Part 29

The Marsh Cinquefoil is not so common as many plants. It likes best to grow where there are high hills, and you find it all summer in wet ground among the peat-bogs.

It has black roots, which creep a long distance among the mud, and from these roots grow beautifully shaped green leaves, and rather strange-looking flowers.

These flowers have five small petals, which are a deep purple colour. So are the stamens, so are the seed-vessels. Even the sepals, which are bigger and longer than the petals, are a rich, dark purple, except at the foot where they join the stalk, and there they are greenish.

The Marsh Cinquefoil has two rings of sepals. Those in the outermost circle are shaped like a narrow tongue. The inner sepals are much broader, and they end in sharp points.

The flowers have each a stalk which branches from the main stem. Sometimes two flower-stalks will spring from the same part of the stem, and in that case there will be a large green leaf clasping the stem where they rise.

These leaves are usually divided into three fingers, each of which is long and rather narrow, with sharp teeth all round. There are a few hairs on the upper side of the leaf, but underneath it is quite smooth.

4. WATER AVENS

The Water Avens loves moist places, and in summer you find it abundantly by the sides of ditches and streams.

It is a delightful plant to discover, as both the leaves and the flowers are beautiful.

The flowers grow singly at the end of slender stalks which branch from the main stem near the top. They are cup-shaped, with heads that are always drooping.

The petals are bright orange-brown, tinged with purple, and outside these brilliant petals there is a calyx of deep purple sepals. These sepals are lined with bright green and have pointed tips, and there are many hairs all over them.

In the centre of the flower are bright yellow-headed stamens, and when the flower is withered, and the seeds begin to ripen, a short green stalk rises in the middle, and on this there appears what looks like a small green strawberry. From every seed on the strawberry there grows a long spike with a curl in the middle. This spiky seed-vessel is very curious.

The leaves of the Water Avens are deep green, and sometimes they have red streaks round the edges as well as on the back. They grow in pairs on the leaf-stalk, a large pair and a small pair alternately, and they are slightly hairy, with edges which are nicked all round. Where the leaves join the main stem there is often a tiny scale.

PLATE XXXII: 1. DOG VIOLET. 2. HEARTSEASE. 3. COMMON MALLOW.

1. DOG VIOLET

The Dog Violet begins to flower early in summer. You find it growing on banks under the hedges, a tiny plant with flowers so small and stalks so short that the flowers are of no use after you pluck them.

Every child knows what a violet is like, but you should pick one of the flowers to pieces and see how curiously each petal is shaped. There are five petals, and these petals are pale purple at the broad part, but at the narrow end they are almost pure white, and this narrow end is hidden among the green sepals. Four of these petals are nearly the same size, and on two of them there are patches of hair near the foot.

The fifth petal is much larger, and the narrow end of this broad petal is shaped like a round tube. This tube, instead of being hidden among the sepals, stands out beyond them like a spur. Inside the tube are the stamens, and all the yellow heads of the stamens are joined edge to edge in a ring round the seed-vessel.

The Dog Violet has five green sepals with very sharp points, and the lower part of each sepal is slightly swollen. The leaves are heart-shaped, with toothed edges, and they grow very close to the ground and have scarcely any stalks. This Violet has no scent.

2. HEARTSEASE

The Heartsease is not quite so common as the Dog Violet, though in some parts of Britain it grows abundantly. It is in flower all summer.

The flowers have five petals, but these are not all the same colour. There are two deep purple petals and three which are bright orange-yellow. In the Heartsease the broadest petal has a very small tube at the narrow end, the same as in the Dog Violet. There are five pointed green sepals, which do not fall off after the flower is withered. You will often see the seed-vessel sitting among these sepals, and when this seed-vessel is ripe it splits open into three small boat-shaped cases, each with a row of seeds inside.

The stem of the Heartsease is round, with distinct lines running up the sides.

The leaves are oval, on short stalks, and they have wavy edges. Where they and the flower-stalk join the main stem you find a fringe of other green leaves, quite differently shaped. These leaves have a long name which you will learn later, but meantime you should notice how they are cut up into little green straps which stand out all round the stem.

3. COMMON MALLOW

The Common Mallow is a handsome flower which grows by roadsides and in waste places. It is plentiful all summer and autumn. The five petals are a beautiful pale mauve streaked with purple. They are long and rather narrow, and each petal has a deep notch in the outer edge. These petals do not meet close together at the bottom; you can see part of the green calyx appearing between each petal.

In the middle of the flower stands a small purple pillar. In this pillar all the slender stems of the stamens are joined together, and their heads cluster near the top like tiny beads, with the wavy points of the seed-vessel rising among them.

This Mallow has two kinds of green sepals. Five of these are broad, with sharply-pointed tips and hairy edges. And besides these there are three long narrow sepals.