May and June are the usual months for flowering, but occasionally it is in blossom at the end of April. Though the characteristic odour from these flowers is sweet, now and then a tree will be found whose every flower gives out a distinctly fishy flavour that is far from pleasant; often, too, it may be found with pink or crimson blossoms. This is the only British species. The name is from the Greek, Kratos, strength, in allusion to the hardness of its wood.

Buttercup (Ranunculus acris).

There are three species of Ranunculus to which the name of Buttercup is applied impartially; but the one to which it most properly belongs is the Bulbous Crowfoot (R. bulbosus), in which the cup-shape is more perfect than in the others. We have already dealt with the general characters of the genus in describing the Lesser Celandine: here we will glance only at the specific differences between this and the other buttercup-species of Ranunculus or Crowfoot.

I. Ranunculus acris is the Upright Crowfoot. The rootstock is straight and erect. The lower leaves are divided into wedge-shaped segments, which are again much cut up—the upper leaves less intricately so. The petals are broader than in the Celandine, and fewer—usually five, more or less flat when fully expanded. Flower-stalk not furrowed; sepals spreading. Stem one to three feet high. Meadows and pastures everywhere, June and July.

II. R. repens, the Creeping Crowfoot. Rootstock stout, stem declining, with long runners. Flower-stalk furrowed, sepals spreading, but petals less so than in R. acris. Stem one to two feet. Pastures and waste places, too frequent, May to August.

III. R. bulbosus, Bulbous Crowfoot. Stem erect, half to one foot, greatly swollen at base: no runners. Flower-stalk furrowed, sepals turned back, nearly or quite touching the stalk; petals not spreading, but cup-shaped. Meadows everywhere, April to July.

The name Ranunculus is derived from the Latin, Rana, a frog, in allusion to the damp meadows and the ponds where certain species are to be found in company with frogs.

Wall Barley (Hordeum murinum).

In all waste places on a sandy soil, near towns and villages especially, the Wall Barley, Mouse Barley, Barley-grass, or Way-bent flourishes. At the base of walls is a favourite post for it, where it collects dust, and generally contributes to an appearance of untidiness. Its bristly spike is well known to the schoolboy, who breaks it off and inserts the stem end in the cuff of his shirt-sleeve, whence it works its way automatically to the shoulder. If the spike is cut across its length, the spikelets of which it is made up may be separated and examined with a lens. It will then be seen that the spikelets are borne in threes side by side, but that only the central one is a perfect one, the lateral ones being barren. Taking this central one from the others, we find two outer inflated scales (glumes) embracing two other scales, one of which, with the cleft tip and two keels on the back, is the pale, the other, ending in a long awn, is the flowering glume, within which is the ovary, surmounted by its two feathery stigmas. From beneath the ovary spring the three stamens and two minute scales, called lodicules, which answer to the perianth in ordinary flowers. It would be well to quite master this arrangement by dissection, for all grass flowers are built on a similar plan.

Hordeum is the old Latin name for barley. Flowers June and July.

Jagged Chickweed (Holosteum umbellatum).

This is a very rare plant, occurring only on old walls about Norwich, Bury and Eye. The rambler in those localities might pass it by as a variety of the vulgar Chickweed, to which, however, it is distantly related. The small white flowers are arranged in an umbellate manner, though not forming a true umbel. Whilst flowering the long pedicels are erect, but after flowering they hang down; after fruiting they become erect again. Flowers April and May.

Name derived from the Greek olos, all, and osteon, bone, but Artemus Ward would have said it was “wrote sarcastick,” for there is nothing suggestive of bones in so soft a plant.

Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale).

Everyone thinks he knows the Dandelion when he sees it and probably he does; but often when he sees a Hawkbit he believes it to be a Dandelion. We may not like to find the Dandelion taking possession of our lawn, but we should regret to miss it from the odd corners by the fence and the roadside. It is a flower of three seasons, for it blooms continuously from March to October, and it is no unusual thing to see its golden flower in winter.

