Part 19

=Common Comfrey= (Symphytum officinale).

Often in May and June, as we wander by the riverbank or brookside, we shall happen upon this very coarse but striking plant, though its flowers may not be of the hue depicted here; its colour varies from pale yellow to red and purple. It is one of those plants whose individuality is so strong that, once seen, it will not be forgotten or confused with any other species. It has a branched rootstock, giving off stalked leaves, and an erect angular stem. The stem-leaves are all but stalkless, their bases running down the stem in such a manner as to give it a winged character. The whole plant is rough with bristles. The genus belongs to the order Boragineæ, whose floral structure has been already described (see pages 9 and 26 ante), but the present inflorescence may be noted as a capital example of the “scorpioid cyme,” so called from its curve resembling the curl in a scorpion’s tail!

There is another British species, the Tuberous Comfrey (S. tuberosum), which is usually found in wet copses, but not south of Bedford. It is not nearly so rough as its congener, although distinctly hairy. Rootstock thickened, radical leaves with longer stalks than in S. officinale. The stem-leaves do not run far down the stem, so that it is not so obviously winged, and the flowers are smaller. Pale yellow. June and July.

The name is derived from the Greek sumphuo, to unite, it having great reputation formerly as a woundwort.

=Common Red Poppy= (Papaver rhœas).

The Poppy is another of those plants concerning which it may be thought that neither illustration nor description is necessary; but there are poppies and poppies; and though the rambler may gather a bunch of flowers from various situations and consider them all the same, a few words of description may serve to point out considerable differences.

Through the Poppy we make acquaintance with another Natural Order, the Papaveraceæ, and its typical genus, Papaver. The plants comprised in the genus are annual herbs, with milky juice of a narcotic nature. The flowers are borne on very long slender stalks, and consist of two concave sepals, which are thrown off by the expanding of the four crumpled petals. The pistil, which afterwards develops into the familiar “poppy-head,” is surmounted by the many stigmas which form a rayed disk.

I. The Common Poppy (P. rhœas), which is so unpleasantly abundant in cornfields south of the Tay, has branched bristly stems and pinnate leaves, the points of the lobes directed upward and ending each in a bristle. The bristles on the flower-stalks stand out at right angles, or nearly so. This is an important character. The scarlet flowers are large (3 or 4 inches in diameter), the petals in two unequal pairs. Rays of stigma eight to twelve. Capsule smooth and short, slightly stalked above the receptacle. Flowers June to September.

II. Round Rough-headed Poppy (P. hybridum). Leaves only slightly bristly. Flower small (1 to 2 inches), scarlet, with a black patch at the base of each petal. Stigmatic rays, four to eight. Capsule more globose than the preceding species. Dry sandy and chalky fields south of Durham and Carnarvon. May to July.

III. Long Prickly-headed Poppy (P. argemone). Similar to last, but smaller and weaker in all respects--in fact, our smallest species. Petals narrow and paler in colour. Capsule bristly, club-shaped. Stigmatic rays, four to six. Cornfields. May to August.

IV. Long Smooth-headed Poppy (P. dubium). Similar to P. rhœas, but the bristles are pressed against the stalk upwards. Flowers large, petals broad, but in unequal pairs, light scarlet. Stigmatic rays, six to twelve. Capsule slender, smooth, tapering downwards, not stalked above receptacle. Cornfields. May to August.

=The Greater Stitchwort= (Stellaria holostea)

One of the prettiest and most characteristic sights of Spring is the mass of brittle, grass-like stems and leaves of the Greater Stitchwort, crowned by the numerous flowers of gleaming white clear-cut stars. It starts life as an erect-growing plant, but is soon fain to lean against the other constituents of the hedgerow as its stems elongate but grow no stouter. It is a perennial plant, and its four-angled stems make their appearance very early in the year. The long, narrow, rigid, sharp-pointed leaves are arranged in pairs, which are more or less connected at their bases. The flowers are produced in a panicle of a few flowers only, which consist of five almost nerveless sepals, five petals which are as long again as the sepals and cleft almost to the middle. They are succeeded by a globose capsule containing many seeds. There are ten stamens and three styles. Flowers April to June.

Papaver rhœas.

--PAPAVERACEÆ.--]

Stellaria holostea.

--CARYOPHYLLEÆ.--]

The genus Stellaria is included in the Natural Order Caryophylleæ, or the Pink tribe, of which we shall have further examples.

I. The Lesser Stitchwort (S. graminea) is a similar, but much more slender plant, with exceedingly narrow leaves, smaller flowers arranged in a much-branched panicle, and with red anthers. After flowering the flower-stalks hang downwards, but afterwards rise to a horizontal position. The sepals are as long as the narrow petals, united at their bases, and have three nerves. Capsule nodding. Flowers May to July.

II. The Marsh Stitchwort (S. palustris). Smooth, with a fine bloom (glaucous). Sepals united at base, three-nerved, not so long as the petals. Flowers solitary on long stalks. Marshes and wet places. May to July.

III. The Common Chickweed (S. media), which we have already figured (plate 54 ante), is also a member of this genus. The stem trails along the ground, is very brittle and marked with a line of fine hairs up one side. The flowers are inconspicuous, on account of the sepals being longer than the petals, which are, in fact, often absent altogether. It grows everywhere, and maybe found flowering throughout the year. It has followed the Englishman wherever he has gone about the earth.

The name of the genus is from the Latin, Stella, a star, in reference to the star-like character of the blossoms.

=Silverweed= (Potentilla anserina).

The beautiful but too common Silverweed may be taken as a good representative of a genus of Rose-worts that may be conveniently called Cinquefoils, although the leaf of this species has many instead of five divisions. This is the plant that grows in dense patches by the roadside, erecting its long pinnate silky leaves and showing the silvery-greyness of the underside. Its rootstock is the centre from which many rooting runners radiate. The toothed leaflets are not opposite, as may appear at first sight, but alternate; and there is the very peculiar arrangement of two minute leaflets being placed between each two large ones. The flowers are large in proportion to the plant, of one uniform yellow, and borne singly on a long stalk. The calyx is cleft into ten lobes, the petals are five, stamens and carpels many. Although it is a common roadside weed, it may also be met growing abundantly and much more luxuriantly in wet pastures. It flowers chiefly from June to August, and sparingly much later in the year.

Among its more immediate congeners may be noted:--

I. The Tormentil (P. tormentilla), a tiny plant that is abundant on heaths and dry pastures. It has a thick rootstock, and slender, hairy, creeping stems. The leaves are cut into three, sometimes five, fingers, which are more or less wedge-shaped, the free end lobed or toothed. Flowers yellow, and similar to those of P. anserina, but smaller, and usually with only four petals. June to September.

II. Creeping Cinquefoil (P. reptans). Similar to P. tormentilla but larger. Leaflets five, sometimes three, petals five. Meadows and waysides. June to September.

III. Barren Strawberry (P. fragariastrum). Flowers white. March to June. The general characters of this impostor have been given on page 27, when describing the Wild Strawberry. The plant has a general silkiness which is foreign to the strawberry.