234 SUB-ALPINE PLANTS 



MELAMPYRUM L. Cow-wheat. 



Annual plants, with opposite leaves and branches, and semi- 

 parasitical. Floral-leaves often developed into coloured bracts. 

 Flowers yellow, purple, or variegated ; axillary or in terminal leaf- 

 spikes. Calyx tubular or campanulate, 4-toothed. Upper lip of 

 corolla compressed, entire, or with a small lobe on each side ; lower 

 lip spreading, with 3 short lobes and a projecting palate nearly 

 closing the mouth of the tube. Capsule ovate, oblique. 



A small, distinct genus confined to Europe and N. Asia. 



Melampyrum pratense L. (Plate XXVIII.) 



Stem erect, 6-12 inches high, with spreading opposite branches, 

 glabrous. Leaves lanceolate, upper ones usually toothed at the 

 base. Flowers usually entirely yellow, rarely with whitish tube, 

 and sometimes partly lilac, in distant axillary pairs. Calyx-teeth 

 erect, shorter than the tube, but very variable. Annual. 



Woods and pastures from the plains to the lower Alps. June, 



July. 



Distribution. Europe, Western Asia. British. 



Melampyrum sylvaticum L. (Plate XXVIII.) 



Much like certain forms of the last, but usually smaller, with the 

 floral-leaves entire and much smaller flowers, of a deep yellow. 

 Calyx-teeth prominent, lanceolate, acute. An annual. 



Woods and thickets in the mountains. July. 



Distribution. Alps, Jura, Vosges, Cevennes, Pyrenees, Corbieres, 

 most of Europe, Caucasus, Altai, Siberia. N. Britain and Ireland. 



Melampyrum nemorosum L. (Plate XXVIII.) 



Annual, like the rest; easily distinguished by its large violet- 

 coloured bracts or floral-leaves, yellow flowers, with orange palate 

 and rusty red tube. 



Borders of mountain woods and hills. July. 



Distribution. Local in Switzerland (banks of the Veveyse near 

 Vevey), Savoy -(south of the Saleve, near Argentiere, etc.), Alps, 

 Cevennes, Pyrenees. Europe and Western Asia. 



RHINANTHUS L. Yellow Rattle. 



Annual herbs, parasitic on roots, turning black when dry. 

 Flowers yellow, in unilateral spikes, with broad bracts. Calyx 

 ventricose, 4-toothed, enclosing the seed-capsule like a bladder. 

 Corolla 2-lipped. Stamens 4. Seeds winged. Leaves opposite, 

 narrow, toothed. 



About 20 species, difficult to distinguish, inhabiting the northern 

 hemisphere. Several are abundant in the lower Alpine meadows 

 and pastures. 



