would call attention to a few others that may come under the rambler’s
notice. In boggy ground and sphagnum beds he may be so fortunate as
to find the rare Bog Orchis (_Malaxis paludosa_), a small plant with
tiny yellow-green flowers (July to September), and the scanty leaves
producing bulbils from their edges which grow into new plants. In
similar situations in the eastern counties he may even find the larger
but much rarer Fen Orchis (_Liparis loeselii_).
A singular species, to be found chiefly in beechwoods throughout the
country, is the Birds’-nest Orchis (_Neottia nidus-avis_), so called
from the peculiar character of its roots, which are stout and juicy,
and woven into a resemblance to a nest. The whole plant is of a pretty
uniform brown tint--both stem and flowers. There are no leaves, for
the plant lives upon decaying vegetable matter, and has no necessity
to bother about chlorophyll. It is botanically known as a saprophyte.
Flowers June and July.
The very distinct Twayblade (_Listera ovata_) is sure to be encountered
in woods and pastures. Its two leaves are very broad, and appear to be
opposite, but are not really so. The flowers are small and greenish;
they appear in May. There is a singular fact in connection with the
fertilization of this plant that should be noted. The pollen-masses
are dry and friable, and would not be likely to adhere to insects. But
if the rostellum be touched ever so lightly, it instantly exudes a
gummy fluid, which enables the pollen to stick tightly to the insect
causing the irritation. Examine the flower with your lens, irritate the
rostellum by prodding it with the point of a hair from your own head,
and note what you observe.
At the end of Summer in dry pastures there may be found a slender
plant with a twisted spike of fragrant white flowers. These flowers
are very small, enclosed each in a hood-like bract. It is the Autumnal
Lady’s-tresses (_Spiranthes autumnalis_). The rosette of leaves from
the root does not appear until after the flowers.
[Illustration: =Bee Orchis.=
Ophrys apifera.
--ORCHIDEÆ.--]
[Illustration: =Harebell.=
Campanula rotundifolia.
--CAMPANULACEÆ.--
=Common Centaury.=
Erythræa centaurium.
--GENTIANEÆ.--]
=Hairbell or Blue-bell= (_Campanula rotundifolia_).
This is the true Blue-bell of Scotland. As we have indicated (page
14), the Blue-bell of the Southron is the Wild Hyacinth. Scotsmen are
very sensitive upon the point of the Hyacinth having so dear a name
bestowed upon it, when it has already a sufficiently good and classical
one, and there are few, if any, more certain ways of rousing a Scot
than by exhibiting _Scilla_ as the _true_ Blue-bell, or by describing
_Campanula_ as the Hairbell. Others have found the plant a fruitful
source of controversy on a philological point--should it be spelled
Hairbell or Harebell?--does its name refer to the slender hair-like
stems, or to its habit of growing where hares delight to revel? As
against Hairbell, which is descriptive of the plant, Harebell has no
chance of retention among botanists, whatever philologists may say.
There are six species of _Campanula_ included in the British flora,
of which two are rare, and one of these is probably only an escape
from cultivation. _The_ characteristic of them all is a beautiful
bell-shaped corolla with five lobes, five stamens, and the style with
three to five stigmas. They are mostly perennial, and the flowers
most frequently blue. _C. rotundifolia_ has a creeping rootstock, and
several slender-angled stems. The first formed leaves, near the ground,
are more or less rotund in shape, and stalked, but as they occur higher
up the stem they are more and more linear. The flowers are nodding
or drooping, and swayed by the breeze. Heaths and pastures. July to
September.
The Nettle-leaved Bell-flower (_C. trachelium_) is an erect
tall-stemmed (3 feet or more) hairy species, with leaves like nettles,
with large purple flowers in a terminal panicle. Woody lanes and
copses. August to October.
=The Centaury= (_Erythræa centaurium_).
A very neat and beautiful plant, not nearly so well-known as it should
be. It is an annual plant, with erect stem, less than a foot in height,
the leaves in pairs growing together at their bases, and funnel-shaped
pink flowers produced in terminal cymes. It grows in woods and sandy or
chalky pastures, flowering from June till September.
The name is from the Greek, _Eruthros_, red, in allusion to the pink
flowers.
=Wild Mignonette= (_Reseda lutea_), and
=Weld or Dyer’s-weed= (_Reseda luteola_).
