i68 SUB-ALPINE PLANTS 



Quite local in Switzerland and more frequent in the French and 

 Italian Alps. 



Erigeron alpinus L. 



This is a smaller plant than the last and less brightly coloured. 

 It is very polymorphic. Though usually a very high Alpine, 

 occasionally it descends to the sub- Alps. 



Distribution. — Alps, Jura, Pyrenees, Carpathians, Arctic Europe, 

 Siberia. British. 



SOLIDAGO L. 



Tall leafy perennials, with numerous small yellow flowers. 

 Receptacle without scales. Outer florets few, ligulate ; inner ones 

 tubular. Achenes cylindrical, with a pappus of many simple hairs. 



A large N. American genus with a very few European species. 



Solidago Virga-aurea L. Golden-rod. (Plate XI.) 



Stems erect, leafy, 6 inches to 2 feet high, nearly glabrous. Root- 

 leaves obovate and stalked ; stem - leaves lanceolate, toothed. 

 Flowers in a crowded terminal panicle, bright yellow ; each flower- 

 head with a spreading ray of about 10 florets. Alpine forms are 

 sometimes very short. 



Woods and rocky places, especially in the mountains. July to 

 September. 



Distribution. — Europe, including British Isles, Central and 

 Northern Asia ; N. America to the Arctic regions. 



BUPHTHALMUM L. 



Buphfhalmum salicifolium L. 



Stem 1^-2 feet high, branched at the top, and bearing several 

 large yellow capitula about 2 inches across, with narrow, spreading 

 ray flowers. Leaves lanceolate, undivided ; upper leaves narrowed 

 at the apex, acute, denticulate. Ray-florets ligulate. Receptacle 

 paleaceous. Pappus-hairs short, rough. 



Dry, bushy places in the plains and sub-alpine situations, as, 

 e.g. the banks of the Lake of Lucerne, but ascending to about 

 6000 feet. Prefers a limestone soil, and is very suitable for cultiva- 

 tion and for gathering. July, August. 



Distribution. — Central Europe. In France it extends from the 

 Mediterranean to Savoy. 



Gnaphalium L. 



Flowers often unisexual and sometimes dioecious. Capitula small, 

 usually in fascicled corymbs or cymes. Involucral leaves soft, 

 adpressed, as long as the flowers. Receptacle flat, naked. Ray- 

 flowers very slender, in one or more rows. Disk-flowers bisexual. 

 Pappus-hajrs in i row, slender. 