This is a Composite flower, like the Daisy, but whereas the Daisy head was seen to be made up of a host of tubular flowers, with a single outer row of ligulate, or strap-shaped ones, those of the Dandelion are all ligulate. It therefore stands as a representative of the second series of Composite genera. The plant has no proper stem, the leaves springing directly from the long, thick root. From their midst arise the flower-heads on their hollow stalks. The floral envelope (involucre) consists of a double row of scales (bracts), the inner long, the outer shorter. The outer are turned back and clasp the stalk, the inner erect. Take off a single floret and examine with a lens. It will be seen that each is a perfect flower, containing both anthers and stigmas. The ovary is crowned by the corolla, which is invested by a pappus of soft white silky hairs. Within the corolla the five anthers unite to form a tube, in which is the style, which divides above into two stigmas. After fertilization the corollas wither, the inner bracts closing over them while the fruits grow. Then the bracts open again, each pappus spreads into a parachute, and the whole of them constitute the fluffy ball by which children feign to tell the time. A light wind detaches them, and they float off to disperse the seeds far and wide. The only British species.

The name is believed to be derived from two Greek words, Taraxos, disorder, and akos, remedy: in allusion to its well-known medicinal qualities as an alterative.

The Bugle (Ajuga reptans), and
The Forget-me-not (Myosotis palustris).

The Common Bugle meets one from April to July in wood and field, and on the waste places by the roadside. It is a creeping plant, runners being sent out from the short stout rootstock, and these rooting send up flowering stems from ½ to 1 foot in height. The leaves from the root are stalked; those from the stem are not. The flowers and the upper bract are dull purple in colour. The flowers are peculiarly fashioned in what is botanically termed a labiate manner: that is to say, the five petals of the corolla are united to form a somewhat bell-shaped flower, the mouth of which is divided into two unequal lips. The upper lip is two-lobed, the lower three-lobed. The upper usually acts as a roof to shelter the stamens and stigmas, the lower as a platform upon which insects may alight when they come to seek honey and to fertilize the flower. In the present species the anthers and stigmas project beyond the upper lip, which is very short; but they are protected by the overhanging lower bract of the flower above. There are interesting facts in connection with the fertilization of these labiate flowers, which, however, we must leave for a couple of pages. It is characteristic of the Labiatæ that the stems are square, the leaves opposite, the corolla bilabiate, the stamens less in number than the lobes of the corolla.

The Forget-me-not is so well known that with our limited space we will be content with noting that its flowers are similar in structure to those of the Lungwort (page 9), though the tube is shorter. Like Pulmonaria, it is a plant of the order Boragineæ, genus Myosotis. There are six British species. Name, from two Greek words signifying mouse-ear, in allusion to the shape of the leaves.

The Greater Plantain (Plantago major), and
The Ribwort Plantain (P. lanceolata).

These are among the despised of our wild-flowers, weeds among weeds. They are considered of interest only to the keeper of cage-birds, by whose pets the ripe fruit-stalks are much appreciated. But if we knew the plants better we should appreciate them more. There must be something worthy of respect in a plant that has contrived to get itself so taken throughout the world that it is known wherever Europeans have been, and is called the White-man’s Foot. The leaves of the genus are characterized by having strongly developed parallel ribs on the under surface. There is no stem, the leaves all springing from the stout rootstock. The flowers are borne on tall spikes which spring from the axils of the leaves. Each blossom consists of four persistent sepals, a salver-shaped corolla with four lobes, between which are fixed the four stamens surrounding the long, simple and hairy style. There are five British species, of which we figure two. The name Plantago is the classic Latin one, from which the English has been evolved.

I. The Greater Plantain (P. major) has very broad leaves and broad, short leaf-stalks. Stamens short, anthers purple. Seeds black and rough. Pastures and roadsides, May to September.

II. Hoary Plantain (P. media): leaves not so broad, flower-scape shorter. Stamens long, anthers whitish. Seeds brown, rough. Pastures and waste places in a dry soil, June to October. Plant more or less covered with short hairs.

III. Ribwort Plantain (P. lanceolata): as the scientific name implies, the leaves are lance-shaped, long and narrow. The flower-scape is deeply furrowed, the flower-spike short. Stamens long, white. Seeds black, shining. Pastures and heaths, May to October.

IV. Seaside Plantain (P. maritima). Rootstock branched, crown woolly. Leaves narrower than the last, margins more parallel, ribs weak. Stamens pale yellow. Seeds brown, slightly winged at end. Pastures, salt-marshes and rocks by the sea, June to September.

