252 SUB-ALPINE PLANTS 



plant. Leaves entire, with recurved margin and crenate from the 

 thickened transverse veins ; lower leaves elliptical or lanceolate, 

 contracted into a wingless leaf-stalk ; upper ones lanceolate or 

 linear-lanceolate, acute, sessile. Flowers in a linear-cylindrical, 

 crowded, erect spike, the lower part of which is composed of bulbils. 

 Perianth white or light flesh-coloured. 



Alpine and sub-alpine pastures, descending to the valleys. 

 June to August. 



Distribution. Alps, Carpathians, Jura, Pyrenees, Europe, Asia, 

 N. America, Arctic regions. British. 



Polygonum Bistorta L. Bistort. (Plate VI.) 



Stem 1-3 feet high. Leaves lanceolate-ovate with cordate base 

 and winged leaf-stalk, upper leaves sessile. Flowers in a short 

 terminal spike, pink. 



Damp meadows and pastures in the Alps and plains, frequently 

 giving a pinkish tinge to the colour of the Alpine meadows before 

 the grass is cut, as so cleverly shown in some of Mr. Flemwell's 

 pictures. 



Distribution. Europe, Asia, N. America, and Arctic regions. 

 British. 



Polygonum alpinum All. 



Stem 1-2 feet high, branched, leafy. Leaves lanceolate, acute, 

 narrowed into a short petiole, wavy or toothed. Flowers in a 

 paniculate raceme, yellowish white or pink ; scaly sheaths (ochreae) 

 with rough hairs. Fruit shining, trigonous, equalling the perianth. 



Damp meadows in the mountains ; local. July, August. 



Distribution. Eastern, Central, and Western Alps ; Pyrenees, 

 Central and Northern Asia. 



Polygonum aviculare L. Knotgrass. 



A much branched and often prostrate, wiry annual, varying 

 much in size and habit from an inch high (var. nana Boiss. which 

 we have seen at 9000 feet) to a foot or two long in arable ground. 

 Stipules white, scarious, ragged at the edges. Leaves small, 

 narrow-oblong, but very variable. Flowers small, reddish, shortly 

 stalked in clusters in the axils of the leaves. Nuts trigonous, 

 minutely granulated or wrinkled. 



Waste places, extending nearly all over the globe from the tropics 

 to the Arctic regions. 



THYMELEACE^ 



Herbs or shrubs, with white, pink, or green flowers, which are 

 usually bisexual. Perianth with 4 equal lobes, often petaloid and 

 fragrant. Ovary usually i-celled. Fruit a drupe or berry. 



About 400 species inhabiting temperate and hot regions. 



