickles being single or in twos and threes. Leaves orbicular, 

 palmately divided into 3 or 5 crenated lobes. Flowers green, 

 hanging on short pedicels. Berry small and yellowish, often 

 covered with stiff hairs, but in the mountains frequently glabrous. 



Stony, bushy places and roadsides in the plains and sub-Alps. 

 It flowers in April, and the fruit ripens about August. In some 

 Swiss valleys it ascends to 4500 feet, as for example in Val 

 d'Anniviers. 



Distribution. Central and Southern Europe and Western Asia. 

 N. Africa. Introduced into Britain. 



