Arabis Serpyllifolia VILL

Stem flexuose, and, like the leaves, whitish grey from branched hairs. Leaves narrowly ovate, entire, or slightly dentate; radical leaves prolonged into a leaf-stalk; stem-leaves sessile. Flowers white. Siliquas on short stalks, somewhat spreading, scarcely broader than the stalk, long, flattened, with a somewhat prominent midrib and lateral nerves, Seed not winged.

Rocks in the calcareous and lower Alps up to 6000 feet. June to July.

Distribution

Jura; Central and Western Alps.

Nasturtium R.Br

Capsule not more than 3 times as long as broad, long-stalked, and usually curved. Flowers small, white or yellow. Sepals equal, spreading. Leaves pinnatifid.

Glabrous annuals or perennials, widely spread over the whole area of the family (Cruciferae).

Nasturtium Pyrenaicum R.Br

Stem 6-12 inches. Root-leaves long-stalked, oval, simple, or auricled; lower stem-leaves lyrate, the upper ones deeply pinnatifid. Petals yellow, nearly twice as long as the sepals. Siliqua one third the length of its pedicel.

Damp, sandy places from the plains up to 5500 feet, very local. May to August.

Distribution

Central and southern Europe, Pyrenees, Switzerland, Vosges, Valley of Elbe, Baden, Alsace, widely spread in France except in the north.

Cardamine L

Annual or perennial herbs, usually glabrous. Leaves pinnate or, if undivided, on long stalks. Flowers white or pink. Stigma capitate or small. Pod narrow-linear; the valves flat, without any conspicuous midrib.

A large genus, widely spread over the temperate and colder regions of both northern and southern hemispheres.

Cardamine Trifolia L

Rootstock slender, stoloniferous, knotted. Stem slender, naked or with one small leaf. Leaves ternate; leaflets rounded, petioled almost equal, thick, shining, crenate. Flowers white. Anthers yellow. Fruiting-spike short, erect. Plant with creeping runners.

Damp and shady places in lower mountains. April to June.

Distribution

Eastern Alps, Bavaria, Bohemia, Silesia; Central Europe from the Jura to Italy, and Transylvania. Very local in Switzerland (Chasseral, Bex, etc.), and in France only known from Mont Pouillerel in the Jura.

On rockeries it is easily grown in shady places and, owing to its creeping habit, it soon covers a large area, and must be kept in check.

Cardamine Asarifolia L

A glabrous, bright green plant. Stem leafy, 1-1 1/2 feet high. Leaves all simple, cordate-orbicular, coarsely dentate, shining.

Flowers white, rather large. Anthers violet. Pods erect, twice as long as the stalk.

Damp, stony places in the mountains, especially by streams.

July.

Distribution

Basses-Alpes, and both French and Italian Maritime Alps, Piedmont, Tyrol, Spain. In Switzerland, near Poschiavo.

Easily cultivated in wet, stony places, but not often seen in gardens, though a very distinct plant. It does not object to the shade of trees or rocks.