On moist heaths, especially in the west of Britain, we commonly meet with the Lesser Skull-cap (Scutellaria minor), another of the Labiates. It is a little plant, seldom more than six inches high, with pale pink flowers that bloom from July to October. The stem is rather slender, and branched; and the paired leaves are broadly ovate below, narrower above, obtuse, very shortly stalked, and either entire or slightly toothed. The flowers are only a quarter of an inch long, shortly stalked, and usually placed singly in the axils of the leaves. The calyx has two lips, the upper of which bears, on the middle of its back, a prominent hollow scale; and the corolla has a long tube with two small lips, the lower of which is divided into three lobes.
The Autumnal Lady's Tresses.
The Dwarf Silky Willow (Salix repens—order Salicaceæ) is very common on heaths. It is a small, straggling shrub, from one to three feet high, sometimes erect, but more commonly procumbent and rooting at the base, with slender branches. Its leaves are often less than an inch in length, oblong or narrow, with recurved margins, shining above and silky below. When young, the leaves are silky on both sides; and the young twigs and the buds are also clothed with a silky down. The flowers are imperfect, and are in short, sessile, erect, oblong catkins, which appear in April and early May, before the leaves. The male and female flowers grow on different shrubs; but in both cases the catkins are about half an inch long, with a few leafy bracts at the base, and the flowers are intermixed with silky scales. The capsules split when ripe, liberating numerous minute seeds that are tufted with long, white, silky hairs.
The Juniper (Juniperus communis), one of the few British conifers, is not uncommon on dry, gravelly or chalky downs, more especially in the North. It is a profusely-branched, evergreen shrub, either erect or procumbent, and usually from one to five feet high. Its leaves are very narrow, half an inch or less in length, concave above, terminating in a very sharp point, and arranged three in a whorl. The male and female flowers grow on separate shrubs, and are clustered in minute catkins, about a twelfth of an inch long, sessile in the axils of the leaves. The fruit is a bluish-black, berrylike cone, about a third of an inch in diameter. The Juniper flowers during May and June.
The Butcher's Broom, in Fruit.
Passing now to the Orchidaceæ we have to note two species, the first of which is the Autumnal Lady's Tresses (Spiranthes autumnalis), a moderately common plant on the dry downs of South Britain, flowering from August to October. It has two or three thick, oval tubers; and a slender stem, from four to eight inches high, with sheathing, acute scales. The radical leaves, four or five in number, are about an inch long, ovate, sharp, and form a tuft by the side of the stem. The flowers are small, white, scented, and form a single, spiral line on the stem; but while each flower is turned to one side, its bract is erect on the other side of the stem. The sepals and petals are much alike. The upper sepals are joined to the petals, and the lateral ones curve over the base of the lip of the corolla.
The other plant of this order is the very common Spotted Palmate Orchis (Orchis maculata), abundant on the moist heaths and commons of most parts of Britain, flowering from June to August. Its root has two or three flattened tubers with long, finger-like lobes; and the stem is solid, erect, from six inches to more than a foot high. The leaves are ovate below, narrow above, and usually marked with many dark spots. The spike of flowers is dense, oblong or pyramidal in form, and two or three inches long. At the base of each flower is a bract usually shorter than the ovary. The flowers are pale purple, lilac, or (occasionally) white, and are generally conspicuously marked with irregular lines and spots of a deeper tint. The sepals are spreading, about a quarter of an inch long; and the petals are arched over the column. The lip is broad, deeply three-lobed, more or less toothed, either flat or with the lateral lobes slightly turned back. The spur is slender and a little shorter than the ovary. This Orchis is represented on Fig. 6 of [Plate VI].