So familiar is the Sweet Mignonette of our gardens, and so like and
yet unlike are these wild species, that whilst no one would take them
for the garden plant one need not be a botanist to see their natural
affinities at a glance. Like their garden relative these are annual
herbs, becoming biennial when we have mild winters; with flowers that
are individually inconspicuous, but which gain sufficient prominence
by being associated in racemes. In colour they are a yellow-green.
The calyx is irregular, and divided into from four to seven narrow
segments; there is a similar number of unequal petals, each deeply
cleft into two lobes, and a multitude of stamens. The stigmas are lobes
at the mouth of the open ovary.
I. Wild Mignonette (_R. lutea_) grows in dry waste places, especially
in chalky districts. Its leaves vary a great deal, but are either
pinnate or deeply lobed in a somewhat irregular manner. Flowers,
pale-yellow in a tolerably dense raceme. Very similar to the Sweet
Mignonette, but stiffer, more erect, and scentless. Flowers June to
September.
II. Weld (_R. luteola_). This is a much taller plant than _R. lutea_,
with longer racemes and denser; the flowers more green than yellow,
and with undivided glossy leaves. Petals, three, four, or five. In the
days before aniline colours this plant was much used by dyers, and
cultivated for their purposes. It yields a beautiful yellow dye, and
its juice is also used in the preparation of the artist’s colour called
Dutch pink. It is a common wayside plant in England and in Ireland,
more rare in Scotland, and flowers from June to September.
[Illustration: =Wild Mignonette.=
Reseda lutea.
=Weld. Dyer’s Weed.=
Reseda luteola.
--RESEDACEÆ.--]
[Illustration: =Borage.=
Borago officinalis.
--BORAGINEÆ.--]
The name is from the Latin, _Resedo_, to appease, from these plants
being formerly considered as sedatives.
=Borage= (_Borago officinalis_).
This is a plant one may find on rubbish heaps and waste ground anywhere
near the habitations of man, for it is not, strictly speaking, a
native, though thoroughly well-established here. An old adage runs:
“I, Borage, always bring courage,” and it was supposed to brace up the
heart for great enterprises. It was therefore widely cultivated in old
gardens, and has survived to this day in the grounds of old houses,
where it has frequently made its escape, or surplus plants have been
thrown out upon the rubbish heaps. Instead of allowing itself to go the
way of garden refuse, it has taken hold of the ground there, multiplied
and brightened the place with its beauty.
Every part of the plant, except the corolla, bristles with short stiff
hairs. It has an erect juicy stem, and rough, lance-shaped leaves,
the radical ones on long footstalks, those on the stem stalkless and
clasping their support. The sepals are five in number, long and narrow,
cohering by their bases. The corolla is of the form technically known
as _rotate_, that is, with the petals joined at their lower parts to
a short tube, from the top of which five pointed lobes radiate. It is
coloured a most brilliant and beautiful blue, such as is rarely seen
in flowers. There is a pale yellow ovary that secretes honey, and
around it, attached to the throat of the corolla-tube, are the five
united stamens. The anthers are dark purple, and open in such manner
that the pollen falls between them and the pistil, somewhat as in
_Viola_. By this arrangement both honey and pollen are protected from
the depredations of insects who have no right to it. Bees, however, in
forcing their tongues down to the honeyed ovary, separate the anthers
and let loose the pollen, which falls upon their heads and will be
brought into contact with the stigma of another flower at their next
visit. Cross-fertilization is further helped by the stigmas of a flower
not becoming ripe until its anthers have shed their pollen. Flowers
June and July.
Name probably from the Latin _Bourra_, a flock of wool, in allusion to
its hairy character.
=Oblong Pond-weed= (_Potamogeton polygonifolius_).
We have pond-weeds in abundance, but the Potamogetons are the
pond-weeds _par excellence_. There is scarcely a piece of water in
this country, be it river, lake, pond, canal, or intermittently dry
ditch, but has one or more species growing there. The genus is a very
difficult one, such as it is impossible to do more than show the
general characters of here. Hooker and Bennett, in their revision of
the genus, give twenty-one British species with a number of connecting
sub-species and varieties. The one figured here is the Oblong Pond-weed
(_P. polygonifolius_), with narrowly egg-shaped floating leaves, and
narrower submerged leaves. All have long leaf-stalks. The floating
leaves always present the upper side to the air, and are always
perfectly dry. The flowers are greenish and unattractive, collected
into a slender spike. Individually they consist of a four-parted
perianth, four stamens, four carpels. There is a species (_P. natans_)
with broader floating leaves and narrow submerged leaves. A broader
still is _P. plantagineus_, with clearer leaves and more slender
leaf-stalks. _P. crispus_, _P. densus_, _P. perfoliatus_, _P.
prælongus_, etc., have only submerged leaves, which are more or less
oblong.