V. Buck’s-horn Plantain (P. coronopus). Leaves narrow, linear, divided, or deeply-toothed, suggesting the popular name; ribbed, hairy. Stamens pale yellow. Seeds pale brown. Poor gravelly soils, chiefly near coast. June to August.

Meadow Sage (Salvia pratensis).

In speaking of the Bugle on page 22 we promised to say more of Labiate flowers further on. Salvia is a labiate, and of similar construction to Ajuga. S. pratensis is a rare plant, found only in Cornwall, Kent, and Oxford, from June to August. The soft wrinkled leaves have the edges cut into convex teeth (crenate). The flowers are large and bright blue; they are borne in whorls, usually of four or five flowers, on a tall spike. There is a more frequent species, the Wild Sage or Clary (S. verbenaca), found in dry pastures all over the kingdom south of Ross-shire from June to September. It is similar in habit to S. pratensis, but smaller, with the flowers more inclined to purple. The Sage of the kitchen-garden is S. officinalis; not a native plant. The name Salvia is from the Latin Salvo, to save or heal, from its former great repute in medicine.

Most labiate flowers produce honey from the base of the ovary; and this, of course, is a distinct bribe to insects to visit them. It would not be an economical arrangement for a flower to provide honey for all comers without the plant getting a quid pro quo; we therefore find all sorts of “dodges” to ensure a service being done by the honey-seeker. As we have shown in the Bugle, the anther and stigma occupy the arch of the upper lip. As a rule the ripe anthers first occupy the foremost position, so that if a bee alights on the lower lip and pushes into the corolla for the honey his hairy back will brush off the pollen from the anthers. After the honey is shed the stigmas come forward and occupy the former position of the anthers. Should a bee that has got dusted with pollen at an earlier flower now pay a visit the stigmas will collect some pollen from his back and the ovules become fertilized. This is the general plan in the order Labiatæ, but there are modifications in each genus.

Annual Meadow-grass (Poa annua), and
Cock’s-foot-grass (Dactylis glomerata).

In describing the Wall Barley we gave a general idea of the structure of grass flowers, and those of Poa are very similar to those of Hordeum; but the flower-cluster (inflorescence) is very different. In Hordeum (which see) this is a spike, bearing many three-flowered spikelets on each side. In Poa it is more branched and diffuse, and is called a panicle. In P. annua the branches grow two together, and are branched again. The spikelets are not awned as in Hordeum. There are eight British species of Poa, which, however, we have not space to describe. The name is Greek, and signifies fodder. All the species are perennial, with the exception of P. annua, which is an annual, as the name indicates. It flowers from April to September, and abounds in meadows, pastures and by roadsides.

The Cock’s-foot-grass (Dactylis glomerata) is an ingredient of most pastures, and one of our most familiar grasses. Its long stout stem creeps for a distance, then rises very erectly and gives off horizontal flowering branches. The violet-tinted spikelets are gathered into dense one-sided clusters. Each spikelet contains three or four flowers, which are supposed to be arranged after the fashion of fingers on a hand, whence the Greek name Daktulos, fingers. Each flowering glume ends in a short awn-like point. This is the only British species. It is generally distributed, and will be found in waste places as well as pastures, flowering in June and July. The whole plant is rough to the touch. The leaves are long, flat and keeled.

Cat’s-tail, or Timothy-grass (Phleum pratense), and
Vernal-grass (Anthoxanthum odoratum).

Timothy is one of the most valuable of our grasses, and forms an important portion of the hay crop, from the fact that it is one of the earliest and most abundant species. The inflorescence is a crowded spike, reminding one somewhat of a miniature reproduction of the Reed-mace (Typha). The spikelets are one-flowered. The outer glumes are boat-shaped, with a stout green keel, fringed with stiff hairs. The flowering glume is glassy, and entirely included within the outer ones, from which, however, the long stamens and feathery stigmas protrude. The anthers are yellow and purple. The plant is perennial, and flowers from June to September. The name Phleum is the classic Greek one for the plant. The figure represents the spike after the anthers have passed their prime; at an earlier period these stand out well from the glumes, and give a very light appearance to the spike. There are three other native species, but they are all more or less local.

