Christmas-tide, when its brightly varnished yet repellent leaves and
its brilliant berries are much sought for household decoration. To most
persons the flower is unknown; yet if they sought the holly in the
woods or hedges any time from May to August they would probably find
the white flowers produced in “umbellate cymes” from the axils of the
leaves. The calyx is slightly downy, with four or five divisions. The
petals are four in number, white, conjoined at their bases, or entirely
separate. The stamens are four, one attached to the base of each petal;
stigmas also four, attached to the ovary, without intervening styles.
The fruit, with which we are all so familiar by sight, is technically
a _drupe_, in which category are also placed the cherry and the plum,
fruits which have the seed enclosed in a hard “stone” (or _endocarp_),
surrounded by a fleshy _pericarp_. The holly-berries, as the fruits are
called (though they in no wise resemble the gooseberry, which is a true
berry), contain four of such stones. This is the only British species.
The name _Ilex_ is said to be of Celtic origin, and derived from _ec_
or _ac_, a sharp point, but this appears to us very unsatisfactory. Its
old English name was _holm_, a word that has become fixed in some of
our place-names for localities where holly is still abundant: such as
Holmesdale, Holmwood, and Holmbury, all in Surrey.
If the smooth grey bark of old hollies be scrutinized closely one may
find upon it a number of raised black cuneiform marks, not unlike the
characters of the Chinese alphabet. They are really the fruits of a
lichen, _Graphis elegans_. With care the piece of bark containing these
curious marks may be cut out without defacing or injuring them.
[Illustration: =Holly.=
Ilex aquifolium.
--ILICINEÆ.--]
[Illustration: =Charlock.=
Brassica sinapis.
--CRUCIFERÆ.--]
=Charlock or Wild Mustard= (_Brassica sinapis_).
An upland cornfield in June with Charlock between the short corn-plants
is a beautiful sight for the rambler, but the farmer may be pardoned if
he fails to take the æsthetic view; for all that vegetable gold must
be laboriously hand-picked, or “cleaned,” as he would probably express
it. Charlock is a weed that keeps close to the farmer; that likes the
comparatively light and dry soil of the ploughed field.
It is a hairy annual belonging to the cabbage tribe, which is a branch
of the _Cruciferæ_ or Cross-worts, so-called from the four petals being
arranged cross-wise. In this and the two following species the petals
are bright yellow. To make the flower symmetrical there should be four
or eight stamens; there are six, and it has been suggested that there
were eight, but two have been suppressed. The fruit is an angular
pod, with a straight beak, not persistent, and two hairy valves, but
containing only one row of dark-brown seeds. Flowers from May to August.
There are many species of _Brassica_, two of which may be confounded
with _B. sinapis_; they are:--
I. Black Mustard (_B. nigrum_). Stem bristly, upper leaves very
narrow, lance-shaped, smooth, with entire or toothed margins. Pods
awl-shaped, quadrangular. Beak short and slender, containing no
seeds. Valves keeled. Seeds reddish-brown, oblong. Flowers June to
September in hedges and wastes.
II. White Mustard (_B. alba_). Hairy, like _B. sinapis_, but
the hairs pointing downwards. The upper leaves deeply lobed,
lyre-shaped, the lobes being again cut and lobed. Stem marked with
longitudinal incised lines. Pod short, no longer than the flat
thin, or sword-shaped, ribbed beak. Seeds larger than the last,
more globose, yellow. Flowers June and July in cultivated ground.
The genus bears the Latin name for the Cabbage, the wild form
of which is _B. oleracea_, a wild plant on the sea-cliffs of
South-west England and Wales, from which have arisen the cultivated
varieties known as Scotch-kail, cow-cabbage, savoys, brussels
sprouts, red cabbage, white cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli.
=Common Cow-wheat= (_Melampyrum pratense_).
Quite a number of our common plants have been distinguished in popular
nomenclature by the prefix “cow,” and as a general rule it would
appear to have been applied in depreciation, as in the parallel cases
of “dog,” “horse,” and “hog,” to signify coarseness or worthlessness.
In the case of the Cow-wheat our forefathers had a notion that if its
seeds were ground up with wheat the bread made from the flour would be
black. One of the species (_M. arvense_) affects cornfields, and its
seeds are like black grains of wheat, and from this fact the genus gets
its scientific appellation from the Greek, _melas_, black, and _puros_,
wheat. In addition the plants themselves turn black when dead and dry.
I. Common Yellow Cow-wheat (_M. pratense_) is an annual, partially
parasitic upon roots, like Eyebright. The leaves are almost
stalkless, very narrow, with even margins, and produced in pairs.
