Part 36

Inside the pink hood are hidden the yellow heads of the stamens. The other half of the flower is divided at the edge into three pink scollops, which fold back so that you can look inside the tube of the flower. After the pink flowers are withered the calyx-cup swells into a small bladder, and on windy days you can hear the seeds rattling inside this bladder.

The stem of the Lousewort is hairy, and the leaves grow very close to it. These leaves are made up of small fingers with deeply toothed edges, which grow in pairs on each side of the centre leaf-stalk. There are frequently six pairs of these fingers on one stalk, and there is always a single finger at the end of the stalk.

PLATE XLI: 1. GREAT WILD VALERIAN 2. SMALL BINDWEED 3. FOXGLOVE

1. GREAT WILD VALERIAN

You find the Great Wild Valerian in most parts of Britain. It grows in marshy meadows and in damp woods, and is in flower all summer.

The Wild Valerian is a tall, handsome plant. It has small pale pink flowers, which grow in thick clusters on long, stiff green stalks rising from the main stem.

If you pull off a single flower you find that its five pink petals are joined together at the bottom into a tube. This tube folds back at its mouth into five pink scallops, and you can see three yellow-headed stamens coming out of the mouth of the pink tube. If you gently split the tube open you will discover that these stamens are clinging to its sides.

The green sepals of the Wild Valerian are also joined into a tube which has five teeth at the top, and after the pink petals are withered, this green tube sends up a tuft of beautiful feathery down.

The stem is dark and glossy. It is ribbed all over and is hollow inside.

In the Wild Valerian each leaf is divided into fingers, which grow in pairs on each side of a slender stalk. Sometimes there will be ten pairs of these little fingers, and you will notice that each finger is not placed exactly opposite its neighbour, but that they grow alternately.

2. SMALL BINDWEED

The Small Bindweed or Convolvulus is common everywhere. You find it in the hedge-banks, on waste places and in fields, and it blooms all summer.

This pretty plant is very well known by its pale pink or pure white flowers. These flowers have a narrow tube which fits into the small green sepal-cup. But round the mouth this tube widens out into a beautiful bell, and the edges of the bell are gracefully waved all round. Inside the flower there are curious markings like large cream-coloured rays, and you must notice how wonderfully the flower of the Bindweed is folded when it is in bud.

The stem of the Bindweed is very curious. It is twisted like a piece of rope. This stem clings to any stronger plant within reach, and it will twist itself round and round that plant till it nearly chokes it.

The leaves are dark and shiny with smooth edges, and they are shaped like the head of an arrow. Each leaf has a short stalk of its own.

3. FOXGLOVE

This is one of the handsomest of our wildflowers. It grows abundantly in woods, on banks and in fields, and it flowers all summer and autumn.

The Foxglove is a tall plant with a very stiff stem, from one side of which hang beautiful rose-pink and purple bells.

These fairy bells are daintily scolloped round the mouth, and the pale pink lining inside is dotted all over with purple spots. When you look down the mouth of a Foxglove bell you see that two long and two short stamens with large yellow-heads are clinging to its side, and rising from the centre of the bell there is a fat green seed-vessel which sends up a slender yellow thread.

Those bells which are nearest the bottom of the stem come out first, and the buds are always found at the top. Behind each bell there are five green sepals with sharp points, and wherever the flower-stalk joins the main stem there is always a small green leaf.

The Foxglove leaves are broad and long, and they are pointed at the end. Each leaf is covered with a network of fine veins. These leaves are grey-green in colour, and the underside is hoary with soft, white woolly down.

PLATE XLII: 1. BROAD-LEAVED WILLOW HERB 2. CORN COCKLE 3. CROSS-LEAVED PINK HEATH

1. BROAD-LEAVED WILLOW HERB

The Broad-leaved Willow Herb is common in most parts of Britain. You find it growing on old walls, in woods and under hedges, and it blooms all summer and autumn.

It is a tall, thin plant, and has small pink flowers with four petals, each of which has a V-shaped notch cut in the outer edge. Behind these pink petals there are four narrow pointed green sepals, and within the flower grow eight stamens with tiny yellow heads. Amongst these stamens you can see the slender pillar which rises from the seed-vessel; it is divided at the top into four yellow rays.

The flowers grow singly, each at the end of a long thin pod which is slightly red in colour. When the petals and the green calyx fall off, this pod grows larger, and as soon as the seeds inside are ripe, it splits open into four strips, and each strip is lined with a row of small brown hairy seeds.

The leaves of this Willow Herb are oval, with pointed tips, and they are cut into sharp teeth all round the edge. These leaves are dark green, and usually they are smooth all over, but you sometimes find leaves which have hairs along the veins.

The stem is quite smooth, and it is red on the side which gets most sunshine.