The Sweet Vernal-grass is singular among grasses in the fact that it possesses but two stamens. The panicle is spike-like, with short branches. The spikelets are one-flowered. The outer glumes are four in number, one flowering glume, a pale, but no lodicules. In the Linnæan system plants were classified according to the number of their stamens and pistils, and the artificiality of it was strikingly shown when this plant had to be widely separated from all other grasses, because it was one stamen short, though agreeing with them in all other essentials. The species is abundant in most meadows, and were it absent one of the charms of the hay harvest would be gone also; for this is the grass that gives the characteristic odour to ripe new-mown hay. It flowers in May and June. The name is from two Greek words, signifying yellow blossoms.

Viper’s Bugloss (Echium vulgare).

Our artist has chosen to delineate a specimen of this striking plant that has passed its prime in a flowering sense. To our mind the Viper’s Bugloss is prettiest when only one or two flowers are open on each cyme. The recurved cymes are then very short, and the unopened flowers packed closely together. As in Lungwort (p. 9), the unopened corollas are purplish-red in colour, when opened bright blue. After flowering, the cymes lengthen until they are as long as shown in our illustration. The parts of the flower, it will be seen, are in fives: calyx five-parted, tubular corolla with five-lobed “limb,” as the free portion is called, stamens five, stigma two-lobed. The lobes of the corolla are unequal, and one of the stamens is shorter than the other four, which protrude from the corolla considerably; in fact, they serve as a platform upon which insects alight. When the flower opens the anthers are ripe and shed their pollen, so that bees or other insects alighting are sure to get their under surface dusted with it. At this period the pistil is short and immature, so that it cannot be fertilized by its own pollen; but as the pollen disappears the pistil lengthens, until its stigmas are in the position where they are bound to receive pollen brought on the under surface of a visiting insect. The leaves are strap-shaped, long, and rough with hairs.

Much fault is found with scientific names on account of their uncouthness and obscurity. But they are mostly derived from Greek and Latin roots, and reflect some peculiarity of the plant; whereas many of the English or Folk-names are most arbitrary, and require much explaining, which is sometimes not easily done. “Viper’s Bugloss” is a puzzle, and authors have pretended to see likenesses to a viper in the markings of the stem, the shape of the flower and of the seeds; others have taken shelter behind Dioscorides, who said that a decoction of the plant was a protection from the effects of a viper’s bite. If a man knew he was going to be bitten by a viper and took a certain dose of this plant beforehand he was all right! But the word bugloss seems a worse puzzle than the plant’s connection with vipers. Most dictionaries will help to the extent of telling that bugloss is the name of a plant, and no more. The truth is, it is as Greek as any scientific name, being compounded of the words Bous, an ox, and glossa, a tongue, from its leaves being rough, like the tongue of an ox.

It is common on gravelly and chalky soils, flowering from June to August. It is rich in honey, so that it is much frequented of sweet-tongued insects. The name Echium is from the Greek Echis, a viper.

Wild Strawberry (Fragaria vesca).

Well known as the Wild Strawberry is, the Barren Strawberry (Potentilla fragariastrum) when flowering is often mistaken for it. The general resemblance is fairly close, but a botanist can distinguish each at a glance. In each the leaves are divided into three leaflets, the flowers are white and five-parted; but in F. vesca the upper side of the leaf is channelled with sunken nerve-lines, whilst in P. fragariastrum it is smooth. The real strawberry sends off runners with young rooting plants; the false does not. When the fruit is formed there is no longer danger of confounding the two species, for the false plant entirely lacks the fleshiness of the true. The fruit of the Strawberry is a compound one, consisting of a large number of achenes scattered over the enlarged and succulent top (receptacle) of the flower-stalk, beneath which are spread out the persistent green calyx-lobes.

It is a widely distributed species, flowering from April to June, and found on shady banks, and in woods. The name Fragaria is from the Latin fragrans, fragrant, and has reference to the perfumed fruit.

Milkwort (Polygala vulgaris), and
Germander Speedwell (Veronica chamædrys).

Nestling closely among the grass of heaths and dry pastures, the Milkwort, though commonly and profusely distributed, is not a well-known plant. It is only a few inches in height, and scarcely noticeable when not in flower. The narrow, tough leaves are scattered alternately on the stem. The broad inner two of the five sepals are coloured purple, and the corolla may be the same hue, or pink, blue, white or lilac. The structure of the flower is very curious, and should be carefully noted by aid of the pocket-lens. The stamens cohere, and the corolla is attached to the sheath thus formed. The pistil has a protecting hood over it, obviously with reference to the visits of insects; but the flower is also self-fertile. When the fruit is formed the sepals turn green. The name of the genus is derived from two Greek words, polus and gala, meaning much milk, from an ancient notion that cows eating this plant were enabled to give a greatly increased supply of milk.

