Houseleek (Sempervivum tectorum).
Although the Houseleek is not a true native of Britain it has been so long established on old walls and the roofs of out-houses that it is quite a familiar object in a country ramble. As its scientific name (from semper, always, and vivum, fresh, green) indicates, it dies hard, and alike endures frost and drought. The story is told of one that a botanist tried hard for eighteen months to dry for his herbarium, but failing in his object planted it again, and it grew as though nothing had occurred to interfere with its ordinary life. The leaves are borne on the flowerless stems in the form of a rosette, the oldest flat, the youngest erect; thick, fleshy, the edges purple, tips sharply pointed. Flowering stems with alternate leaves; flowers dull purple in cymes. Sepals twelve, petals twelve, stamens twenty-four, but twelve of these are imperfect or aborted. Flowers June and July.
Yellow Melilot (Melilotus officinalis).
Occasionally on roadside wastes, railway banks and similar refuges for the vagabonds of plant-life, especially if it be in the Eastern counties, the rambler comes across a slender plant with loosely trifoliate leaves on long stalks, and long narrow racemes of pale yellow flowers. These flowers, considered individually, are seen to be shaped like several we have already considered ([see page 43]), with a certain amount of variation, of course. This is the Common Yellow Melilot, a plant that is not truly indigenous, but one that has been cultivated in this country for a great number of years, and of which some escapes from the meadows have settled like gipsy squatters on the unenclosed wastes. But the field-path rambler is sure to come across it in the meadows, so it is as well that he should know it. It will be at once noted that the flowers are all drooping from the flower-stem, and that when the petals drop off they reveal a similarly drooping olive-coloured pod, which is small, egg-shaped and rough, with transverse ribs. In the process of drying Melilot develops an odour similar to that of the Sweet Vernal-grass that gives the pleasant scent to new-mown hay. Flowers June to August.
There are two truly indigenous species:—
I. Tall Melilot (M. altissima), with deep yellow flowers. Pod compressed, covered with net-like markings, hairy, black when ripe. Fields. June to August.
II. White Melilot (M. alba). More slender than the last, with smaller white flowers. Pod stouter, smooth, black. Waste places. July and August.
The name of the genus is compounded of mel, honey, and lotus, the name of another genus = the lotus with the sweet or honeyed smell.
Field Melilot.
Melilotus officinalis.
—Leguminosæ.—
