The Gold of Pleasure.
Cruciferous flowers are not at all abundant in fields and meadows during the summer months, but one species—the Gold of Pleasure (Camelina sativa)—may be seen in the flax-fields of South Britain and Ireland during June and July. The plant has a simple or slightly branched stem, from one to three feet high; and its leaves are all sessile, narrow, arrow-shaped, either entire or slightly toothed, with pointed lobes at the base. The flowers are small, yellow, arranged in a long, loose raceme; and the fruits are oval siliquas, with convex valves, a distinct central vein, and edges flattened into a narrow wing.
The Bladder Campion.
The order Caryophyllaceæ is represented in pastures by the Bladder Campion (Silene inflata or S. cucubalis)—a flower that is easily recognised among the Campions and the Catchflys by the globular calyx. The stem of the plant is semi-erect, branched below, and from two to three feet high. The leaves are sessile, smooth, oblong, usually acute, and placed in pairs on the jointed stem. The flowers are rather large, arranged in lax, terminal panicles, and often droop slightly. The calyx is globular, veined, and about half an inch or more in diameter; and the five petals, which are deeply cleft into two lobes, have each a scale at the base of the spreading limb. The plant is very widely distributed over Britain, and is very common in some districts, flowering during June and July.
The same order contains the White Campion (Lychnis vespertina)—a hairy plant, with a branched stem from one to two feet high, and rather large white or very pale pink flowers that open in the evening. It is abundant in most parts of Britain, and flowers during June and July. Its leaves are oval or oblong, usually pointed, and tapering towards the base. The flowers are in loose cymes, and imperfect; the staminate and the pistillate ones being usually on different plants. The calyx is generally more than half an inch long, hairy, with ten ribs and five narrow teeth. It is tubular at first, but becomes broadly oval, with a contracted mouth, as the fruit ripens. The five limbs of the corolla are spreading and rather deeply cleft into two parts; and the fruit is a capsule that splits at the top by ten teeth which remain erect or curve only slightly outwards. The plant is found principally in fields and in open waste ground.
The White Campion.
Our fields and pastures are particularly rich in flowers of the Pea family (order Leguminosæ) during the summer months; and of these we shall first note the pretty Kidney Vetch or Lady's Fingers (Anthyllis Vulneraria), which is common in the dry pastures of most parts of Britain. The whole plant is covered with short silky hairs which lie close against the surface; and the stem, from six inches to over a foot in length, is either erect or spreading. The leaves are pinnately divided into several entire leaflets which are half an inch or more in length, the terminal leaflet of the lower leaves being generally much larger than the others. The flowers, which bloom from June to August, are usually clustered into two dense heads at the tip of each stalk, with a deeply-divided bract at the base of each head. The calyx is densely covered with silky hairs; and the small corolla varies in colour from pale yellow to red.