There are two other British species:—

I. Proliferous Milkwort (P. calcarea), branches rooting, and giving rise to new plants. Inner sepals broader and longer. Dry soils in south and south-east of England.

II. Bitter Milkwort (P. amara), much smaller in all respects than the others; the inner sepals are narrow, and the leaves form a rosette. Very rare. Found only on the margins of rills in Teasdale, and Wye Down, Kent. They all flower from June to August.

The Germander Speedwell (Veronica chamædrys) is the representative of a genus which includes sixteen native species, most of them with bright blue flowers of a particular form. The corolla is tubular for half its length, the upper portion divided into four spreading lobes, of which the upper and lower are usually broader than the lateral pair. The two stamens are attached within the corolla-tube just below the upper lobe, and the anthers and stigma protrude beyond the mouth of the tube. V. chamædrys grows to greatest advantage in a great mass on a sloping bank, where, in May and June, its intensely bright blue flowers are very attractive. It is a most disappointing flower to gather, for the corollas readily drop off, and the beauty of the “button-hole” has rapidly passed. A fine robust species, the Brooklime (V. beccabunga), grows in bogs, ditches, and by the margins of streams, with stout stem and thick leaves; flowering from May to September.

The Spurge Family (Euphorbia).

The whole of the British species of Spurge have a singular character, which enables the tyro in botanical matters to determine the genus at a glance, though he may not be so successful in distinguishing between the twelve or thirteen native species. This singularity is chiefly due to the colour and arrangement of their flowers. These possess neither sepals nor petals; instead, a number of unisexual flowers are wrapped in an involucre. An individual involucre of, say, the Sun Spurge, should be detached and examined with the aid of the pocket-lens. It will be seen to have four lobes, to each of which is attached an orbicular yellow gland. Within the involucre are several flowers, each consisting of a single stamen on a separate flower-stalk (note joint), and from the midst of these arises a single pistillate flower on a long, curved stalk. With slight variations this is the form of inflorescence which characterizes the whole genus. The British species may be briefly enumerated thus:—

I. Sun Spurge (E. helioscopia). Annual herb with yellow green obovate leaves, the margin of upper half toothed. Milky juice used as a wart-cure. Waste places, June to October.

II. Broad-leaved Spurge (E. platyphyllos). Annual. Leaves broad, lance-shaped, sharp-pointed, toothed above middle. Fruit (capsule) warted. Fields and waste places from York southwards: rare. July to October.

III. Irish Spurge (E. hiberna). Perennial. Leaves thin, ovate, not toothed, tip blunt or notched; upper leaves heart-shaped. Glands of involucre purple, kidney-shaped. Hedges and thickets, rare; only in North Devon and South and West of Ireland. Flowers May and June. Juice used by salmon-poachers for poisoning rivers.

IV. Wood Spurge (E. amygdaloides). Perennial, stout, red, shrubby. Leaves obovate, thick, tough, reddish, 2 to 3 inches long, hairy beneath, lower on short stalks. Involucral glands half-moon shaped, yellow. Woods and copses, chiefly on clay soils. Flowers March to May.

V. Petty Spurge (E. peplus). Annual. Leaves thin, broadly obovate, on short stalks, ¾ inch long. Involucral glands half-moon shaped (lunate), with long horns. Waste ground, market-gardens and flower-beds. July to November.

VI. Dwarf Spurge (E. exigua). Annual. Much branched. Leaves very narrow and stiff. Involucres small, almost stalkless. Involucral glands, rounded with two blunt-pointed horns. Fields, especially on light soil. July to October.

VII. Portland Spurge (E. portlandica). Perennial, tufted, many-branched stems. Leaves tough, obovate acute, spreading. Involucral glands, lunate, with two long horns. Sandy shores, on South and West coasts, and in Ireland. May to August. Rare.

VIII. Sea Spurge (E. paralias). Perennial, bushy, many-stemmed, stout, reddish, woody below. Leaves narrow, concave, very thick, arranged in whorls. Points of involucral glands short. Sandy shores, July to October.

