Part 16

IV. Zigzag or Meadow Clover (T. medium). Leaflets more pointed than in pratense, and spotless. Stem branched in such a manner as to give it a peculiarly zigzag appearance. Heads larger, and of a deeper purple than pratense. Calyx-teeth half the length of corolla. Pod splitting lengthwise. Pastures, flourishing in lighter soils than pratense. June to September.

V. Soft Knotted Trefoil (T. striatum). Stem more or less reclining, downy or silky. Flower-heads both terminal and axillary, small, rosy-red, broader at the base. Calyx-tube swollen, ribbed, contracted at mouth, teeth not so long as corolla. Dry pastures. June and July.

VI. Rough Rigid Trefoil (T. scabrum). Stems rigid, prostrate. Leaflets rigid, toothed, the veins thickened. Flower-heads broadest in middle. Flowers small, the corolla white, calyx purple; calyx-teeth as long as corolla. Chalky and sandy pastures near sea. May to July.

VII. Dutch Clover (T. repens). Stems smooth, creeping, but not rooting. Leaflets often with a dark spot at the base, below a whitish band. Heads of flowers globose, all produced from the axils, on long stalks. The flowers white or pinkish, attached by short stalks, which are recurved after flowering, so that the pods are all drooping. Meadows and pastures. May to October.

VIII. Strawberry-headed Clover (T. fragiferum). Similar in habit to the last. Flower-head globose, of small purple-red flowers, much larger after flowering, when the calyces swell and take on a red colour, which increases size of head to an inch in diameter, and gives it a strawberry-like aspect. Meadows and pastures. July and August.

IX. Hop Trefoil (T. procumbens). (See Figure on p. 47.) This must not be confounded with the Hop Trefoil of the farmer (Medicago lupulina), in which the flowers are borne in spikes (see p. 73). The stems are downy, one growing erect, others all round it creeping. The flowers are pale yellow, crowded in the heads, the upper petal (standard) broad, and arched over the straight pod, turning bright brown, which gives the head the appearance of a hop strobile. The pods are always so covered in this species, whereas, in Medicago lupulina they are naked. Dry pastures and roadsides. June to August.

X. Small Yellow Trefoil (T. dubium). Stems slight, creeping, nearly smooth. Heads smaller, on long slender stalk. Flowers yellow, the standard narrow, keeled, turning dark brown after flowering and wrapped round the pod. Similar situations and date to last.

Onobrychis sativa.

--LEGUMINOSÆ.--]

Euphrasia officinalis.

--SCROPHULARINEÆ.--]

=Sain Foin= (Onobrychis sativa). Plate 49.

Still keeping to the Leguminous plants, we have here a handsome herb of aspect very different from that of the Trefoils. It is much cultivated as a fodder plant in dry fields, but will also be found growing wild on chalk-hills and downs. It is, however, suspected of being an escape from cultivation that has taken to an independent life. The plant springs from a perennial woody rootstock, and its stout downy stems are more or less erect. The leaves are pinnate, the leaflets in about twelve pairs and a terminal one. The flowers are in spikes, the standard broad; bright clear pink, veined with a deeper rosy tint. The pod is semicircular, wrinkled, and contains but one seed. Flowers June to August. The name is derived from two Greek words, signifying the braying of an ass, because that animal is fabled to bray after it when he sees but cannot reach it.

=Eyebright= (Euphrasia officinalis).

From the close-cropped turf of our commons and in meadows the bright eyes of this plant peep out through the summer. In such situations it is a very lowly herb, only an inch or so in height, but in some places, as in the pastures of the Highlands, it grows erect to a height of nearly a foot, with many opposite branches. The leaves are ovate, opposite, without stalks, and of a dark-green hue. The flowers are borne near the extremities of the branches. Some of the flowers are much larger than others, and in the larger the stigmas ripen before the anthers; in the smaller the anthers mature before the stigmas. The tubular calyx is divided into four sharp lobes. The corolla is white, streaked with purple, except the central lobe of the lower lip, which is yellow. This is the only native species of the genus--which is comprised in the order Scrophularineæ--though there are several varietal forms. Flowers from May to September. The name is from the Greek, Euphraino, to delight or gladden, in allusion to the pleasing contrast of its bright flowers with the dark foliage, or from its supposed efficacy for complaints affecting the eyes--its removal of these giving gladness.

The plant is--at least partially--a parasite, and preys upon the roots of other plants, which it robs. Probably the lowly forms to which we have referred may be less parasitic than those of greater stature; for if the seeds are sown in pots by themselves they will germinate and grow, but will never get large robust plants.

=Great Reed Mace= (Typha latifolia).

Of late years it has become the general error to call this plant Bulrush, a name which belongs by right to Scirpus lacustris. Every autumn the hawkers in London and other cities offer the cylindrical spikes of Typha for sale as æsthetic decorations, and call them bulrushes; but they are not the originators of the blunder. It is the artists who have done this thing, especially one Delaroche, whose picture of “The Finding of Moses” is of world-wide popularity. In that painting he depicted the future leader of his people rocking in his ark amid a forest of Typha. What more was needed to associate the word bulrush of the Bible (itself a blunder of the learned translators) with this plant?

Typha latifolia.

--TYPHACEÆ.--]

Anthyllis vulneraria.

--LEGUMINOSÆ.--]

There are two British species, perennial plants with long, narrow, grass-like leaves, the bases of which sheath the stem. The stamens and pistils are produced in separate flowers, but upon the same plant. The flowers have no perianth other than a few slender hairs. The staminate flowers occupy the upper portion of the well-known spike or “mace,” and consist simply of several stamens joined together, the anthers opening along their sides. The pistillate flowers consist of a stalked ovary with a slender style and a one-sided narrow stigma. The specific differences are as follows:--

I. Great Reed Mace (T. latifolia). Leaves as much as an inch and a half broad, in two rows, bluish-green. Flowering stem naked, 6 or 7 feet high. Staminate and pistillate spikes continuous, or but slightly interrupted. Growing in lakes and on the banks of rivers. Flowering in July and August.

II. Lesser Reed Mace (T. angustifolia). Whole plant smaller. Leaves half the width, dark green, grooved at lower end. Staminate and pistillate spikes separated by an interval. Stigmas broader. Ditches and pools. Less common than latifolia. Flowering July.

Name from Greek, Tiphos, a fen or marsh, from the habitat.

=Kidney Vetch= (Anthyllis vulneraria).

The Kidney-vetch or Lady’s fingers was celebrated from early times as a plant that was efficacious in the cure of wounds, and hence its specific name vulneraria. There is no doubt that this reputation was well-founded, for its bluish leaves are covered with silky hairs and its calyces downy. It is a perennial herb that affects dry pastures and rocky banks. From a woody rootstock arise several stems and a large number of radical leaves; these consist of a long terminal leaflet and two disproportionately small lateral leaflets. The leaves from the stems (caudal leaves) have a larger number of leaflets in pairs, as well as a terminal one. The flowers are borne in heads, with an involucre of leaflets, and the heads are chiefly in pairs. The calyx is membranous, and therefore permanent, the mouth oblique, with fine teeth. The petals are nearly equal in length, and typically yellow, but subject to considerable variation. After flowering the straw-coloured calyx becomes inflated, and the roundish smooth and veined pod with its solitary seed is hidden within. In some of the coast localities for this plant it will be found with flowers white, cream-coloured, crimson, and purple; this has been especially noted at the Lizard in Cornwall. It is ordinarily in flower from June to August. This is the only British species.