Circaea alpina L., typical (two plants on the left) and a tall morph (one plant on the right) (Finland, Lohja, Seppälä, 1990). – Image: Harri Harmaja (scanned from dried specimens). – Both kinds of C. alpina (Onagraceae) were found growing together in abundance in a moist rich wood on calcareous soil. A narrow-leaved form of Epipactis helleborine grows in the same grove. Carex hartmanii dwells in a near-by ditch, in its sole occurrence in the mainland of Finland. The tall morph was mostly well distinguished from typical C. alpina, differing from the latter especially in that: (i) the shoots are taller, and the flowers slightly bigger, (ii) the stems are somewhat lax, (iii) the plants develop copious, big branches which tend to spread themselves like stolons, and (iv) the leaves have a different tone of green, and (v) red colour is absent from the nodes and the sepals.
Created March 17, 2004.