[Illustration: =Oblong-leaved Pond-weed.=
Potamogeton polygonifolius.
--NAIADEÆ.--]
[Illustration: =Traveller’s Joy.=
Clematis vitalba.
--RANUNCULACEÆ.--]
The species with floating leaves form refuges for many interesting low
forms of life, and the microscopist will find them very fruitful in
specimens for him.
The name is from the Greek words, _potamos_, a river, and _geiton_, a
neighbour.
=Traveller’s Joy= (_Clematis vitalba_).
When rambling, in chalky districts especially, our readers will meet
this climbing shrub at every turn, scrambling over all the hedges,
flinging its arms out over the way, and clinging persistently to
any branch or shoot it touches. It has a variety of names, some of
which may be applied at different seasons by persons who think they
are speaking of different plants. In the early summer it may be the
White Vine, or the Virgin’s Bower; in autumn, when the feathery awns
are lengthening on its seed-vessels, it may fitly be called the Old
Man’s Beard, and when winter has cleared most things away from the
hedges, but left these gleaming feathers in abundance, it may give the
Traveller Joy to see them as he passes.
It is a perennial plant, with a tough stem, climbing by means of its
leaf-stalks, which curl round any likely support, and become hard as
wire. The leaves are opposite and compound, the leaflets usually five,
the stalks of these also acting as tendrils. The flower has no corolla,
but the four thick sepals are coloured greenish-white to serve instead.
The stamens are a crowd round the central cluster of many-bearded
styles, which afterwards elongate and become the “old men’s beards.”
The flowers, which are slightly fragrant, may be found from July to
September.
The Traveller’s Joy is peculiarly English, so far as its distribution
in the United Kingdom is concerned. It is found only to the south of
Denbigh and Stafford. This, too, is the only British member of the
genus; but a very large number of foreign species are cultivated in our
gardens, where they are quite hardy.
The name is from the Greek _Klema_, a vine-twig.
=The Self-Heal= (_Brunella vulgaris_).
A perennial herb of the wayside and the damp pasture, that has fallen
upon evil days, so far as reputation is concerned. Time was when it
was considered one of the most useful medicines for inward and outward
wounds. Culpepper says “he needeth neither physician nor surgeon
that hath Self-heal and Sanicle to help himself,” and he prints that
sentence in italics, to impress it more firmly upon his readers. On
this account it was called Carpenter’s Herb, Hook-heal, Sickle-wort,
and Prunella. The last is a softened form of Brunella, from the German
_Bräune_ (quinsy), because it was believed to cure that complaint. Its
reputation has passed, but the names remain, and one has been adopted
as its scientific appellation.
There is a suggestion of the Bugle in its general appearance, but seen
together (_see_ page 21) there is no danger of mistaking them. In
_Ajuga_ the whorls are far apart, in _Brunella_ they are contracted
into a dense head. The corolla here is broader, the upper lip erect and
vaulted, whilst in _Ajuga_ it is short and notched.
The plant has the square stem, lipped flowers, and four stamens,
characteristic of the Labiate order, a creeping rootstock, and stalked
leaves; these are long, oval, toothed, or with entire margins. The
bracts of the flower-spike have purple edges. Leaves and stem more
or less hairy; flowers purple, sometimes white or crimson. July to
September. Occasionally small flowers are produced later, in which the
anthers are suppressed, but the pistil is perfect.
This is the only British member of the genus, whose name has been
explained above.
[Illustration: =Self-heal.=
Brunella vulgaris.
--LABIATÆ.--]
[Illustration: =Goat’s Beard.=
Tragopogon pratensis.
--COMPOSITÆ.--]
=Goat’s Beard= (_Tragopogon pratensis_).
