Part 8

The Common House-leek (Sempervivum tectorum), which is often seen in England growing on old walls and on cottage roofs, where it is supposed to protect from lightning, is also found in Switzerland. It is fairly common in dry, rocky places, and ascends from the plains to 7000 feet. Its purple flowers are not unlike those of Sempervivum Funckii, but its wedge-shaped rosette leaves are only provided with hairs along their margins, and are armed with sharp spines at their extremities. It is, moreover, a much larger plant. The rosette leaves of Sempervivum Wulfeni, another Alpine species, are very like those of the Common House-leek, but the plant is readily distinguished by its yellow or greenish-yellow flowers. It grows on primary rock between 6000 and 8000 feet, and is rather uncommon.

SEMPERVIVUM FUNCKII. BRAUN.

Funcke’s House-leek. Joubarbe de Funcke. Funcke’s Hauswurz.]

The Evergreen Saxifrage

(SAXIFRAGA AIZOIDES)

THE Saxifrages have been extraordinarily successful in the Alps. Some thirty different species, some of them exceedingly common, are met with in Switzerland.

The Evergreen Saxifrage is one of the most abundant. It grows in moist rocky places, at the foot of glaciers, and on the banks of mountain streams and waterfalls. It ascends to 9000 feet in places and descends almost to the plains with some of the rivers. The plant grows in tufts. The erect flower stems are covered by the narrow, succulent leaves, which have hairs along each margin; they terminate in branches bearing four to eight flowers. The star-like flowers, which appear in July and August, are made up of five brightly coloured petals alternating with five green sepals. The petals may be lemon yellow with orange red spots, or, as in the specimen here photographed (var. atrorubens), pure orange red. Next comes a ring of ten stamens with dark red pollen, and then the showy ring-like nectary and the two styles in the centre of the flower. The honey is so obvious and abundant that insects of all kinds—flies, bees, butterflies, and beetles—visit the flowers; but self-fertilisation is, in the main, prevented by the pollen being shed before the ovaries with their stigmata are ready for fertilisation. The Evergreen Saxifrage is to be found in all parts of the Alps, and is also met with in the Arctic regions.

With the help of the photograph no difficulty should be experienced in recognising the plant. From the Stonecrops, notably the Biting Stonecrop (Sedum acre), it is recognised by its possession of two styles. But several of the other Saxifrages resemble it much more closely. The Rough Saxifrage (S. aspera) has paler flowers and more hairy leaves. The Moss-like Saxifrage (S. bryoides) has a moss-like growth and the flowers are borne on long, usually unbranched, flower stalks. Saxifraga Sequieri has more flattened leaves, and Saxifraga Hirculus, which is rare, has two raised spots at the base of each yellow petal.

SAXIFRAGA AIZOIDES. L.

The Evergreen Saxifrage. Saxifrage toujours verte ou Saxifrage pain d’Oiseau. Immergrüner Steinbrech oder Borsten-Steinbrech.]

The Large Astrantia

(ASTRANTIA MAJOR)

This tall and handsome plant is common from the lower mountain region up to 6000 feet all over Switzerland. It grows in meadows, bushy places, and mountain woods. Several long-stalked leaves rise directly from the root stock. They are of a large size, circular in general outline, and consist of five or six radiating lobes with deep depressions between them. The branched flower-stem, perhaps some 2 or 3 feet in height, bears relatively few leaves. Its various branches terminate in what appear to be single flowers, but what are really masses of tiny flowerets with short stalks all of the same length, surrounded by a sort of cup made up of radiating leaves. The individual flowers are greenish-white, often with a pinkish tinge, and the radiating leaves are pale pink, with a central green stripe and greenish tip. The flower-masses of the Astrantia are an excellent example of the way in which small and unattractive flowers combine together and form a structure, both large and conspicuous, to attract insect visitors. These floral societies are even better seen in the large natural order the Compositæ, of which our next four photographs are examples. The Large Astrantia flowers in July and August, and is met with in many of the mountain woods of Central Europe as well as in the Alps. It is occasionally found in England.

The Small Astrantia (Astrantia minor) is a much smaller and more slender plant. The notches in its leaves extend right up to the stem, thus completely separating the eight or nine leaflets from one another. The Hare’s-ear (Bupleurum ranunculoides) somewhat resembles the Large Astrantia, but its flower-masses are entirely devoid of any tinge of pink and its leaves are strap-shaped.

ASTRANTIA MAJOR. L.

The Large Astrantia or Master-wort. Astrance Majeure ou Radiaire. Grosse Sterndolde.]

The Alpine Starwort or Alpine Aster

(ASTER ALPINUS)

The beautiful little Alpine Aster is found all over the Alps. It flowers in July, August, and September, but occasionally it may be found in bloom even as early as May. It grows in dry Alpine pastures, sunny meadows, and rocky places, not infrequently in company with the Edelweiss, between 4000 and 9000 feet; in a few places it extends much lower. The plant consists of a rosette of woolly tufted leaves, with a central stem bearing the solitary flower-head. In the higher regions the flower-stem is short, perhaps only 4 inches in length, but nearer the plains it may be 8 or 9 inches. In any case, however, the flower-head is large, an inch or two in diameter, and conspicuous on account of the broad purple ray florets, which contrast strongly with the golden yellow centre. The Alpine Aster is very widely distributed, being found in Northern Asia, Arctic America, and in most of the mountain ranges of Central and Southern Europe, but not in the far North.

Closely resembling this plant is the Alpine Fleabane (Erigeron alpina). It has narrower ray florets, which are arranged in several rows and not in a single row like those of the Alpine Aster, and a branched flower-stem bearing several separate flower-heads. The much rarer Aster Amellus differs from the Alpine Aster in the possession of a branched flower-stem and blue, not purple, ray florets.

ASTER ALPINUS. L.

The Alpine Aster or Alpine Starwort. Aster des Alpes. Alpen-Aster.]

The Cat’s-Foot, Mountain Everlasting or Mountain Cudweed

(ANTENNARIA DIOICA)

The Cat’s-foot, which is, after all, perhaps the most suitable name for this curious plant, is abundant in the Alps from the lowest levels right up to 7000 or 8000 feet. It is found in dry places, on moors and heaths, and in dry open woods. It sometimes forms an unwished-for inhabitant of the mountain pastures where it is disliked by the herdsmen, for it is an undesirable plant for fodder. The leaves, like those of the Edelweiss, are covered with white woolly hairs, and the flower stems are also hairy. The flowers, which are pink or white, are dioicious, that is to say, the same flower does not produce both pollen and seed, and seed-forming and pollen-producing flowers do not occur on the same plant. As the pollen is not carried by the wind from flower to flower, the plant is entirely dependent upon its insect visitors for the fertilisation of its seeds, and without them no seeds will be formed. The plant is also spread by means of runners, which extend over the soil and take root at intervals. The Swiss peasants make wreaths of the Mountain Everlasting, which they wear as a charm, especially on Ascension Day. The plant is widely distributed, and is found in the North of England and Scotland, as well as most parts of Europe and the Polar regions.

The Carpathians Cudweed (Antennaria carpathica), which is also common in Switzerland, differs from the Cat’s-foot in that its flowers are brown rather than white or pink, and that it does not send out runners.

ANTENNARIA DIOICA. GÄRTNER.

The Cat’s-Foot, Mountain Everlasting, or Mountain Cudweed. Gnaphale dioique ou Pied de Chat. Echtes Katzenpfötchen oder Mayensässblume.]