The flower follows the general structure of the Scrophularineæ
(_see_ pp. 33 and 50 _ante_). The calyx is five-toothed, the
corolla tubular, straight, dilated at the mouth and two-lipped,
the upper with the edges turned back, the lower three-lobed. The
four stamens will be found close under the upper lip, with the
small stigma. It should be noticed that in this species, which is
common in dry woods and on heaths, the pale yellow flowers assume
a horizontal position, whilst the capsule is more deflexed. May to
September.
II. Small-flowered Yellow Cow-wheat (_M. sylvaticum_) is a rare
species, found in alpine woods from Yorkshire northwards. It has
a small deep yellow corolla, which is borne more erectly than in
_pratense_. Other points of difference will be found in the curved
corolla-tube, and in the position of the capsule, which is not
deflexed. Flowers July and August.
III. Purple Field Cow-wheat (_M. arvense_). This is a local species
whose distribution in this country is restricted to Norfolk,
Suffolk, Essex, Herts, and the Isle of Wight. Where it occurs it
is a conspicuous item in the cornfield flora, by reason of its
large spikes of flowers with their many colours. The bracts are
reddish-purple, the corolla rosy, with yellow throat, and the lips
a full pink. Flowers July and August.
IV. Crested Cow-wheat (_M. cristatum_). This also is a rare plant,
confined to the Eastern counties of England, and affecting woods,
copses, and cornfields. It has broad, heart-shaped, purple bracts,
with long fine teeth. The flowers in a dense spike (not so large as
in _arvense_); corolla-tube curved, yellow, the upper lip purple
within. Flowers September and October.
[Illustration: =Cow-wheat.=
Melampyrum pratense.
--SCROPHULARINEÆ.--]
[Illustration: =Sea Buckthorn.=
Hippophae rhamnoides.
--ELÆAGNACEÆ.--]
=Sea Buckthorn= (_Hippophæ rhamnoides_).
Let us say at once that this plant is in no way related to _the_
Buckthorns, properly so called. It is another example of the readiness
with which our fathers seized upon a mere superficial resemblance as
justification for the partial repetition of a name, and to save them
the trouble of finding a new one.
Sea Buckthorn is the sole representative in this country of the Natural
Order Elæagnaceæ, and is a low shrubby tree, growing on sand-hills
and cliffs on the East and South-east coasts from York to Sussex.
The branches commonly end in a spine, which has brought the plant
its alternative name of Sallow-thorn. The alternate leaves are a
dull leaden green above, but the underside is covered with silvery
scales. At first they are egg-shaped, but lengthen after the plant
has flowered. The flowers are of two kinds, borne on separate plants
(_diæcious_), one kind containing stamens only, the other a pistil
alone. The staminate flowers are produced in clusters from the axils,
and consist of two sepals with four stamens. The pistillate flowers are
produced singly. The ovary is enclosed in the calyx-tube, and develops
into the globose orange-yellow fruits. Flowers from May to July.
The fruits do not appear to be used in this country; though in Tartary
they are said to be made into a pleasant jelly, and in the Gulf of
Bothnia they are used in the concoction of a fish-sauce. Their flavour
is decidedly acid.
The name has been derived from the Greek _hippos_, a horse, and _phao_,
to give light, from a supposed power of curing equine blindness; also
from _hippos_, and _phao_, to destroy, from its fatal effects when
eaten by horses; and from _hypo_, under, and _phao_, to shine, in
allusion to the silvery underside of the leaf. The reader will kindly
select that which seems the most reasonable--or reject them all.
=Meadow-sweet= (_Spiræa ulmaria_).
Our first encounter with the Queen of the Meadows, or Meadow-sweet,
is an event to be remembered. It will probably be beside a shallow
stream, and for a long distance we shall see the continuous line of
thick clumps, with the handsome, much-divided radical leaves standing
erect around the taller furrowed stems. Individually the creamy-white
flowers are minute, but combined in large dense cymes they are
very conspicuous. There is an airy grace about the plant that is
particularly charming, quite apart from the attraction of its powerful
fragrance.
Meadow-sweet has a short perennial rootstock, the leaves are
interruptedly pinnate (_see_ p. 63), the terminal leaflet three-lobed.
The undersides are downy and white. The stem-leaves are provided
with broad-toothed stipules. In spite of their fragrance the flowers
produce no honey, but, attracted by the sweet odour, insects visit them
in great numbers, and from the closeness of the flowers cannot help
fertilizing them. The calyx has four or five lobes, turned back; the
petals are four or five, the carpels vary from five to nine, curiously
twisted, and surrounded by a large number of stamens. It flowers
from June to August, and may be found beside watercourses and in wet
meadows, as well as by the sides of streams and rivers.
