Part 40

The leaves of the Forget-me-not are long and narrow, with blunt points and smooth edges. They are as glossy as if they were wet, and they clasp the stem.

The lowest part of the stem is four-sided and hairy, and it creeps along the mud before it rises up to bear the leaves and flowers.

Plate XLVI: 1. COMMON BORAGE. 2. EVERGREEN ALKANET. 3. WOOD HYACINTH.

1. COMMON BORAGE

The Borage is not a very common plant, though it is widely distributed throughout the country. You find it on hedge-banks and in waste places, and it blooms in summer and autumn.

It has beautiful bright blue flowers, with five petals which are gracefully pointed at the tips. These flowers droop either singly or in clusters at the end of stout, hairy stalks.

The stamens of the Common Borage have no thread-like stalks; their purple heads are placed close together in a circle round the slender white pillar of the seed-vessel. Notice the curious purple horns that rise from the back of each stamen. There is a ring of dark purple scales with white blotches on them at the base of the petals. The calyx has five long narrow pointed sepals. These are covered with bristly hairs, and so are the leaves, stalks, and stem.

The leaves of the Borage are a dusty grey-green colour. Wherever the stem forks, you find a large stalkless leaf clasping it. These leaves are usually oval, but they are very varied in shape, and those leaves that rise from the root are frequently quite different.

The stem is light green and is round, with a hollow in the centre.

2. EVERGREEN ALKANET

Some people do not consider this one of our native plants, but it is widely distributed over the country. You find it in hedge-banks and by the roadside in spring and autumn.

The Alkanet is an erect, hairy plant, which is not quite so bristly as its cousin, the Common Borage.

The flowers have small blue tubes, lined inside with white, and there is a deeply waved sky-blue wheel round the mouth. When in bud the flowers are deep pink. These flowers grow either singly or two or three together, at the end of straight stalks which rise from between the leaf and the stem.

There are five purple-headed stamens clinging to the white lining of the tube, and there is also a tiny seed-vessel. These you cannot see until you pick the flower to pieces.

The mouth of the calyx-cup is edged with five blunt points, and it is covered with soft hairs.

The leaves also are covered with soft hairs and have scarcely any stalks, but grow singly on alternate sides of the stem. These leaves are oval, with smooth, regular edges. They are olive-green above and bluey-green underneath.

If you cut the stem across, near the ground, you will see that it is six-sided. It is a juicy stem, with scarcely any hollow in the centre, and it is covered with fine, soft hairs.

3. WOOD HYACINTH

The graceful Wood Hyacinth is one of our prettiest flowers. You will find the woods and hedge-banks covered with its masses of pale blue flowers in late spring and early summer.

The leaves appear first,--long, narrow green straps, with a point at the end, and each green strap looks as if it had been folded in the middle and not quite flattened out again.

These leaves spring from a bulb which lies deeply buried in the ground. Underneath this bulb are a few white thread-like roots.

The Hyacinth flowers grow, all on one side, towards the end of a tall and juicy flower-stalk. This flower-stalk droops when the flowers are in bud, and again when the flowers are faded. But it stands proudly erect when its bells are in full bloom.

Each bell is made up of six long, narrow petals. These petals are really separate, but about half way down, they touch each other and so form a bell. The tips of each petal fold back at the mouth.

There is a yellow-headed stamen clinging to the side of every petal, and in the centre of the bell sits a green pear-shaped seed-vessel, with a short pillar on the top. In the Wood Hyacinth there is no calyx.

Every blue bell hangs from a short stalk of its own, and wherever a flower-stalk joins the main stem there are two narrow pointed leaves.

PLATE XLVII: 1. FIELD GENTIAN. 2. SEA ASTER. 3. VIPER'S BUGLOSS.

1. FIELD GENTIAN

The Field Gentian is to be found in damp pastures all over the country, especially in Scotland, where it is very plentiful. It blooms in late summer and autumn.