This unpleasant-smelling plant is common all over the country, except in the North of Scotland. It grows in woods and copses and on hedge-banks, and it blooms in early summer.
Each flower grows on a short stalk, in a loose cluster at the end of a stout juicy stem. When in bud these flowers are all enclosed in a brown sheath, which bursts open in two pieces as soon as the flowers are ready to expand.
Each flower has six narrow white pointed petals, opening flat out like a star. There is a short yellow-headed stamen clinging to each of these white petals. In the centre of the flower, among the white petals, is a green seed-vessel, which is divided into three small oval balls. A slender pillar rises from amongst these small seed-balls.
There are no sepals in this flower.
The leaves of the starry-white Ransoms are not unlike those of the Lily of the Valley. They have long lines running from base to tip, and are a delicate pale-green in colour.
1. MOSSY SAXIFRAGE. 2. MARSH PENNYWORT.
3. INTERMEDIATE WINTERGREEN.