240 SUB-ALPINE PLANTS 



Variable and represented in Switzerland by the sub-species Will- 

 kommii Nyman. 



Dry hills, especially limestone. May, June. 



Distribution. Central and Southern Europe. Very widely spread 

 in France. 



LABIATE 



Herbs, or rarely shrubs, with square stems and opposite leaves, 

 often glandular and fragrant. Flowers solitary, or in opposite, 

 axillary, crowded, stalked, or sessile cymes. Corolla tubular and 

 2-lipped. Calyx persistent, 5-cleft. Stamens 4, epipetalous, rarely 

 2. Ovary 4-lobed, with one ovule in each lobe. Stigma 2-fid. 

 Fruit of four i -seeded nutlets. 



A very large family, spread all over the globe, and easily known 

 from all other Monopetals, except the Borage family, by the 4- 

 lobed ovary and the 4 small nuts in the base of the calyx. The 

 family, however, comprises comparatively few Alpine species, and 

 not one high " Alpine." 



MENTHA L. Mint. 



Flowers small, in dense axillary cymes or leafy spikes. Corolla- 

 tube short, limb 4-lobed. Stamens nearly equal ; whole plant 

 usually strongly scented. 



About 30 species inhabiting north temperate regions. They 

 hybridise very easily, and hence are rather difficult to determine. 

 The Swiss Mints are practically the same as the English. 



Mentha sylvestris L. (M. longifolia Hudson). Horse-mint. 



Stems 2-3 feet high, erect, slightly branched, hoary like the whole 

 plant with close down. Leaves sessile, broadly lanceolate. Flowers 

 small and numerous, in dense cylindrical spikes, forming oblong- 

 terminal panicles. 



Wet mountain pastures and waste places in the plains, forming 

 great colonies in some sub-Alpine districts as, e.g. about Argentiere. 



Distribution. Temperate and Southern Europe, Russian and 

 Central Asia. British. 



THYMUS L. Thyme. 



Flowers small, in axillary cymes, often unisexual. Calyx 2-lipped. 

 Corolla obscurely 2-lipped. Stamens 4, very unequal. Leaves small, 

 entire. Stem procumbent. Most species very fragrant. 



Thymus Serpyllum L. Common Thyme. 



Stems slender, prostrate, much branched, hard but scarcely 

 woody at the base, forming low, dense tufts, and often almost 

 covered with purple flowers. Leaves very small, oblong or ovate, 

 fringed with a few long hairs at the base. Flowers usually 6 in a 

 whorl, with no true bracts, in short, terminal, leafy spikes. Calyx 