IX. Leafy-branched Spurge (E. esula). Perennial. Rootstock creeping. Stem slender. Leaves thin, narrow, sometimes toothed. Involucres small, on long stalks, glands lunate, with short straight horns. Woods and fields; Jersey, Forfar, Edinburgh, and Alnwick. July.

X. Cypress Spurge (E. cyparissias). Perennial. Rootstock creeping. Leaves very narrow, not toothed. Woods, England, June and July.

XI. Caper Spurge (E. lathyris). Biennial. Stem short and stout, 3 to 4 feet second year. Leaves narrow, broader at base, opposite, alternate pairs placed at right angles to each other (decussate). Copses and woods, June and July. Fruit used as a condiment.

XII. Purple Spurge (E. peplis). Annual. Stems prostrate, purple, glaucous. Leaves oblong, heart-shaped, thick, on short stalks, with stipules, opposite. Glands oblong. Very rare. On sandy coasts, South Wales, Cornwall to Hants, and Waterford. July to September.

All the species have milky sap. Poisonous.

Dewberry (Rubus cæsius). Plate 30.

A sub-species of the Blackberry; too well known to require description.

Honeysuckle (Lonicera periclymenum).

The Woodbine or Common Honeysuckle is one of the most familiar of our wild flowers, and as great a favourite as any. It owes its popularity not only to the beauty of its flowers, but also to its strong sweet odour, and in some measure to its graceful twining habit. The tough stem grows to a great length—ten to twenty feet in some cases—and always twines from left to right. The egg-shaped leaves are attached in pairs, the lower ones by short stalks, but the upper ones are stalkless (sessile). The flowers are clustered, the calyces closely crowded, five-toothed. The corolla-tube may be from one to two inches long, the free end (limb) divided into five lobes, which split irregularly into two opposite lips. It is rich in honey, the corolla being often half filled with it, and consequently it is a great favourite with bees and moths, who are bound to bring and fetch pollen from the outstanding anthers of one plant and deposit it upon the equally obtrusive stigma of another. The flowers are succeeded by a cluster of round crimson berries. Widely distributed in hedges, copses, and on heaths.

Perfoliate Honeysuckle (L. caprifolium) is similar to the last, but the upper pairs of leaves are joined together by their broad bases. The corolla-tubes are longer than in the common species, and it therefore becomes impossible for even the longest-tongued bees to carry off much of the honey. Moths with their long trunks can; and consequently they swarm upon it at night, and carry the pollen from plant to plant. This species may be found in copses in Oxfordshire and Cambridgeshire, but is believed to be only naturalized—not a true native. Flowers May and June. The name Lonicera was bestowed by Linnæus in honour of a German botanist named Adam Lonicer.

Dead Nettles (Lamium).

Our forefathers, when giving English names to plants, found it by no means easy work, and the greater number of our native species they left unnamed altogether. Many of the names they did invent were made to serve many times by the simple expedient of prefixing adjectives. Thus, having decided on Nettle as the distinctive name of certain stinging herbs (Urtica), they made it available for the entirely unrelated genus Lamium by calling the species Dead (or stingless) nettles. In a similar fashion they made Hemp-nettle, and Hedge-nettle.

Apart from the resemblance in form of the leaves in certain species, there is little likeness between Lamium and Urtica, the large and graceful flowers of the former contrasting strongly with the inconspicuous green blossoms of the stinging nettles (see page 103). In the absence of flowers the difference may be quickly seen by cutting the stems across, when Urtica will exhibit a round solid section, whilst Lamium is square and tubular. The flowers, like those of Bugle (page 21) and Meadow-Sage (p. 23) are labiate, and are produced in whorls. The calyx is tubular, with five teeth. The corolla tubular, with dilated throat, whence the name from Laimos (Gr.), throat. The British species are five:—

I. Red Dead Nettle (Lamium purpureum). Leaves heart-shaped, with rounded teeth, stalked. Bases of flower-bracts not overlapping. Corolla purplish-red. Whole plant often purple. Hedge-banks and waste places. April to October.

II. Intermediate Dead Nettle (L. intermedium). Intermediate between the first and the next species, but more robust. Bracts overlapping. Teeth much longer than calyx-tube, spreading. Cultivated ground, not in S. of England. June to September.

