Summer Flowers of the High Alps

Not unlike the Mountain House-leek photographed on the previous page is Sempervivum Funckii. It is not a common plant, being only found in Eastern Switzerland, the Tyrol, the Carpathians, and a few other mountainous districts, and does not seem to have acquired any local name. Compared with the Mountain House-leek the rosettes of leaves are a little smaller. They are covered with much longer hairs, which are not, however, twisted together into a spider’s web like those of the Cobweb House-leek. As will be seen the flowers are of a beautiful pale pink colour, and each petal has a stripe of a darker tint running down its centre. The plant grows in rocky places.

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.