250 SHADE PLANTS OF THE ALPINE FORESTS 



soils rich in humus. The leaves are rather small, 

 and broadly egg-shaped. They are arranged in 

 opposite pairs, and are evergreen. Here and there, 

 the stems send up erect flowering branches, each of 

 which has two or three pairs of leaves, and terminates 

 in a long flower-stalk branching into two at the 

 top. From each fork, a single, graceful, white or 

 pale pink flower droops. The sepals and petals of 

 the calyx and corolla are five in number, but 

 there are only four stamens. The flowers have a 

 faint vanilla-hke scent, which is said to be more 

 powerful by night than by day. The Laplanders 

 make a decoction of the flowers, which they use as a 

 remedy for certain complaints, such as rheumatism. 



In some cases the lower portion of the plant is 

 almost hairless, in others it is distinctly hairy. The 

 calyx and the flower-stalks, however, are nearly always 

 covered with sticky bristles, which can be readily 

 seen under a hand-lens. They probably serve as a 

 protection against unbidden guests in the shape of 

 crawling insects, which otherwise might creep up 

 from below, and rob the flower of its pollen. Such 

 insects would only very rarely visit another flower, 

 and thus could be of no use to the plant as cross- 

 pollinators. The drooping position of the flower is 

 an additional protection against the visits of all but 

 flying insects, which alone can be of service to the 

 plant. 



The sticky hairs on the lower portion of the 

 flowers also help in the distribution of the fruits. 



