Читать книгу Through the Italian Alps. The GTA - The Grande Traversata delle Alpi онлайн

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Mountain cornflower

Gentians come in myriad varieties: blazing blue trumpets, tiny cerulean stars, tallish unwieldy plants bearing spotted yellow or wine-red flowers reminiscent of miniature tulips, and even a slender lilac type that flowers through autumn. Meadows shelter special treasures in the shape of elegant wine-red martagon lilies, and attractive purple and yellow orchids, if not the smaller exquisite insect types spotted by keen eyes only. Nearby may be alpine flax, whose attractive blue flower resembles the commoner periwinkle, and delicate pale yellow buckler mustard, its Latin name biscutella a reference to the double shield-like seed pods. Attractive pink spears of bistort grow in concentrations in sheltered depressions, while foxgloves come in a delicate pale lemon yellow hue. Alpine bartsia, a rather anonymous mint-like plant with downy leaves and dark purple tips, was dubbed the plant of grieving by the great Linnaeus, in memory of a young medical friend who lost his life in Surinam in 1738.