230 THE ALPINE THICKETS AND FORESTS 



twine round any support within their reach. The leaf- 

 stalks are so sensitive, that mere contact with the 

 support is sufficient to stimulate them to twine 

 around it. 



The flowers (Plate XLIII., Fig. 1) are large and 

 handsome, and mounted singly on long stalks. 

 Externally there are four long, lance-shaped sepals, 

 deep blue in colour. These enclose four spade- 

 shaped petals, much smaller in size, and whitish in 

 colour. There are many stamens and carpels, as in 

 most of the other members of the family. 



The fruits (Plate XLIII., Fig. 2), enclosing each 

 a single seed, have long feathery awns, quite com- 

 parable to those we have already described in the 

 case of certain Anemones, the White Dryas, and the 

 Avens, They are distributed by wind. 



The Bearberries. 



The Red Bearberry {Arctostaphylos uva-ursi, 

 Sprengel) and the Alpine Bearberry {A. alpina, 

 Sprengel (natural order Ericaceae, the Heath family), 

 both British plants, are common in Switzerland, on 

 the hillsides, and in the neighbourhood of the Alpine 

 thickets. They are low carpet plants, highly branched, 

 each branch covered with leaves, which in the Eed 

 Bearberry are thick, leathery, entire, and evergreen, 

 while in the Alpine Bearberry they are thin, toothed, 

 and shed at the end of summer. A hillside covered 

 with the Alpine Bearberry in autumn furnishes one 

 of the most wonderful sights to be seen in the Alps, 



