208 SUB-ALPINE PLANTS 



flower-stalk elongated, rigid, erect. Corolla campanulate, funnel- 

 shaped, divided half-way down, bearing in the throat 5 ovate, 

 membranous scales between the stamens and at their base. Anthers 

 about twice as long as the filaments. Style shorter or longer than 

 the corolla (dimorphic). A variable plant. 



Moist Alpine pastures ; 4000-9500 feet ; common, and often in 

 great quantities, both on limestone and slate. It appears imme- 

 diately after the melting of the snow on the Alpine pastures. May 

 to July. 



Distribution. — -Erzgebirge, Eastern, Central, and Western Alps ; 

 Black Forest, Jura, Auvergne, Pyrenees. 



Soldanella pusilla Baumg. rarely if ever descends to the sub-Alps. 

 S. minima Hoppe. is also a more truly Alpine species, found in the 

 Eastern Alps of Tyrol, etc., but not in Switzerland or France. 



Cyclamen L. 



Herbaceous plants with tuberous roots. Flowers red, rose, or 

 white, often scented, nodding at the extremity of naked one- 

 flowered scapes, which are coiled spirally after flowering. Corolla 

 with 5 reflexed lobes. Stamens 5. Capsule with 5 reflexed valves. 

 Leaves all radical, undivided. 



About a dozen species inhabiting temperate Europe, Western 

 Asia, and the Mediterranean district. Much cultivated for their 

 beauty. 



Cyclamen europceum L. (Plate X.) 



Tuber roundish, of varying size. Leaves stalked, orbicular- 

 cordate, sinuate-crenate, coriaceous, often purplish beneath like 

 the stems. Flower-stalk or scape coiled spirally downwards after 

 flowering. Flowers purple-red, rarely white, entire at the throat, 

 fragrant. Corolla-lobes revolute, acute. 



Stony and bushy places, preferably limestone, in sub-alpine 

 districts and the lower hills. August to October. 



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

 Jura, Bavaria, Balkan States. 



Cyclamen neapolitanum Ten. 



Leaves ovate-acuminate, deeply heart-shaped at the base, 

 angular, sinuate, rolled in when young. Flowers scentless, purple- 

 red, toothed at the throat, appearing before the leaves, very longly 

 pedicelled. 



Thickets on limestone hills ; local. August to October. 



Distribution. — Very rare in Switzerland (Valais) ; Western and 

 Southern France from the Eastern Pyrenees to Haute-Savoie, 

 Corsica, Italy. Southern Europe. 



