This fragile plant is very common. You find it in cultivated fields as
well as by the roadside and in waste places. It blooms in summer and
autumn.
This Scarlet Pimpernel is one of our few red flowers. It has five round
scarlet petals, which are joined together like a wheel. In the centre of
the wheel there is a seed-vessel, the size of a tiny green pea, and
closely clustered round its thread-like pillar are five yellow-headed
stamens. The slender stalks of the stamens are covered with hairs, and
so are the edges of the scarlet petals.
The calyx consists of five narrow green sepals, with sharp points: these
you can see appearing between the edges of the petals as you look down
into the flower.
Each flower grows singly on a short, fine stalk, and these flower-stalks
always rise between a leaf and the stem. The stem is four-sided, and it
is very easily broken. It is a very feeble stem, and straggles along the
ground.
The leaves of the Scarlet Pimpernel are small and oval, with smooth
edges and blunt points. They have fine lines running from base to tip,
and underneath they are a blue-green colour, with little dots all over
them.