198 



BRITISH FLORA 



The plant is 3-12 in. high, flowering: from May to 

 July, and is a perennial shrub. 



Azalea (Azalea procumbens, Desv.). The habi- 

 tat of this plant is Scottish alps, the summits of 

 Highland mountains. The plant has the shrub 

 habit. The stem is woody, prostrate, then as- 

 cending, spreading, forming flat patches, with 

 interlacing, rigid branches. The leaves are 

 leathery, rigid, the margins bent-back, small, 

 opposite, crowded, oblong, linear, blunt, deep- 

 green, glossy, channelled above, densely downy 

 below, with a very stout midrib. The flowers are 

 2-3, rose-colour, in terminal clusters, inclined, 

 small, on simple, red, stout stalks, without brac- 

 teoles. The sepals are red, egg-shaped to lance- 

 shaped. The pink corolla has blunt lobes. The 

 capsule is very small. The plant is 2-4 in. high, 

 flowering from May to July, and is a perennial 

 shrub. 



ORDER GENTIANACE^E 



Spring Gentian (Gentiana verna, L.). The 

 habitat of this plant is wet subalpine limestone 

 rocks, limestone covered with grass, peaty pas- 

 tures. The habit is prostrate. The plant is 

 tufted, stoloniferous. The aerial stems are root- 

 ing, ending in a tuft of leaves, with scapes i- 

 flowered, with i or 2 leaves only, curved or as- 

 cending. The leaves are ovate, oblong, the 

 radical ones forming a rosette, blunt or more or 

 less acute, i-nerved, the stem-leaves oblong, few, 

 smaller. The flowers are large, bright-blue, soli- 

 tary, not stalked. The bracts are leafy. The 

 calyx bears 2 bracts, with 5 equal, sharp, teeth or 

 lobes, 5-winged, with prominent angles, the tube 

 larger. The corolla is salver-shaped, 5-cleft, the 

 lobes ovate, blunt, with small intermediate lobes, 

 which are divided into 2 nearly to the base, and 

 the throat is naked, with a scale between the 

 lobes. The capsule is nearly stalkless. The plant 

 is 1-3 in. high, flowering from April to June, and 

 is a herbaceous perennial. 



Small Alpine Gentian (Gentiana nivalis, L.). 

 The habitat of this species is summits of Scottish 

 mountains. The plant has the rosette habit more 

 or less. The stems are slender, branched or 

 simple, erect. The radical leaves are few, in- 

 versely ovate, oblong, elliptic, blunt or acute. 

 The stem-leaves are smaller, in distant pairs, 

 3-5-nerved. The flowers are bright light-blue, 

 solitary or few, shortly-stalked. The small bracts 

 are oblong. The calyx is cylindrical, narrow to 

 bell-shaped, with 2 bracts, the 5 awl-like lobes 

 equal, 5-angled or keeled, and ribbed. The co- 

 rolla is funnel-shaped, 5-cleft, the lobes ovate, 

 blunt, with small, intermediate, bifid scales, the 

 throat naked. The capsule is more or less stalk- 

 less. The plant is 1-6 in. high, flowering in July 

 and August, and is a herbaceous annual. 



ORDER BORAGINACE.S 



Mountain Scorpion Grass (Myosotis alpestris, 

 Schmidt = M. pyrenaica, Pourret = M. ruptcola, 

 Sm.). The habitat of this plant is moist rocks, 



mountains. The radical leaves are long-stalked, 

 pointed, oblong, lance-shaped, the stalks slender. 

 The flowers are large, blue, at night sweet- 

 scented. The calyx is deeply 5-cleft, the hairs 

 not at all straight, with some curved, appressed 

 bristles, and narrow, acute, below, open in fruit. 

 The ultimate flower-stalks are ascending. The 

 limb of the corolla is longer than the tube, flat. 

 The fruit-stalks are not so long. The style is 

 half as long as the calyx. The nutlets are black, 

 keeled, not rounded at the end. The plant is 4-10 

 in. high, flowering in July and August, and is a 

 herbaceous perennial. 



ORDER SCROPHULARIACE.* 



Purple Toadflax (Linana purpurea, Mill.). 

 This plant has long been in cultivation in Eng- 

 land and established in many places, old walls, 

 waste ground, near towns. The habit is erect. 

 The plant is smooth. The stem is leafy. The 

 leaves are linear, lance-shaped, scattered, the 

 radical leaves irregularly in fours. The flowers 

 are purple, in long, narrow racemes. The sepals 

 are linear, not so long as the capsule. The co- 

 rolla has a long, incurved spur, 2-3 times as long 

 as the flower-stalks. The lips may be purple, the 

 flower yellow otherwise. The seeds are angular, 

 netted. The plant is 1-3 ft. high, and flowers in 

 July and August, being a herbaceous perennial. 



Great Snapdragon (Antirrhinum ma/us, L.). 

 This plant is an alien, which has become natural- 

 ized in many places, as on old walls and cal- 

 careous cliffs, being an escape from gardens, 

 where it has been long cultivated generally. The 

 habit is erect. The plant is shrubby, branched, 

 smooth below, glandular, downy above. The 

 stems are stout and woody. The leaves are 

 oblong, linear, lance-shaped, opposite or alternate, 

 devoid! of hairs. The flowers are purple, white, 

 yellow or crimson, in dense racemes, glandular, 

 downy, with ovate, narrow-pointed bracts. The 

 ultimate flower-stalks are erect. The sepals are 

 ovate, unequal, blunt, shorter than the corolla. 

 The palate is yellow, the upper lip divided into 

 two nearly to the base. The spur is hairy within. 

 The capsule is glandular. The seeds are black or 

 brown, longitudinally ribbed, prickly, oblong, 

 ovoid. The plant is 1-2 ft. high, flowering from 

 July to September, and is a herbaceous perennial. 



Alpine Speedwell (Veronica alpina, L.). The 

 habitat of this plant is lofty Scottish mountains, 

 springs, and rills. The habit is prostrate, then 

 erect, much as in V. serpyllifolia. The stem is 

 scarcely rooting, simple, except below, glandular, 

 downy above. The leaves are elliptic, egg- 

 shaped, entire or toothed. The lower leaves are 

 smaller. The flowers are dark-blue, in a dense, 

 raceme-like corymb, few, hairy with spreading 

 hairs. The sepals are narrow, more or less acute, 

 half as long as the capsule, which is obscurely 

 notched, on short, erect stalks. The bracts are 

 alternate. The capsule is inversely egg-shaped. 

 The seeds are plano-convex. The style is short. 

 The upper part of the stem and calyx is dingy- 