There is one other British species:--
The Dropwort (_Spiræa filipendula_), which grows far away from the
haunts of the Meadow-sweet, delighting in high dry pastures, chalk
downs, and gravelly heaths. He that has seen _ulmaria_ will not
fail to identify _filipendula_ as the sister of the meadow queen,
for though much smaller it is in general appearance very similar.
The unopened flowers are rosy, but the inside of the petals is
of the same creamy-white as in Meadow-sweet. It is not fragrant.
Flowers June and July.
A third species, the Willow-leaved Spiræa (_S. salicifolia_), may
occasionally be met in plantations; but it is not a native.
[Illustration: =Meadow-Sweet. Queen of the Meadows.=
Spiræa ulmaria.
--ROSACEÆ.--]
[Illustration: =Rest Harrow.=
Ononis Spinosa.
--LEGUMINOSÆ.--]
=Rest-Harrow= (_Ononis spinosa_).
The Rest-Harrow or Wrest-Harrow is one of those plants whose presence
in the pasture is said to indicate its poverty or the neglect of the
cultivator. In Sussex and Hampshire it is known as the Cammock. It
is a perennial low shrub, sometimes creeping near the ground, and at
others growing more erect. The rootstock often creeps underground, a
habit to which the plant owes its popular name, as it is said to be so
tough as to _wrest_ the harrow from the even tenor of its way. The more
prostrate form is covered with viscid hairs; the more erect-growing
plants are spiny. In the latter condition it is said that only donkeys
will eat it, and hence its scientific name _ononis_, from _onos_, an
ass, but it is open to question whether the ass has any fondness for it
if he can get other food. The flowers are of the usual papilionaceous
structure already described (_see_ pp. 7, 43, 48, 50, 52, 72), and may
be borne either singly or in racemes. They are pink in colour; the
petal known as the standard is very large in this species, and streaked
with a fuller red. The pod is very small, and in the hairy form is not
so long as the calyx. The flower does not secrete honey, but in spite
of this fact, it seems to be chiefly if not exclusively fertilized by
bees, who are evidently fooled by its resemblance to other flowers
of the same form that do offer refreshment to insect visitors. The
worker-bees, however, get pollen for their pains, but the males are
sadly disappointed. Rest-Harrow will be found flowering in dry wastes
from June to September.
There is another species, the Small Rest-Harrow (_O. reclinata_),
an annual with spreading hairy, viscid stems, only a few inches in
length, stalked rosy flowers not half the size of _spinosa_, and a
hairy pod as long as the calyx, or longer. It is exceedingly local,
and has only been reported as occurring on sandy cliffs in Devon,
Wigton and Alderney. Flowering in June and July.
=Agrimony= (_Agrimonia eupatoria_).
One of the prettiest of wayside plants is the golden-starred
Agrimony, growing on the waste green flanks of the road and making
it beautiful. It is a perennial plant, with a short woody rootstock,
and “interruptedly pinnate” leaves, somewhat resembling those of the
Silver-weed, the leaflets increasing in size as they near the terminal
leaflet. The flowers are borne on that kind of inflorescence called
a _raceme_, in which each flower is attached to the central stem by
a stalk of its own. Were these stalks suppressed the inflorescence
would be termed a _spike_, and indeed some authors have so described
the flower-clustering of Agrimony. The flowers are little roses, and
consist of a top-shaped spiny calyx, tubular, with contracted mouth
and five overlapping lobes; five golden petals, ten or more stamens,
and two carpels sunk in the calyx-tube, their styles and two-lobed
stigmas protruding. They do not secrete honey, and are seldom visited
by insects.
As the lower fruits ripen the raceme lengthens, and concurrently
the calyx-tubes harden and assume a drooping position, owing to the
downward curving of their little foot-stalks.
There is a variety with resinous-scented, larger, more crowded flowers,
of local occurrence. Agrimony was formerly held in some repute as a
medicinal plant, and from this circumstance it gets its name. The
ancient Greeks had a word _argema_ signifying the affection of the eyes
to which we apply the term cataract, and a plant which was reputed
to cure argema they called _argemone_, a word which has since been
corrupted into agrimony. “Yarb doctors” still give it a place in their
pharmacopœia.
Agrimony flowers from June to September.
[Illustration: =Agrimony.=
Agrimonia eupatoria.
--ROSACEÆ.--]
[Illustration: =Common Flax.=
Linum usitatissimum.
