Plate XVI.
ROSA ALPINA. L.
The Alpine Rose. Eglantine des Alpes. Alpen-Heckenrose.
Fleischer’s Willow-Herb
(EPILOBIUM FLEISCHERI)
This plant is fairly common in the Alps and grows in dry stony places, especially amongst the boulders of dried-up torrent beds and beside some of the streams; with some of these it descends towards the plains. Like not a few of the less common Alpine plants, where it is found at all, it is usually met with in great abundance. The flowers which open out in July are of great beauty, and their arrangements to prevent self-pollination are of considerable interest. The stamens first ripen, and while these are held erect the stigma is bent downward and the four segments into which it is divided above are closely pressed together. (Most of the flowers are in this stage in the photograph.) When the pollen is shed the stamens bend downward, and not till then does the stigma rise in the centre of the flower and its four lips become separated from one another.
The flowers of Fleischer’s Willow-herb closely resemble those of the Rose-bay (Epilobium angustifolium), common in bushy places all over England, Switzerland, and Central Europe. But the Rose-bay is a bigger plant with tall, usually unbranched stem and much larger leaves, which are veined underneath. As will be seen by the photograph, the leaves of Fleischer’s Willow-herb are narrow and lance-shaped, and the few veins that can be made out are all parallel to one another. Closely resembling the plant here photographed is the Rosemary-leaved Willow-herb (Epilobium rosmarinifolium). Its leaves are usually more numerous, narrower, and more strap-shaped, and its stem is taller and, as a rule, more branched. But the most constant difference between the two plants is to be found in the length of the stalk which bears the stigma (style). This is as long as the stamens in Epilobium rosmarinifolium, but only half this length in Epilobium Fleischeri.
Plate XVII.
EPILOBIUM FLEISCHERI. HOCHST.