Part 4

The Narcissus-Flowered Anemone

(ANEMONE NARCISSIFLORA)

Many varieties of Anemone are found in Switzerland. Not only have we the common English Wood Anemone (A. nemorosa) of the early spring, and the much rarer Pasque Flower (A. Pulsatilla) of our downs, but there is also the white or yellow Alpine Anemone (A. alpina), which forms so marked a feature of the Alpine pastures in early summer. Even in July and August, when most of the flowers have faded, the feathery tufts of seeds of the Alpine Anemone are still to be seen as the so-called “Chamois’ beards.”

The Narcissus-flowered Anemone, here photographed, is a widely distributed plant. It occurs on grassy slopes and in pastures between 4000 and 7000 feet above the sea level, and seems to prefer a limestone soil. The finely divided leaves are well seen in the photograph. Unlike every other species of Anemone found in Switzerland the flower stalk bears not a single flower only but two to eight, or even more, and at the point where the flower stalk divides a green collaret or involucre is seen. The flowers are pure white inside, and their external surfaces are often slightly woolly and tinged with pink, especially in the bud. The seeds have no feathery appendages like those of the Alpine Anemone. The flowers are without honey. They are visited by pollen-collecting insects, and should these fail will become self-fertilised. The plant blooms in May and June, and some flowers may still be found even in July in the highest Alpine pastures. It is met with widely distributed over Central Europe, North America and Northern Asia, but is absent in Scandinavia. On account of the numerous closely allied species which are found in Northern Asia, it is thought that this plant may have originated in that region and then spread east and west to America and Europe respectively.

ANEMONE NARCISSIFLORA. L.

The Narcissus-flowered Anemone. Anémone à fleurs de Narcisse. Narcissenblüthige Anemone oder Berg-Windröschen.]

The Globe Flower

(TROLLIUS EUROPÆUS)

THIS large and stately plant is common in mountain pastures from the lower levels right up to 7000 feet. It has finely divided leaves and bright yellow globe-like flowers, borne on long stalks which are usually unbranched. It is evidently a near relation of the buttercups, but differs from them in the possession of numerous brightly-coloured sepals, which enclose and conceal the much smaller tongue-shaped petals. Although not exclusively Alpine, being found all over Central Europe, in Scandinavia, and the north of England, it has been included in this series because it is sure to be noticed by anyone visiting Switzerland for the first time.

It flowers in May, June, and July, and flourishes best in damp places. A much smaller form, bearing only a single flower, is found exclusively on high mountains (var. humilis). It should probably be regarded merely as a variety and not as a distinct species.

The Globe Flower, the Anemones, and the two species of Aconitum illustrated in the two following plates are all examples of the buttercup order, the Ranunculaceæ. The common yellow buttercup so abundantly found in Alpine meadows is Ranunculus montanus. This species very closely resembles the ordinary upright buttercup of our English fields (Ranunculus acris), which it replaces in the Alps, but differs from it in the possession of a solid (not hollow) stem and a hairy disc beneath the seeds. It is a somewhat smaller plant, with less numerous—generally only two or three—flowers.

TROLLIUS EUROPÆUS. L.

The Globe Flower. Trolle d’Europe ou Boule d’Or. Echte oder Europäische Trollblume.]

The Common Monk’s-Hood

(ACONITUM NAPELLUS)

Several species of Aconitum are met with in Switzerland. They have all bright-coloured flowers, especially adapted for fertilisation by humble-bees. It is only where there are humble-bees to convey the pollen from flower to flower that seeds can mature, so that where these insects do not exist the Aconites cannot spread. The five sepals of the Aconite flowers are coloured for attractive purposes, the highest being especially large and helmet-shaped. Protected by this are the representatives of the petals, so modified and reduced that they no longer have any attractive function, and are only of use to the plant by producing honey. They form a couple of nectaries on long stalks inside the helmet-shaped sepal.

The Common Monk’s-Hood is found in rich moist meadows between 3000 and 7000 feet. It seems to be especially common in the neighbourhood of Alpine dairies and cow houses. It flowers in June and July, and is very poisonous. From the conical root, resembling that of horseradish, the preparations of aconite used in medicine are prepared. When applied externally, aconite causes tingling and numbness and may relieve the pain of neuralgia. Internally, it depresses the action of the heart and lowers the temperature of the body. Homeopathists still use it for this purpose, but in doses so small as to have no appreciable action whatever. The single straight flower stalk, closely packed with blossoms, is rarely branched in its upper part, though small branches may be met with below.

The Panicled Monk’s-hood (Ac. paniculatum) resembles the above rather closely, but differs from it in the more open arrangement of the flowers on the hairy flower stalk, which is usually branched near the top. The leaves of both plants are finely divided, but the sub-divisions of those of the common Monk’s-hood are longer and narrower, more strap-shaped in fact, than those of the panicled form.

ACONITUM NAPELLUS. L.

The Common Monk’s-Hood. Aconit Napel ou Napel bleu. Rübenwurzliger Eisenhut.]

The Yellow Wolf’s-Bane

(ACONITUM LYCOCTONUM)

This plant is a species of Aconite, and a close relation of the common Monk’s-hood illustrated on the previous page. It is common on the borders of woods and in bushy places between 3000 and 7000 feet above the sea level. In this species, which, like the common Monk’s-hood, is visited almost exclusively by humble-bees, the upper helmet-like sepal which conceals the honey is especially long. It is interesting to note that the humble-bees do not, in all cases, obtain the honey in the way intended by the plant. A dark spot is often to be seen near the tip of the helmet where a humble-bee has nibbled through the flower leaf and obtained access to the nectary direct. In this way the designs of the plant for cross fertilisation may be frustrated, for where the honey is obtained in this manner no pollen is carried from flower to flower by the insect visitor. Aconitum Anthora, which is rather like the above, has more finely divided leaves and darker yellow flowers which are much less elongated than those of the Wolf’s-bane. The flowers, in fact, closely resemble those of the common Monk’s-hood except that they are yellow instead of blue. Both plants are poisonous.

ACONITUM LYCOCTONUM. L.

The Yellow Wolf’s-bane. Aconit Tue-loup ou Cappe de Moine. Wolftödtender Eisenhut.]

The Two-Flowered Violet

(VIOLA BIFLORA)

This pretty little plant is common in moist shady places between 3000 and 7000 feet all over Switzerland. It is also found in Bohemia, Silesia, the Vosges, and other parts of Central Europe. It flowers from May to August in the clefts of rocks, and amongst the boulders on the banks of streams. It was in just such a place as this that the present photograph was taken. The flowers are bright yellow, streaked with brown, and the dark green leaves are kidney-shaped and entire. Although there are several other violets with yellow flowers to be found in Switzerland, no other species has broad kidney-shaped leaves. The smooth, erect flower stalk, which also bears some leaves, frequently divides into two near the middle, each branch being terminated by a bright yellow flower. This character, which has given to the violet its name, is, however, by no means constant, and flower stems bearing a single or three or more flowers are also often seen. The number of flowers borne by the plant would seem rather to be determined by its size and vigour, which, of course, again depend largely on the conditions under which it grows.