--LINEÆ.--]
=Common Flax= (_Linum usitatissimum_).
Occasionally the rambler will find the Flax in cornfields and wastes,
by oil-mills and in the neighbourhood of railway stations. Wherever it
may be found it is an escape from cultivation. As a truly wild plant
the “most used” flax is not known: in cultivation, as the parent of
linen garments, it has been known from the infancy of the human race.
To-day the exports of flax and linen from the United Kingdom are worth
about £5,500,000 per annum. It is therefore a plant that would be
entitled to respectful consideration when we meet it, even if it had no
grace or beauty to commend it to us.
Common Flax is an annual plant, with erect slender stems about a
foot and a half high. Its narrow lance-shaped leaves are arranged
alternately and at a distance from each other. The flowers are large,
and purplish-blue in colour. Five is the number dominating the
structure of the flower: sepals, petals, stamens, glands, ovary (5
cells), styles--all in fives. It flowers in June and July.
There are three other species that are truly wild in Britain:--
I. Purging Flax (_L. catharticum_). A smaller species, half a foot
high, with _white_ flowers, affecting heaths and pastures. It has
opposite, very narrow leaves, and the unopened buds nod. Flowers
June to September.
II. Perennial Flax (_L. perenne_). A very rare perennial plant with
exceedingly narrow leaves, alternate on the numerous wiry stems.
Plant about 2 feet high. The large bright-blue flowers, which may
be found from June to September, are of two forms, long-styled and
short-styled, like the Primroses (_see_ p. 2), and for a similar
purpose. On chalky soils from Durham to Essex.
III. Narrow-leaved Flax (_L. angustifolium_). Leaves alternate, as
narrow as in the last species, but smaller and not so plentiful.
Flowers smaller and paler, petals smaller in proportion to the
calyx. Flowers May to September. Sandy and chalky pastures, not
farther north than Lancashire.
=Long-rooted Cat’s-ear= (_Hypochæris radicata_).
Cat’s-ear is one of those plants that are passed by the rambler
as being “perplexing hawkweeds which no one but a German botanist
understands.” It is not exactly a hawkweed, though it comes pretty
close to that family, and roughly may be said to resemble them. Of
the Composite flowers we have already dealt with, it will be seen
that the Cat’s-ear has a blossom similar in structure to _Sonchus_
(page 114), _Taraxacum_ (page 20) and _Tragopogon_ (page 84). It has
a perennial tap-root, from which arises and spreads a circlet of many
rough hairy leaves, their edges scalloped; there are no stem leaves.
The flower-stem is branched, each branch bearing but one flower-head.
The involucral bracts are in several series, laid one over the other
like tiles. All the corollas are strap-shaped, toothed at the free end,
yellow. The pappus or down that surrounds the fruit consists of a row
of feathery hairs, surrounded by an outer row of shorter bristles. The
flowers are longer than the involucre. Flowers June to September. There
are two other British species:--
I. Smooth Cat’s-ear (_H. glabra_). An annual plant, found chiefly
in dry fields on gravelly soil, but not nearly so commonly as
_radicata_. Its leaves are broader, egg-shaped, and smooth. It
has several branched flower-stems. The involucre as long as the
florets, the bracts few and unequal. Flowers June to September.
II. Spotted Cat’s-ear (_H. maculata_). A rare perennial, confined
to chalky and limestone pastures in several counties, _i.e._,
the Lizard, Cornwall; Orme’s head, North Wales; Westmoreland,
Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, Essex. Leaves rough, with hairs,
stalkless, egg-shaped, often spotted. Flower-stems seldom branched,
usually with several small leaves and one large flower-head
(sometimes several). Involucre shorter than the florets; outer row
of pappus absent. Flowers July and August.
[Illustration: =Cat’s-Ear.=
Hypochæris radicata.
--COMPOSITÆ.--]
[Illustration: =Field Scabious.=
Scabiosa arvensis.
--DIPSACEÆ.--]
=The Field Scabious= (_Scabiosa arvensis_).
Should any reader who has not previously made a study of botany, but
who has followed us thus far, be asked to name the order to which the
Scabious belongs, he would almost certainly say the Compositæ. He would
be wrong, but almost right. Scabious is certainly a Composite flower,
though not one of the Compositæ; it is, instead, included in the order
Dipsaceæ. We have already made the acquaintance of so many composite
flowers that our readers may be presumed to be fairly familiar with
their general structure. It will be remembered, then, that the anthers
of Composites are all joined together to form a tube: in Dipsaceæ
they are free. Again, the calyx in Compositæ is reduced to a series
of hairs (_pappus_), whilst in Dipsaceæ there is a distinct tubular
calyx invested in a separate _involucel_ (or little involucre) of tiny
bracts, quite independent of the common involucre that invests the
whole head of florets.