One of the folk-names of this plant is “John-go-to-bed-at-Noon,”
and I think it is the only example of a British plant name that is
a sentence of six words. “Three-faces-under-a-hood” runs it pretty
closely, but the few names we have of this order do not usually exceed
four words; such as Queen-of-the-Meadows, Jack-by-the-hedge, and
Poor-man’s-weatherglass. John-go-to-bed, etc., is a nice expressive
name, and is due to the fact that the flower is an early-closer with a
vengeance. It is probably the originator of the eight-hours day, for it
opens at four in the morning and closes by twelve. Farmers’ boys were
said of old to consult its flowers with reference to dinner-time, but
probably in these days of machine-made watches the practice is obsolete.
Goat’s-beard has a tap-root, somewhat like a parsnip, and long curling
grass-like, stalkless leaves that clasp the stem by their bases. The
flower-heads are solitary, yellow, and the eight involucral bracts
are united at the base. All the florets (like those of Dandelion,
Sowthistle and Chicory) are rayed, and contain both stamens and pistil.
They are invested with pappus hairs (_see_ page 20), which are stiff
and feathered. It is from these beards the plant gets its English name,
which is reproduced in the Greek words from which the name of the genus
is composed, _tragos_, a goat, and _pogon_, a beard. It flowers during
June and July, and is fairly common in meadows and wastes in England;
much more rarely in Scotland and Ireland.
There is an introduced species with larger purple or rose-coloured
flowers, found occasionally in damp meadows. This is the Salsify
(_Tragopogon porrifolius_). It is occasionally grown for the sake
of its roots, which have a medicinal value, but inferior to those
of Scorzonera, which it somewhat resembles.
=Wild Thyme= (_Thymus serpyllum_).
The Wild Thyme grows on the hills and the high heath lands, usually
among fine grasses that are close-cropped by sheep and rabbits; or
if on lower ground it will probably be found upon the light and
well-drained soil of a mole-hill among mosses. In spite of its
diminutive stature it is a shrub, with a woody rootstock and a creeping
stem, from which arise the flowering stems. The leaves, which are very
small and stalked, are egg-shaped, with even margins, often turned
under. The rosy-purple flowers are produced in spikes. They are of
the usual _labiate_ type, and both the calyx and the corolla are
two-lipped. The upper lip of the calyx is three-toothed, the lower
cleft in two, the whole of a purplish hue. The upper lip of the corolla
is straight and notched, the lower cut into three lobes. There are two
forms of flower--smaller and larger; the small are perfect, the larger
bearing developed anthers only. It should be noted also that in the
complete flowers the anthers shed their pollen before the stigmas are
ripe; self-fertilization is therefore impossible. The flower produces
much honey, the whole plant is highly fragrant, and in consequence is
very much visited by insects who carry the pollen. While the stamens
are ripe the pistil is short and almost hidden within the corolla-tube;
when the pollen has been shed the style elongates, the two arms of the
stigma diverge and occupy a prominent position far outside the lips.
Under this arrangement insects alighting on the younger flowers dust
themselves with pollen, and upon visiting those a day or two older
could scarcely fail to deposit some of it upon the ripe stigmas.
This is the only native species of a genus named from the ancient Greek
name for the plant.
[Illustration: =Wild Thyme.=
Thymus serpyllum.
--LABIATÆ.--]
[Illustration: =All-Good. Goose-foot.=
Chenopodium bonus-henricus.
--CHENOPODIACEÆ.--]
=Mercury Goosefoot= (_Chenopodium bonus-henricus_).
The genus to which this plant belongs consists of thorough weeds. Their
habitat is waste places, usually where the soil is made up of man’s
refuse. The plants are fairly uniform in colour, from stem to leaf and
flower. They are fertilized by the wind, so they have no need to put on
showy colours to attract insects. The flowers are small, and the petals
are entirely wanting; they consist of from three to five sepals, from
two to five stamens ranged around the ovary, which is surmounted by the
two or three spreading stigmas. Some are distinguished by unpleasant
odours, and they have little to attract popular attention, although
some have been used as potherbs--notably the species figured, and which
rejoices in the alternative titles of “Good King Henry” and “All-good.”
Mercury Goosefoot (_C. bonus-henricus_) is a perennial with a thick
fleshy rootstock, and erect channelled stems from one to three feet
in height. The leaves are large, dark green, and of the shape that
botanists describe as “hastate,” that is, like the head of an ancient
halberd. These leaves are somewhat succulent, and in some places are
used as a substitute for spinach. The ovary when ripe becomes what is
technically known as a _utricle_, a thin loose case containing a single
seed. In this species the seed is black, marked with small punctures.