III. Henbit Dead Nettle (L. amplexicaule). Calyx more hairy than in I. and II.; teeth equal to tube in length, converging when in fruit. Corolla slender, deep rose-colour, often deformed. Bracts broad, overlapping. Waste places. April to August. Above three species are annuals, the remainder perennials.

IV. White Dead Nettle (L. album). Corolla large, creamy white, upper lip vaulted. Calyx teeth long. Waste places. March to December.

V. Yellow Archangel (L. galeobdolon). Corolla yellow, the lower lip orange, spotted with brown. Hedges and woods. May and June.

Ground Ivy (Nepeta glechoma), and
Ivy-leaved Toad-flax (Linaria cymbalaria).

Trailing among the grass of the copse and hedgebank the Ground Ivy is one of the earliest of flowers to appear in spring. It has not the remotest relationship to the real ivy (Hedera helix), but, like the Dead Nettle, is a labiate plant. The slender square stem creeps along, and wherever it puts forth a pair of leaves it sends down a tuft of fibrous roots also. The leaves are roundish, kidney-shaped, deeply round-toothed on the margin. The flowers are borne in the axils of leaf-like bracts. The corolla-tube is long, slender at base, afterwards dilating. Some of the purple-blue flowers are large and perfect, others small and devoid of stamens. March to June. There is a closely allied, but rare, species called the Catmint (N. cataria) which flowers from July to September. This has an erect stem, with leaves approaching more to heart-shape, the teeth sharper; both stem and leaves downy and whitish. Flowers white, marked with rose-colour. The name Nepeta is the classical Latin one, and is said to have been given because the plant was common round the town of Nepet in Tuscany.

The Ivy-leaved Toad-flax (Linaria cymbalaria) will be found forming a beautiful tapestry on ruins and old walls. It is a Continental species, and those found naturalized here are believed to be the descendants of greenhouse escapes. The stems are very long and slender; the leaves lobed like certain forms of Ivy, often purple beneath, dark green above. The calyx is five-parted, and the corolla is like that of the familiar Snapdragon of our gardens. The two lips are so formed that they close the mouth of the corolla, which is hence said to be personate or masked; the tube is spurred, in which it differs from Snapdragon. When the seed-capsule is nearly ripe it turns about on its stalk and seeks a cranny in the wall, where it can disperse its seeds. Flowers July to September. The name Linaria is derived from the Latin Linum, from the resemblance of the leaves of the common Toad-flax (see page 105) to those of the Flax (see page 96).

Round-leaved Crane’s-bill (Geranium rotundifolium).

This neat member of a charming family is by no means a common plant; in fact, northward of South Wales and Norfolk it is unknown. Southward it may be found in hedges and waste places, flowering in June and July. The stems are slight, and greatly swollen at the joints. The leaf-stalks are long, and the leaves, though their general outline is kidney-shaped, are deeply cut into about seven lobes, which are in turn lobed or toothed. Owing to the close general resemblance of this species to its immediate congeners some rather minute differences should be noted. The sepals end each in a hard point—in botanists’ language they are mucronate—the margin of the narrow petals is entire, that is, not notched, and the narrow lower portion (claw) is not fringed with hairs. The carpels, or divisions of the seed-vessel, are keeled but not wrinkled, and the seeds are pitted. Its nearest allies are:—

I. The Dove’s-foot Crane’s-bill (G. molle), with similar leaves to the last, but with notched petals, the claw bearded. Flowers more rosy than rotundifolium.

II. Small-flowered Crane’s-bill (G. pusillum). Leaves more deeply lobed, sepals as long as the notched petals, claw slightly hairy. Flowers, pale rose.

III. Long-stalked Crane’s-bill (G. columbinum). Lobes of leaves distant from each other, the segments into which they are again cut being very narrow; sepals large, acuminate and awned, as long as the entire rose-purple petals; claws less hairy than in last. All the leaf and flower-stalks long.

IV. Cut-leaved Crane’s-bill (G. dissectum). Similar to G. columbinum, but all stalks much shorter. Bright red petals, notched.

V. Herb-Robert (G. robertianum). Plant more or less red. Leaves divided into five leaflets, these again divided. Calyx angular, the sepals long-awned and hairy. Petals narrow and entire; purple streaked with red; claw smooth.

VI. Shining Crane’s-bill (G. lucidum). Plant more or less crimson in summer. Leaves divided into five segments, each bluntly lobed at the top. The calyx is a wrinkled pyramid, each sepal awned. The rosy petals are much longer than the sepals; claw smooth. There are two lines of hairs on the upper branches.

