Rye Grass or Darnel.
Sheep's Fescue.
Another species—the Butterfly Orchis (Habenaria bifolia)—has (usually) undivided tubers; a stem from six to twelve inches high with two broad leaves near the base, and surrounded below by a few sheathing scales; and a rather loose spike of white or greenish flowers with narrow bracts about as long as the ovaries. The petals and upper sepals are arched, the lateral sepals spreading, the lip narrow and undivided, and the spur about twice as long as the ovary. This flower is not uncommon in moist meadows, where it blooms from June to August. A large variety, with greener flowers, is sometimes known as the Great Butterfly Orchis.
A considerable number of summer-flowering grasses are more or less common in fields and meadows. We have not space for the descriptions of these, but introduce illustrations of a few, including the Cock's-foot Grass (Dactylis glomerata) which appears on [Plate IV].
[XV]
BOGS, MARSHES AND WET PLACES—SUMMER
The Crowfoot group of the Ranunculaceæ contains two bog-plants popularly known as Spearworts on account of their spear-like leaves. One of these—the Lesser Spearwort (Ranunculus Flammula)—is abundant in wet places, especially the edges of muddy pools and ditches, where its buttercup-like flowers may be seen from June to September. It is a slender, smooth plant, with a branched stem, more or less decumbent at the base, from four to twelve inches high. Its leaves are narrow-oval in form, stalked, and either slightly toothed or quite entire; and the yellow flowers are about half an inch in diameter, on long peduncles.