Flowers May to August.
All the other British species are annuals, and among them may be
noted the Stinking Goosefoot (_C. vulvaria_), with spreading stems,
small, greasy, mealy leaves, grey-green, and with an odour like
rotten fish. Many-seeded Goosefoot (_C. polyspermum_), with several
spreading branches, ovate leaves and many minute, rough, dark-brown
seeds. White Goosefoot (_C. album_), leaves ovate, covered with a
white mealy substance, upper portions _toothed_, sepals keeled,
seed dark, shining, very minutely dotted. Red Goosefoot (_C.
rubrum_), with erect, frequently red, stems, smooth and shining,
leaves variable in form, and the character of the margin, sometimes
toothed, sometimes entire, sepals not keeled. The name is from two
Greek words, signifying Goosefoot, in reference to the shape of the
leaves in some species.
=Burdock= (_Arctium lappa_).
The Burdock is a plant well-known to artists and boys; the former being
interested in it as a fine foreground plant, the latter on account of
its hooked bracts, which make the fruit-head an admirable instrument
of torture, or an ornament for decorating some other person’s clothes.
In its young state the plant is suggestive of the Butterbur, the fine
bold lower leaves having a densely cottony underside as in that plant.
But there the similarity ends, for in Butterbur there is no rising
stem, whereas in Burdock this ordinarily reaches a stature of three or
four feet. We encountered a fine specimen near Chessington, Surrey, in
June, 1894, that had reached the height of seven feet three inches,
and as it had only just commenced flowering it would probably put on a
few additional inches before its growth ceased. The stem is stout, the
leaves alternate, heart-shaped, thick. The flowers are in dense heads,
like a thistle, but without any spreading rays. The involucre globose,
of many leathery bracts ending in long stiff hooks, by means of which
the ripe heads become firmly attached to the coats of animals, and the
seeds are thus carried far and wide. Corollas, five-lobed, purple.
Common in all waste places. Flowering from June to September. According
to Hooker this is the only British species, but the “splitters” have
made four or more species out of it.
The name is from the Greek, _Arktos_, a bear, from its rough appearance.
=Goosegrass or Cleavers= (_Galium aparine_).
Although Goosegrass has nothing else in common with Burdock it
resembles it in the fact that its fruit “sticketh closer than a
brother.” It is a plant of the hedge, where it forms dense masses, the
whole plant--stem, leaves and fruits--being covered with flinty
hooks. The rambling botanist, when playfully inclined, detaches
a yard-length from the hedge and deftly throwing it against his
unconscious companion’s back, causes a hundred hooks to catch in
the warp or weft of his coat. It belongs to the Bedstraws, a genus
comprising nearly a dozen British species, and distinguished by having
minute flowers, yellow, white or greenish, calyx minute, a mere ring,
the corolla four or five-lobed, honeyed. Stamens four, styles two,
united at their bases. The leaves are borne in whorls of from four
to ten, at distant intervals on the square stem. In _G. aparine_ the
leaves vary from six to eight, the flower-cymes arise from their axils,
the flowers are white, the fruit first green then becoming purplish.
Flowers June and July.
[Illustration: =Burdock.=
Arctium lappa.
--COMPOSITÆ.--
=Goose-grass. Cleavers.=
Galium aparine.
--RUBIACEÆ.--]
[Illustration: =White Campion.=
Lychnis vespertina.
--CARYOPHYLLEÆ.--]
=White Campion= (_Lychnis vespertina_).
On page 66 we gave a figure of _Lychnis flos-cuculi_, and descriptions
of that species and _L. diurna_, the Red Campion. The present species
was classed by Linnæus as a mere variety of _L. diurna_, the two being
combined under the name of _L. dioica_. In general characters the White
Campion agrees with the Red, but the calyx is more greenish, and the
petals are entirely white (occasionally reddish). The plant is larger
and more coarse than its diurnal relative--for, as its name signifies,
_L. vespertina_ opens in the evening and is fertilized by night-flying
moths. It is a fragrant plant, but its fragrance is reserved for its
flowering time--not that its nocturnal visitors require the scent to
direct them to the flowers, for they glow and gleam in the dark field
and hedgerow from May to September.
=The Holly= (_Ilex aquifolium_).