288 SUB-ALPINE PLANTS 



LuzuLA DC. Wood-rush. 



Perennial herbs, differing from /uncus in their softer, flatter, 

 grass-like leaves, often fringed with silky hairs, and in their capsules 

 not divided into cells, and willi not more than 3 erect and much 

 larger seeds. They mostly grow in drier places than Rushes. 



Luzula lutea DC. Yellow Wood-rush. (Plate XXI.) 



Plant 2-10 inches high. Leaves short, yellowish green, glabrous, 

 linear-lanceolate, shortly acuminate, broad for their length. Cyme 

 of dense clusters, spreading. Flowers pale yellow, sessile. Perianth- 

 divisions equal, shortly mucronate. Capsule oval, acute, shorter 

 than the perianth. 



Common in damp pastures and on slopes of debris ; 5000-9000 

 feet. July, August. Prefers siliceous soil. 



Distribution. — Tyrol, Switzerland, Western Alps as far south as 

 Provence, Italy, Spain, Pyrenees. 



Luzula flavescens Gaud. (L. LuzuUna Dalla Torre). 



Rootstock stoloniferous. Leaves with silky hairs. Flowers 

 yellowish, in ones or t\\'os, at the end of spreading branches, forming 

 a loose terminal cyme. 



Shady fir woods on limestone ; 2500-6000 feet. June, July. 



Distribution. — Alps, Pyrenees, Corsica. 

 Luzula Forsteri DC. 



Rootstock tufted. Stems g-i8 inches high. Leaves broadly 

 linear, silky. Outer perianth-segments acute ; inner ones obtuse, 

 mucronate. Capsule broadly ovate-conical, about the length of the 

 perianth. 



Woods, from the plains to the lower mountains. May, June. 



Distribution. — Central and Southern Europe, Western Asia, N. 

 Africa. British. 



Luzula pilosa Willd. (Plate XXXII.) 



Stem slender, rather shorter. Leaves broadly linear ; stem- 

 leaves shorter and narrower. Pedicels reflexed after flowering. 

 Perianth-segments lanceolate, acute, shorter than the obtuse, 

 conical, and shortly mucronate capsule. 



Woods ; very common. April to June. 



Distribution. — Europe, temperate Asia, and N. America. 

 Luzula sylvatica Gaudin. 



The largest species 1-3 feet high, with strong, thick stems and 

 broadly linear leaves (^ inch or more broad) a foot or more long and 

 very hairy at the borders. Flowers in small clusters of 2 or 3, 

 in a large loose compound panicle. Capsule about the length of the 

 perianth. 



