The uniform green which covers the meadows all the year round is
agreeably relieved by a large number of plants with colored flowers.
Here blooms the sky-blue GENTIAN (_Gentiana verna_), which delights both
the eye and the heart. There the beautiful blue bells of the CAMPANULA
(_Campanula Rapunculus_) raise their heads, together with the violet
flowers of the SCABIOUS (_Scabiosa pratensis_), and the numerous
bloom-whorls of the meadow SAGE (_Salvia pratensis_). Between these can
be seen the red and white heads of the meadow and white CLOVER
(_Trifolia pratensis_ and _T. repens_); and from a distance we can
recognize the small DAISY (_Bellis perennis_), the similar but larger
Dog Daisy (_Chrysanthemum leucanthemum_), the yellow MEADOW SWEET
(_Tragopogon pratensis_), and the DANDELION (_Taraxacum officinale_). In
these the fructification is carried out by insects; but, as the single
flowers are so small that they would be overlooked by the insects,
Nature has arranged many of them in the form of a small chalice or cup,
which can be seen from afar, especially in those cases where the
radiating petals are different in color from the sepals, like those in
the dog daisies. Many meadow plants grow with their stalks and blooms
high over their neighbors, as though they were the lords of the meadows.
In these the flowers are very small; but as they are united in large
numbers in flat umbals, they show up well. On the dry ridges blooms the
PLANTAIN (_Plantago_), which has good healing properties; and the wild
THYME (_Thymus Serpylum_), a graceful plant, which is sometimes made
into tea, and is frequently placed in children’s baths. The shape of its
blooms shows it to be a member of the family of the labiate flowers, to
which belongs also the meadow sage.