The Globe Flower 



(TROLLIUS EUROPAUS) 



THIS large and stately plant is common in mountain pastures 

 from the lower levels right up to 7000 feet.^ It has finely 

 divided leaves and bright yellow globe-like flowers, borne on 

 long stalks which are usually unbranched. It is evidently 

 a near relation of the buttercups, but differs from them in 

 the possession of numerous brightly-coloured sepals, which 

 enclose and conceal the much smaller tongue-shaped petals. 

 Although not exclusively Alpine, being found all over 

 Central Europe, in Scandinavia, and the north of England, 

 it has been included in this series because it is sure to be 

 noticed by anyone visiting Switzerland for the first time. 



It flowers in May, June, and July, and flourishes best in 

 damp places. A much smaller form, bearing only a single 

 flower, is found exclusively on high mountains (var. humilis). 

 It should probably be regarded merely as a variety and not 

 as a distinct species. 



The Globe Flower, the Anemones, and the two species 

 of Aconitum illustrated in the two following plates are all 

 examples of the buttercup order, the Ranunculaceas. The 

 common yellow buttercup so abundantly found in Alpine 

 meadows is Ranunculus montanus. This species very closely 

 resembles the ordinary upright buttercup of our English 

 fields (Ranunculus acris*), which it replaces in the Alps, 



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