112 SUB-ALPINE PLANTS 



Hypericum nummularium L. 



Stem ascending, 6-10 inches high, glabrous hke the whole plant. 

 Leaves roundish-cordate, the lower ones shortly petioled, smooth, 

 pale below. Flowers large, usually 3-5 on a stem. Petals round, 

 3-4 times longer than calyx, crenate, pale yellow. Sepals blunt, 

 serrated, glandular-ciliated. Capsule ovoid, slightly passing the 

 calyx, and with 3 prominent styles. 



Stony, damp places in calcareous mountains ; rare. June to 

 August. 



Distribuiion. — ^Alps of Savoy and Piedmont, Northern Spain, 

 Central and Western Pyrenees. 



Can be planted in a sunny place on a bank, with plenty of sandy 

 soil for its rampant roots to penetrate. 



Hypericum Richeri Vill. (Plate XIII.) 



Glabrous. Stem erect, a foot high or more, almost round. 

 Leaves oval or oval-lanceolate, opposite, edged with black spots, 

 slightly clasping the stem. Flowers large, yellow, in a few-fiowered 

 corymb. Petals three times longer than the calyx, spotted with 

 black. Sepals oblong-lanceolate, acuminate, finely but strongly 

 toothed at the edge. Capsule ovoid, slightly longer than the calyx. 

 A handsome species. 



Pastures and mountain woods up to 6000 feet, as at Lautaret, 

 in Dauphiny, and above Argenti^re in Haute Savoie ; very local. 

 June to August. 



Distribution. — Jura, Savoy, rare in Switzerland, Pyrenees, 

 Central and Southern Europe. 



Hypericum quadr unguium L. {H. maculatum Crantz). (Plate XIII.) 



Readily known by the 4 prominent angles of the stem. Leaves 

 ovate, about an inch long, clasping the stem at the base, with many 

 pellucid nerves and dots, and a few black spots round the margin. 

 Sepals lanceolate, pointed. Petals usually without any black dots. 



Pastures and waste places in mountainous regions up to the 

 sub-alpine zone. June to August. 



Distribution. — Central and Northern Europe, Pyrenees, Alps, 

 Western Siberia. British. 



In Britain it grows mostly in damp meadows. 



In the Alps, and especially in the granitic Alps, the flowers of this 

 species are sometimes pale yellow, as in the plate. The figure was 

 drawn from a specimen obtained from Le Planet, above Argenti^re, 

 at the head of the Chamonix valley, at about 4600 feet. 



Schinz and Keller give an Alpine sub-species, eumaculatum Schinz 

 et Thellung, with rounded sepals, and erosum Schinz, with sepals 

 toothed or irregularly laciniate, but sometimes acute. The later 

 sub-species frequents the Swiss plains, and the mountain region. 