All the above are annual or biennial plants. The name of the genus is from the Greek geranos, a crane, from a fancied resemblance in the fruit to a Crane’s-bill.

The mechanism for the dispersal of seeds in the Crane’s-bills is worthy of attention. When the petals fall off the carpels enlarge, and the outer layer of the style separates from the axis, splitting into five portions, each attached to a carpel at the bottom and to the style at top. The axis of the style further elongates, but the tails of the carpels do not, and there is, in consequence, great tension, which ends in the carpel being detached from its base. The “tail” curls up, the carpel is reversed, and the seed drops out.

The Hemlock Stork’s-bill (Erodium cicutarium).

Closely related to the Crane’s-bills—and at one time included in the genus Geranium with them—are the Stork’s-bills, of which we have three British representatives. Only one of the three, however, is at all plentiful, and that is the one we have figured. It is a common species, but must be looked for on dry wastes and commons, especially near the coast. Quite apart from its umbels of pretty pink flowers it is a handsome plant. The leaves are cut up into a large number of leaflets, arranged in slightly irregular pairs on either side of the rib, and these leaflets are cut up into many irregular lobes. It is the arrangement so common in ferns: the leaf is pinnate, because it is furnished with pinnæ or wings, and as the pinnæ are themselves almost winged they are pinnatifid, or cut in a pinnate manner. The parts of the flower agree in number with Geranium, that is, sepals five, petals five, stamens ten (but five are aborted, and produce no anthers), stigmas five. The fruits agree pretty closely with those of the Crane’s-bills, but in Erodium the tails of the carpels are lined on their inner face with fine silky hairs, and instead of curling simply they twist spirally, and cause the hairs to stand out at right angles. The seed remains attached to the tail, which becomes detached from the axis of the style and is blown to the ground. There the twisted tail is alternately lengthened and shortened by moisture and dryness of the atmosphere, and with assistance of the hairs this automatic movement gradually forces the pointed hairy seed into the ground. It flowers from June to September.

The Musky Stork’s-bill (E. moschatum) is much larger than the last mentioned. Easily identified by the strong smell of musk. Flowers June and July. Local.

The Sea Stork’s-bill (E. maritimum). Leaves narrow, heart-shaped, lobed and toothed. Petals minute, pale pink, sometimes absent. Sandy and gravelly coasts: rare. May to September. Name from Greek, Erodios, a heron.

Yarrow or Milfoil (Achillea millefolium).

One of the commonest weeds in pastures, or on commons, roadside wastes, and often on lawns, is the Yarrow. Its leaves, as its second popular name indicates, are cut up into a large number of segments; these are very slender and crowded, and are again cut up; so that the general aspect of the leaf is exceedingly light and feathery. This is especially the case with the leaves (radical) that spring directly from the creeping root; those given off by the flowering stem become more simple as they near the summit. Unlike as the flowers may at first sight appear to those of the Daisy and Dandelion, those of the Yarrow are also composites. The yellowish disc-florets are tubular, and contain both anthers and stigmas; the white or pink ray-florets are pistillate only. It abounds on all commons, pastures and wastes, flowering from June till the end of the year. There is one other British species,

The Sneezewort (A. ptarmica), which is almost as widely distributed. Its flower-heads are much fewer than in Yarrow, and its leaves are more simple in character, the edges being merely cut into teeth. The disc-florets are more green than yellow. It is about a month later than Yarrow in coming into flower, but thereafter the two species keep time together. The name Achillea was given to the genus in honour of Achilles, who is reputed to have used Yarrow for the purpose of staunching his wounds.

Groundsel (Senecio vulgaris).

We have selected this very vulgar plant as a familiar example of a genus that contains some very striking species. They all produce composite flowers, but in this common weed the ray-florets are usually wanting, and consequently the few cylindric flower-heads have a very singular appearance. The leaves are deeply cut, the lobes irregularly toothed. The flowers are succeeded by the well-known fluffy pappus attached to the seeds, which has enabled the plant to become one of the most widely distributed in all temperate and cold climates. It is to this hoary head of seed-bearers that the genus is indebted for its name, which is derived from the Latin Senex—an old man. There are other eight British species, of which the most frequent are briefly noted below.