56 THE FLORA OF THE ALPS 



leaves cordate, palmately lobed, hairy, involucral bracts 

 lanceolate, often bifid. This beautiful plant is found occa- 

 sionally in moist woods at a high elevation in Southern 

 Switzerland (Engadine), Tirol, Piedmont (Mont Cenis), 

 Styria, Carinthia, and Salzburg. 



4. HOTTONIA, L. 



Flowers in racemes, heterostylous ; corolla salver- 

 shaped, 5-lobed, fringed ; stamens 5 ; capsule 5-valved, 

 valves cohering at the top. Aquatic herbs. 



H. palustris, L., Water- Violet ; flowers large, lilac 

 with a yellow eye, leaves in whorls, pectinate, very 

 deeply divided ; ponds and ditches ; Southern Switzerland 

 (rare), Jura, Dauphiny, Pyrenees. 



5. SOLDANELLA, L. 



Flowers solitary, on long stalks, or in few-flowered 

 umbels ; corolla drooping, finely divided into many linear 

 segments, usually blue ; leaves all radical ; fruit a 5-6- 

 valved capsule, each valve with two teeth. The beautiful 

 Snowbells are among the most favourite alpine plants, 

 the flowers making their appearance in the very earliest 

 spring, often on the edge of the snow ; they occur espe- 

 cially in the Swiss Alps. 



A. Flowers in 2-5 -flowered umbels; style as long as, 

 or longer than the corolla : S. alpina, L. (PI. 79) ; leaves 

 cordate-reniform, entire or slightly crenate, thick, glabrous, 

 corolla divided half-way down, with five membranous 

 scales between the stamens ; alpine pastures ; Switzer- 

 land, Jura, Black Forest, Erzgebirge, Pyrenees. S. mon- 

 tana, Willd.; leaves roundish, crenate, light green, usually 



