278 SUB-ALPINE PLANTS 



Ruscus L. 

 . ,The only European monocotyledonous plants which are shrub- 

 like and almost woody. A small European and North African genus 

 known by its stiff, shrub-like habit and almost prickly leaves. 



Ruscus aculeatus L. Butcher's Broom. 



A stiff, dark green, much-bracted shrub 2-4 feet high. Leaves 

 very numerous, ovate, ending in a prickly point. Flowers small, 

 greenish white, apparently sessile in the middle of the ' leaves ' or 

 cladodes, which are really leaf-like branches. Actually the flowers 

 are borne on pedicels from the axil of the leaf and closely adnate 

 to the surface with a minute scaly bract under the flowers. Berry 

 red, large. 



Woods, hedges, and rocky thickets. March to May. 



Distribution. — Central and Southern Europe, Western and 

 Northern Asia, N. Africa. Introduced into Britain. 



Erythronium L. 

 Erythronium Dens-canis L. Dog-tooth Violet. 



Flowers solitary on a leafless scape, large, pink spotted with white 

 and yellow, the 6 acute perianth-segments recurved abruptly, the 

 3 exterior ones furnished at the base with a little tooth on each 

 side. Leaves 2, opposite, radical, oblong, or elliptic, spotted with 

 red. Seed-vessel a 3-celled capsule. 



Thickets and wooded hills in the south. March, April. In 

 Switzerland only native in Tessin, though naturalised near Geneva, 

 etc. 



Distribution. — Apennines, Southern Alps, Cevennes and Central 

 plateau of France, Corbieres, Pyrenees ; Central and Southern 

 Europe ; Caucasus, Siberia, Japan. 



LiLIUM L. 



Bulbs scaly. Stem leafy. Flowers large. Stamens hypogynous 

 or attached to the base of the perianth-lobes. Anthers versatile. 

 Fruit a 3-celled capsule. 



About 50 species inhabiting temperate regions of the northern 

 hemisphere, and particularly Japan. 



Lilium Mariagon L. Turk's-cap Lily. (Plate XXXII.) 

 2-3 feet high. Leaves in whorls of 6 or 8. Flowers dull pink or 



lilac, spotted with dark purple, pendent, with recurved segments. 

 Alpine meadows and pastures and bushy places up to 7300 feet, 



especially on limestone ; local, but sometimes quite numerous. 



June to August. 



Distribution. — Central and Southern Europe, Caucasus, Siberia, 



Japan. 



