124 SUB-ALPINE PLANTS 



Distribution. — Central and Southern Europe, very local in Switzer- 

 land, Caucasus, Tunis, Algeria. 



Astragalus aristatus L'H6rit. 



Woody at the. base, and forming great mats of spiny shoots. 

 Stem very short, whitish pubescent. Leaves with 6-10 pairs of 

 linear-oblong leaflets. Stipules linear-acuminate. Flowers white 

 or WcLshed with lilac, erect, 3-8 in short, loose clusters, sUghtly 

 peduncled. Bracts lanceolate. Calyx very woolly with setaceous 

 teeth equaUing the tube. 



This very marked species is the only one of the spiny kinds which 

 can be considered Alpine or sub-alpine. We have seen it, near the 

 top of the Col di Tenda, and on the Aiguille du GoMon in Dauphin^, 

 at the remarkable height of 8500 feet or 2590 m. It prefers lime- 

 stone or shale. 



Distribution. — Western Alps (not in Switzerland), Pyrenees, 

 Greece, Sicily, Italy. 



Should be planted in a limy soil with plenty of stones, and where 

 it can have room to spread and form a big mat. 



Phaca L. 



Leaves pinnate. Flowers in axillary racemes. Style subulate, 

 not bearded ; ovules more than 2. Pod or legume more or less 

 inflated and membranous, i-celled. 



Phaca alpina Jacq. 



Stem 1-2 feet high, glabrescent. Leaflets in 9-12 pairs, ovate- 

 lanceolate, stipules linear-lanceolate. Flower-stalks blackish. 

 Flowers brownish yellow. Calyx-teeth Hnear-lanceolate. Legume 

 half-ovate, when young covered with rough hairs, nearly glabrous 

 when older, stalk of legume nearly as long as calyx. 



Stony places and pastures, 4000-6500 feet. July, August. 



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

 Bavaria, Sweden. 



OXYTROPIS DC. 



Low, tufted perennials, only differing from Astragalus in the keel, 

 which has a small point at its extremity, either erect or slightly 

 recurved, and in the pod, which has an incomplete longitudinal 

 partition projecting into the cavity from the angle next the vexillum, 

 not from the angle next the keel. 



Another large genus, of about 200 species, but not so widely 

 spread as Astragalus, and chiefly confined to mountain stations 

 in Europe, Asia, and N. America. 



Oxytropis campestris DC. 



Stock short and tufted, covered with old leaf-stalks and stipules. 

 Plant covered with scattered hairs or rather shaggy. Leaflets 



