292 SUB-ALPINE PLANTS 



the inner ones green, with narrow leafy tips. Spikelet about the 

 size_of that in the last species, with 6-8 flowers. Outer bracts obtuse, 

 green, as long as the spikelet. Perianth-bristles 4-6, longer than the 

 fruit, which is brown, slightly trigonous, i mm. long, mucronate. 



Turf bogs and marshes in the plains and mountains up to at least 

 8100 feet, as by Lac Savine. Often in large quantity. May to 

 August. 



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

 except the Mediterranean Coast ; Corsica, Algeria, India, N. 

 America, Arctic Europe, Asia, and America. British. 



Scirpus compressus Pers. {Blysmus compressus Panzer). 



Rootstock creeping, stoloniferous. Stems 6-8 inches high, 

 glabrous, round below, trigonous above, leafy. Leaves grass-like, 

 slightly channelled. Spike terminal, brown, about an inch long, 

 consisting of about 10 oblong spikelets, sessile on opposite sides of 

 the axis. Outer bract broad, brown, glume-like, shorter than 

 mature spikelet. Glumes usually 8, imbricated round the spikelet. 

 Stamens 3. Stigmas 2. Bristles 3-6, twice as long as the ovoid, 

 tapering, or mucronate nut. 



Marshes and wet, grassy places from the plains up to at least 

 8250 feet, as on the Aiguille du Goleon in Dauphiny. June to 

 August. 



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

 Europe, Western and Russian Asia, Himalaya. 



Eeiophorum L. 



Characters and habit of Scirpus, except that the bristles finally 

 protrude far beyond the glumes, forming white, silky or cottony 

 tufts, and hence the EngUsh name of Cotton-grass. The style is 

 usually 3-cleft. 



Only about a dozen species are known, restricted to the temperate 

 and cold regions of the northern hemisphere. Several are frequent 

 at considerable elevations in the Alps and other mountains. 



Eriophorum alpinum L. Alpine Cotton-grass. 



Rootstock creeping, branched, putting up solitary culms, but no 

 tufts of leaves. Stems tufted, 6-10 inches high, with imbricate 

 sheaths at the base ; the inner ones with short leafy tips. Spikelets 

 small, brown, and terminal. Glumes obtuse. After flowering the 

 bristles form a white, silky tuft, nearly an inch in length. With the 

 exception of these silky hairs the plant closely resembles Scirpus 

 ccBspitosus, the Tufted Scirpus. 



Turfy Alpine, sub-alpine, and Arctic bogs, descending to the 

 plain ; local. May to July. 



Distribution. — Carpathians ; Sudetic Mountains ; Central and 

 Western Alps ; Black Forest ; Jura ; Russian Asia, Arctic Europe, 



