Part 17

The name is the one in use among the ancient Greeks, and signifies bearded flower, which is obviously a reference to the woolly calyces.

=Ox-eye Daisy= (Chrysanthemum leucanthemum).

We have already given several examples of Composite flowers, and an examination of the Ox-eye Daisy would quickly convince the reader that he has another Composite under consideration. The popular eye noted long ago its similarity to a big daisy, and named it accordingly. In Scotland, too, where the daisy is known as a “gowan,” the resemblance has been recorded by calling the Ox-eye a “horse gowan.” If reference be made back to the Daisy (page 1), it will be seen that the involucre consists of a single series of green scales, whilst in the Ox-eye this part of the flower consists of three or four series of scales with thin brown or purple edges, overlapping each other after the manner of the tiles on a roof. The white ray-florets are notched at the ends, unlike those of the Daisy. The Ox-eye, too, it will be noted, has a distinct stem, the leaves of which differ from those produced directly from the rootstock, being narrower, deeply toothed and stalkless. It is but too abundant in pastures and hay fields, which are effectively whitened by its flowers from May to August. The name is from two Greek words, Chrysos, golden, and anthemon, flowers, from the golden discs of the flower-heads.

There are two other British species:--

I. Corn Marigold (C. segetum). A troublesome annual weed in cornfields, but as handsome as it is mischievous. Its ray-florets are of a deep yellow hue, their tips not notched but divided into two lobes by a central indentation. The involucral bracts are broad, with wide margins. Flowers June to September.

II. Fever Few (C. parthenium). Like the Ox-eye, this is a perennial plant with a much-branched erect stem, broad pinnate leaves, downy and aromatic. The flower-heads are small, and are clustered in many-headed flat-topped bouquets (corymbs). The white rays are short and broad. Whole plant bitter and tonic. Waste places and hedgebanks. July to September.

Chrysanthemum leucanthemum.

--COMPOSITÆ.--]

Anagallis arvensis.

--PRIMULACEÆ.--

=Chickweed.=

Stellaria media.

--CARYOPHYLLEÆ.--]

=Pimpernel= (Anagallis arvensis).

The Scarlet Pimpernel, or Poor Man’s Weather-glass, is one of those wild flowers with which every country-dweller is acquainted, for it has long enjoyed a reputation as a cheap barometer, in consequence of its habit of closing the petals over the essential organs on the approach of rain. The genus Anagallis belongs to the order Primulaceæ, at whose characteristics we have already glanced (see page 2). It has a square stem, which lies along the ground and sends up many erect branches. The leaves are ovate, the margins entire, stalkless, usually borne in pairs, but occasionally in threes or fours. The flowers are produced singly, on very long and slender stalks, from the axils of the leaves. The sepals are narrow, sharp-pointed, almost as long as the corolla. When the flower has passed, their long stalks curve downwards with the globose seed-vessel. When these are ripe they open by a clean fissure all round, so that the upper half falls off and discloses the numerous seeds. There is a variety often found with blue flowers, which was formerly regarded as a distinct species, but experiments with the seeds have proved it to be a mere variety. One or other of these forms is common in all fields and wastes from May till November.

The Bog Pimpernel (A. tenella) is a distinct and very beautiful species. It has a creeping and rooting stem, with small broadly-ovate leaves on short stalks. The flower-stalks are shorter and stouter than in arvensis, and the sepals much shorter than the graceful pale-rosy funnel-shaped corolla, which is very large in proportion to the leaves and stem. It may be found in boggy places growing amid sphagnum-moss, and flowering in July and August. The name Anagallis is the old Greek name, and is made up of ana, again, and agallo, to adorn.

=Chickweed= (Stellaria media). Plate 54.

To utilize a blank space we have printed the portrait of the lowly and ubiquitous Chickweed, a plant that has followed English pioneers wherever they have gone about the world. It is thoroughly known to all, but for particulars concerning it and the genus the reader is referred to page 62.

=Fennel= (Fœniculum officinale).

To see the Fennel in its native haunts we must seek the coast where there are cliffs, up whose face we shall find its tall, stout, jointed stems and umbellate flowers. In this plant we make acquaintance with an important Natural Order, the Umbelliferæ, which includes such useful plants as Celery, Parsley, Carrot, Parsnip, Asafœtida, Anise, Dill, Hemlock, etc. The prevailing characteristics of this order are: The stems are hollow; the leaves, with few exceptions, are divided; the leaf-stalk at its base expands and forms a sheath to the stem; the flowers borne on long stalks arranged like the ribs of an umbrella; the flowers five-parted, the ovary below the petals and stamens, and the fruit what is known as a cremocarp.

Fennel grows to a height of three or four feet, with a round and tubular, but almost solid stem, quite solid at the joints, and grooved. The leaves are so much divided that the divisions are merely many green threads. The flowers are individually minute, the petals yellow, but to give them greater prominence they are gathered into umbels, and these are arranged in umbels of umbels, or what botanists would term compound umbels.

The ovary consists of two carpels placed face to face, in each of which is a single seed suspended like a nut in its shell (pericarp). Each of the carpels with its ripe seed is termed a mericarp, and the entire fruit is a cremocarp. It is hard on the reader to fling all these technical terms at him at once, but in truth there is no help for it. If he wishes to become acquainted with the extensive order of Umbelliferous plants he must constantly use these terms, for the fruits play an important part in distinguishing umbellifers of various genera.

Fœniculum officinale.

--UMBELLIFERÆ.--]

Drosera rotundifolia.

--DROSERACEÆ.--]

The mericarps in Fennel are half-round, and marked on the outside with five ridges, which mark the lines of union of the sepals (which are adherent to the carpels) and the central keels of the sepals. Between these ridges are tubes (vittæ) containing essential-oil, and it is to their presence that fruits of this order owe their aromatic qualities.

=The Round-leaved Sundew= (Drosera rotundifolia).