Part 5

VIOLA BIFLORA. L.

The Two-flowered Violet. Violette à deux Fleurs. Zweiblüthiges Veilchen oder Zwillings-Veilchen.]

The Long-Spurred Pansy

(VIOLA CALCARATA)

The Long-Spurred Pansy flowers in June and July, and is a typical Alpine plant. The high mountain pastures are sometimes literally carpeted with its large purple flowers, all turned towards the sun. It is common on sunny slopes and among rocky débris between 5000 and 9000 feet, and prefers a limestone soil. The underground stem of the plant bears at its extremity a small rosette of leaves, and a short flower stalk terminated by the single large flower. The flower, which has a delicate and sweet scent, is usually of a rich purple colour, much more rarely yellow (var. flava). Sometimes the purple becomes paler and a lavender variety results, and, rarest of all, the flower may be pure white. From the many other violets and pansies which are found in Switzerland, the species we are now considering is recognised by its narrow, notched leaves, by the upward direction of the lateral petals, and especially by the long, narrow spur, which is quite as long as the corolla.

Unlike most of the violets which are fertilised by bees, the Long-Spurred Pansy depends entirely on butterflies for the conveyance of its pollen. The narrow opening to the flower and the long spur, at the bottom of which the honey is concealed, are only suited to insects such as butterflies and moths with relatively long tongues. It is pretty to see the butterflies flitting from flower to flower, and Müller observed a single insect visit no less than one hundred and ninety-four different blossoms in 6¾ minutes.

VIOLA CALCARATA. L.

The Long-spurred Pansy. Violette à long éperon ou Violette éperonnée. Langgesporntes Veilchen.]

The Box-Leaved Milkwort

(POLYGALA CHAMÆBUXUS)

The Box-leaved Milkwort is a shrubby mountain plant with a woody branching stem and leathery evergreen leaves, which resemble those of the common box but are somewhat thicker. The flowers occur singly or in pairs in the axils of the upper leaves. They consist of a boat-shaped corolla of a pale yellow colour, which becomes darker towards the tip, and two wing-like appendages, which look like petals but are really sepals. These are usually white but are sometimes purple red. It is stated that their colour is determined by the soil on which the plant grows and is white or pure slate; on calcareous, slate coloured.

The Box-leaved Milkwort is widely distributed in Switzerland, Germany, and Austria, between 1500 and 7000 feet, and grows on wooded hills and in dry rocky places, where it is often extremely abundant. It flowers from May till the end of August. The plant is quite distinctive and will be readily recognised. Although belonging to the Milkwort tribe it is quite different from all other species, which have red, white or blue, never yellow, flowers and deciduous, not evergreen, leaves.

The Common Milkwort (Polygala vulgaris) of our English downs and heaths is also found in the Alps. It is a small herbaceous plant with a slender stem, perhaps three or four inches long, which is thickly covered with leaves, and terminates in a cluster of pink, blue, or white flowers. Polygala calcarea, a nearly-related species found only in limestone districts, has sky-blue flowers and leaves for the most part clustered in the form of a rosette at the base of the stem.

POLYGALA CHAMÆBUXUS. L.

The Box-leaved Milkwort. Polygala faux-buis. Immergrüne Kreuzblume.]

The Creeping Gypsophila

(GYPSOPHILA REPENS)

The Creeping Gypsophila is a perennial plant with a woody stem, from which branches arise bearing the narrow strap-shaped leaves and pale crowded flowers. It is found in all the limestone regions of the Alps, amongst the rocky boulders beside mountain streams, and in dry torrent beds between 1000 and 7000 feet, and even descends to the plains with certain of the rivers. It is found, for example, near Munich on the banks of the Isar. The plant is also widely distributed in the mountain regions of Central Europe and extends from the Pyrenees to the Carpathians. The flowers, which open in July and August, are white with more or less of a tinge of pink about them, which may be quite marked in certain cases. Together they form what is botanically known as a corymb. The numerous flower stalks branching off from different points of the ascending stem are of such a length that all the flowers are approximately on the same level. In this way they are displayed to the best advantage, so that their insect visitors may find it easy to pass from flower to flower. There are several species of Sandwort and Chickweed to be found in Switzerland that closely resemble the Creeping Gypsophila. Apart from technicalities the chief points to keep in mind in the identification of the plant are the woody creeping stem, the much-branched flower stalks, and the entire absence of hairs.

GYPSOPHILA REPENS. L.

The Creeping Gypsophila. Gypsophile rampante. Kriechendes Gipskraut.]

The Moss Campion or Cushion Pink

(SILENE ACAULIS)

Wherever conditions are unfavourable to plant life, not only on high mountains but also in deserts and by the seashore, the plants that manage to survive frequently respond by a process of co-operation and form dense cushion-like masses. In the high Alps many examples of this are seen. The individual plants are closely huddled together in the form of a tuft, not only on account of warmth and natural protection and to prevent their being blown away by rough winds, but also because the cushion acts as a sort of reservoir or sponge and prevents the little plants being dried up by the fierce rays of the sun.

The Moss Campion is a typical “Cushion plant.” It is found abundantly all over the Alps, especially in the limestone regions between 5000 and 10,000 feet or even higher. It grows in open rocky places, often on the bare rock itself, and in the neighbourhood of glaciers, and may be found close up to the snowline. The bright green moss-like cushions formed of the dense clusters of leaves become sprinkled over with pinkish-purple star-like flowers in June, July, and August. Occasionally the flowers are white. The long conical root penetrates far into the soil or into some fissure in the rocks, thus securely anchoring the plant, and divides above into numerous branches, which radiate in all directions and are thickly covered below with brown dead leaves and terminate above in a rosette of bright green linear leaflets. The flowers, which are visited by many kinds of insects, are of three kinds. Rarely we find cushions of flowers containing both stamens and pistil in the same flower, but even here the pistil becomes ready to receive pollen before the stamens open so as to prevent self-fertilisation. Usually, however, the flowers are unisexual and contain stamens or pistil only, and staminate and pistillate flowers are borne on different cushions.

The Moss Campion is widely distributed in the mountain regions of Southern Europe, North America, and the Arctic regions. Silene exscapa closely resembles the above, but is much less common. Its flowers are smaller and less brightly coloured, and the separation between calyx and flower stalk is more gradual and less abrupt than in the Moss Campion. Its seed-vessel or capsule is, moreover, hardly longer than the remains of the calyx which encloses it, whereas the capsule of the Moss Campion projects well beyond the enclosing calyx leaves.

SILENE ACAULIS. L.

The Moss Campion or Cushion Pink. Silène à Courte tige. Stengelloses Leimkraut oder Moos-Leimkraut.]

The Wood Geranium