I. The Field Scabious (_S. arvensis_), is a perennial with a stout
rootstock, and a hairy stem. The leaves vary considerably in
different specimens, but usually those from the root are entire, of
an oblong lance-shape, with toothed margins. The stem leaves are
lobed, sometimes almost pinnate. The flower-heads are borne on a
long stout stalk, and consist of about fifty florets, increasing
in size from the centre to the outer margin, and of a pale blue
or lilac colour, the central ones more inclined to red; anthers
yellow. Involucral bracts broad and leaf-like, in two rows. Dry
fields and downs. June to September.
II. Devil’s-bit Scabious (_S. succisa_). Rootstock short, coming
to an abrupt conclusion, as though bitten off. Culpepper accounts
for this and the name by saying: “This root was longer, until the
Devil (as the friars say), bit away the rest from spite, envying
its usefulness to mankind; for sure he was not troubled with any
disease for which it is proper.” Leaves all entire. Involucral
bracts lance-shaped, shorter than the corollas, in two or three
rows. Anthers reddish-brown. Florets nearly equal in size. Flowers
purplish-blue, sometimes white. July to October, in meadows and
pastures.
III. Small Scabious (_S. columbaria_). Rootstock thick and woody.
Root leaves entire, narrow; stem leaves deeply cut, almost pinnate.
Involucral bracts longer than the corollas, in one row. Corollas
five-lobed (in the other species four-lobed), the outer row
considerably larger than the inner ones, and of irregular form.
Anthers yellow, corollas purplish-blue. July to September, in
pastures and wastes.
The name is derived from the Latin, _scabies_, the itch, it being
formerly used in curing this and other cutaneous disorders.
=Bitter Sweet= (_Solanum dulcamara_).
One of the most familiar objects in the hedge is the trailing stem and
variously-shaped leaves of the Bitter Sweet or Woody Nightshade; the
singular flowers or the red berries attract our attention at once. This
and the Common or Black Nightshade are the sole British representatives
of a genus that includes the Potato among other valuable exotic species.
Bitter Sweet is a perennial, with a creeping rootstock, from which
arise the long trailing stems that have no means of climbing in the
shape of tendrils, hooks, prickles, or the power of twining, but yet by
leaning against the stouter hedge plants manage to attain a height of
four or five feet. The leaves vary much, the lowest being heart-shaped,
the upper more or less spear-shaped, with gradations between these
forms. They are very dark green in colour, and all stalked. The calyx
is five-parted; the purple corolla with five lobes, each having at its
base two small green tubercles. The five yellow anthers have their
edges united, so that they form a pyramidal tube, through which the
style protrudes. The anthers discharge their pollen by terminal pores.
The succeeding berries are egg-shaped, and go through a series of
colour-changes from green through yellow and orange to a fine red. The
popular name is founded upon a peculiarity which we have never tested:
it is said the stems when tasted are first bitter, then the sensation
changes to one of pleasant sweetness. Flowers June to September.
The Common or Black Nightshade (_S. nigrum_) is an annual with an
erect stem, about 2 feet in height. Its leaves are egg-shaped, the
blade gradually narrowing to the stalk, with a waved or toothed
margin. The corolla is white, the berries rounder, usually black,
but sometimes yellow or red. Fields and waste places. From July to
October.
[Illustration: =Bitter-Sweet.=
Solanum dulcamara.
--SOLANACEÆ.--]
[Illustration: A.--=Biting Stonecrop. Wall pepper.=
Sedum acre.]
[Illustration: B.--=House-leek.=
Sempervivum tectorum.
--CRASSULACEÆ.--]
=Biting Stonecrop= (_Sedum acre_).
Of the eight British species of _Sedum_, and the two or three
additional kinds that have escaped from gardens and become locally
naturalized, this is the best known. Rocks and old walls are its
favourite resorts, the stems growing downwards and curving outwards.
The leaves are small, thick, produced into a kind of spur at the base,
and closely pressing the older on the newer. The calyx is in one with
five lobes, the corolla consists of five distinct golden yellow petals:
stamens ten, with yellow anthers; carpels five, united at their bases.
Flowers June and July. Another popular name for it is Wall Pepper, both
names being due to the acrid taste.
The scientific name is from the Latin _sedeo_, to sit, from the
peculiar habit of the plant.
=Houseleek= (_Sempervivum tectorum_).