Summer Flowers of the High Alps

A particularly fine group of this beautiful little Gentian is here photographed. It is typical of the high Alps or snow region, and is rarely found below 6000 feet, and while scarce above 9000 is to be gathered even at 12,000 feet on the Matterhorn. But a single flower is borne by each little plant at the top of a short stem, which also bears the small, thick, closely packed leaves. The plant is found growing in the turf of mountain pastures and rocky places in the central parts of the whole Alpine chain. It is moderately common particularly on primary rock, and is also met with in Dauphiny and the Pyrenees.

Of the twenty or more species of Gentian that occur in Switzerland, some are tall, stately plants, bearing numerous blue, yellow, or purple flowers. Others are much smaller and bear relatively few flowers, or even one only in small feeble plants. A few never have more than a single blossom to each little plant. Among these last are the Stemless Gentian with its bell-shaped flower, figured on the previous plate, and the Short-leaved Gentian with its star-like flower, which we here illustrate. As a matter of fact, there are really three single-flowered Star-Gentians and to distinguish between them is not easy. Of these the Bavarian Gentian (Gentiana bavarica) is recognised from our plant by its longer stem, perhaps 2 to 3 inches long, on which only two or three pairs of opposite leaves are borne, and by the fact that the lower leaves are smaller than the upper. The Spring Gentian (Gentiana verna) has a very short stem, covered by closely packed leaves like the short-leaved variety, and like it, too, the lower leaves are the larger, but its leaves are harder, narrower, and more pointed, and short wing-like projections are found on its calyx.