90 TYPICAL FLOWERS OF ALPINE PASTURES 



occurring on rocky places at Mattmark and elsewhere 

 at an elevation of about 7,000 to 10,000 feet. Each 

 stem bears only a single erect flower, the corolla of 

 which is deeply divided. It is interesting to com- 

 pare the dwarf habit and solitary flowers of 

 this species with the larger, much-branched flower- 

 ing shoots of the Campanulas growing at lower 

 elevations. 



The rarest of all the Swiss Bell-flowers is Cam- 

 panula excisa, Schleicher, confined to a few valleys in 

 the cantons of the Valais and Tessin, It may be 

 collected in the Saas Thai, on the Simplon, in the 

 Binnen Thai, and in a few other localities. The 

 Incised Bell-flower is so called from the fact that 

 the base of each of the lobes of the corolla is cut 

 away in a beautiful curve, and its flowers are thus 

 easily distinguished from those of the other Alpine 

 species. The precise object or advantage of this 

 peculiarity does not appear to be known at present. 



We will notice one further Alpine Campanula — 

 a very remarkable one. It must not be imagined that 

 all Bell-flowers have blue flowers like the Harebell. 

 There is one Swiss species, the Tufted Campanula 

 {Campanula thyrsoidea, Linn.) (Plate XIX.), in which 

 the flowers are pale yellow, and the whole habit is 

 quite unlike that of the other Alpine Bell-flowers. 

 The plant has a rosette of hairy leaves close to the 

 ground, from which springs a stout stem 6 inches'^ to 

 a foot in height, bearing numerous closely-set leaves 

 and ending in a dense spike of yellow flowers. 



