Part 15

Late in Autumn the fronds sink to the bottom of the ponds and ditches, and remain there hibernating till Spring, when they arise to the surface, and again vegetate. The name of the genus is the old Greek appellation of the plant Lemna, supposed to be derived from Lepis, a scale.

=Corn Chamomile= (Anthemis arvensis).

We have already described several species of Compositæ, and now return to that order to describe a type of flower very similar in general appearance to the Daisy (page 1). The Corn Chamomile is an annual plant; the lower portion of its stem is prostrate, sending up erect branches with alternate, prettily cut leaves, twice pinnate. The flower-heads are borne singly on long stalks, and the floral envelope (involucre) consists of a number of over-lapping scales (bracts), whose margins are dry and chaffy. The base (receptacle) upon which the florets are packed is convex and covered with little chaffy scales, which stand up between the florets. The disc-florets contain both anthers and pistil; the ray-florets are pistillate only. The whole plant is downy. It occurs in fields and waste places, flowering from May to August. Though somewhat widely distributed, it is a local plant. The name is an old Greek name for the Chamomile, from anthemon, a flower, probably owing to the profusion of its blossoms.

The other British species of the genus are two only:--

I. The Stinking May Weed (A. cotula). Ray-florets usually without pistils. The plant is smooth or hairy, not downy, but the leaves are quite smooth, and covered with minute glands, which secrete a fœtid-smelling and acrid juice, causing swelling of the hands in persons clearing fields of this weed. The flower-stalks are more slender than in arvensis, and the involucral bracts are narrower at their tips. Fields, wastes and roadsides; very common in South of England, rare in the North. Flowers June to September.

II. The Chamomile (A. nobilis). Perennial. Branches spreading from the root, leafy and furrowed, hollow. Leaves woolly, aromatic. Flower-stalk long and slender; involucre downy and chaffy. The ray-florets are sometimes wanting. In great favour as a remedy for indigestion. Gravelly pastures and dry wastes in England and Ireland. Rare. It is not a native of Scotland. Flowers July to September.

=St. John’s Wort= (Hypericum perforatum).

There are no less than eleven native species of St. John’s Wort, all characterized by a neat habit, clean-cut leaves without stalks, yellow flowers in cymose clusters, and a multitude of stamens, which are more or less joined in several bundles.

The species represented on our plate is one of the commonest, and occurs in copses and hedgebanks throughout the kingdom, as far north as Sutherland, flowering from July to September. It is very erect in habit, the stems two-edged, pale brown and smooth, two or three feet high. If the leaves are held up to the light it will be found that the veins (but not the reticulations) are pellucid, and that the leaf is thickly dotted with pellucid glands. The flowers are 1 to 1¼ inch in diameter. The calyx, corolla, and sometimes leaves are more or less marked with black dots and lines. The sepals and petals are each five in number; the ovary large, pear-shaped, surmounted by three long styles, which are longer than the ovary. The stamens joined in three bundles by their bases only. Sepals glandular.

Among the other British species are:--

I. Square-stalked St. John’s Wort (H. tetrapterum). Stem with four narrow wings, 1 to 2 feet, leaves broader than in perforatum, but the glands, veins and reticulations are pellucid. Styles shorter than the ovary. Flowers dense, ½ to ¾ inch. across. Moist places, July and August.

Hypericum perforatum.

--HYPERICINEÆ.--

=Hop Trefoil.=

Trifolium procumbens.

--LEGUMINOSÆ.--]

Trifolium pratense.

--LEGUMINOSÆ.--]

II. Trailing St. John’s Wort (H. humifusum). Stems slender, compressed, prostrate, not exceeding a foot. Leaves small, oblong; glands pellucid; the margins are often marked with black glands, and are sometimes rolled back. Flowers, ½ inch across. Sepals unequal. Styles very short. Commons and wastes. July and August.

III. Small Upright St. John’s Wort (H. pulchrum). Stems slender, round, smooth, erect. Leaves heart-shaped, with pellucid glands. Sepals small, oblong, with black glandular teeth. Petals yellow, tinged with red, and edged with black glands. Styles short; anthers red. Flowers ¾ inch, loose panicles. Dry woods and heaths. June and July.

IV. Hairy St. John’s Wort (H. hirsutum). Stem erect, round, downy. Leaves large, with short stalks, downy beneath, pellucid glands. Sepals very narrow, half length of petals, with black glandular teeth. Woods and thickets, especially on chalk. July and August.

V. Tutsan (H. androsæmum). Stem shrubby, compressed, 2 feet high. Flowers few, ¾ inch across. Sepals unequal, glandular, except margin. Petals and stamens not permanent. Stamens in five bundles. Styles shorter than stamens. Hedges and thickets. July to September.

=Clovers= (Trifolium).

Everybody knows a Clover when he sees it; it is therefore unnecessary to take up our space with a general description. Their great value as pasture plants has caused their typical forms of flower and leaf to be well known; but we have so many native species, to say nothing of the introduced kinds, that few besides botanists and agriculturists are acquainted with their specific characters.

All the Clovers or Trefoils are Leguminous plants, and the structure of the individual flower is very similar to that of Lotus and Vicia; but the flowers are much smaller, and are gathered into a conspicuous head. In certain species there are floral bracts, and in some these form an involucre. It is characteristic of most of the clovers that when the seed is set the petals do not fall off, but simply dry up and wrap round the pod. The name of the genus is Latin, and signifies three-leaved. The principal British species are:--

I. Subterranean Trefoil (T. subterraneum), so called from its singular habit of burying its pods in the earth when they are ripening. The plant has many creeping stems, covered with soft hairs. The heads of flowers are cream-coloured, and are produced in the axils. The individual flowers are long and slender; only a few in each head are fertile, and in this species the petals fall off early. The pod is a compressed orb. Dry, gravelly pastures. May and June.

II. Hare’s-foot Trefoil (T. arvense). Stems almost erect. Flower-heads numerous, dense, cylindric, softly hairy; flowers pinky-white, minute; teeth of the calyx longer than the corolla. Corn-fields and dry pastures. July to September.

III. Common Purple or Red Clover (T. pratense). (See figure.) This is the clover so commonly grown in meadows as an important ingredient in the hay-crop. Its large oval leaflets are frequently marked with a whitish band that takes more or less of a quarter-moon shape. Its flower-heads are round, afterwards becoming longer than broad, purplish red in colour. Calyx-teeth slender, bristly, not longer than corolla. Top of pod dropping off when ripe. This is the clover Darwin made famous by showing that the cultivated forms must die out but for the humble-bees, whose tongues alone are long enough to fertilize its long flowers. Meadows, pastures and roadsides. May to September.