The Corn Chamomile (Anthemis arvensis), of the same order, is not unfrequently seen in corn fields, flowering from June to August. It is much like the Scentless Mayweed (p. [188]) and the Common Chamomile (p. [268]) in general appearance, but may be easily distinguished with a little care. It is a rather coarse plant, more or less clothed with a silky down; and its freely-branched stem is usually erect, and from one to two feet high. The leaves are pinnate, with leaflets divided into very narrow, almost hairlike segments; and the flower-heads are rather large, with white ray and yellow disc, solitary on the tops of leafy stalks. The involucre bracts are acute; the receptacle conical; and ray florets always possess a style.
The Climbing Bistort.
The Stinking Chamomile or Stinking Mayweed (Anthemis Cotula) is another similar corn-field plant, but it may be readily recognised by the minute glands dotted over its surface, the acrid secretion of which emits a fœtid odour when rubbed, and often blisters the hand. The plant is generally smooth, with an erect, branched stem, from nine to fifteen inches high; and pinnate leaves with leaflets divided into short, narrow, pointed lobes. The flowers are similar to those of the previous species, on the tops of long, leafy stalks; but the receptacle, at first convex, lengthens to a tall cone; and the white ray-florets have no style. The involucre bracts are also very narrow, bristly at the top; and the fruits are rendered rough by numerous little glandular projections. This plant flowers from June to September.
The Corn Bellflower or Wild Venus's Looking-glass (Campanula hybrida), of the order Campanulaceæ, is not uncommon in the cornfields of the chalky districts of South and East England. It is an erect plant, from six to ten inches high, bearing purple, blue, or (occasionally) white flowers from July to September. In addition to the general features shown in our illustration we may note that its long, inferior ovary is three-angled; and that the fruit splits, when ripe, by the formation of slits near the top.
In the order Boraginaceæ we have the Small Bugloss (Lycopsis arvensis), a branched plant, from six inches to two feet in height, covered all over with stiff bristles that are swollen at the base. Its leaves are oblong or very narrow, wavy, and sometimes toothed; the upper ones sessile and often clasping the stem; and the lower frequently shortly stalked. The flowers are small, pale blue, in simple or branched, one-sided spikes. They have a deeply-cleft calyx of five segments; and the species may be distinguished from other, somewhat similar plants of the same order by the form of the tube of the corolla, which is always bent in the middle. This plant is very common in the corn fields of most parts; and flowers during June and July.
The Dwarf Spurge.
Our next flower is the pretty little Scarlet Pimpernel or Poor Man's Weather Glass (Anagallis arvensis) of the Primrose order (Primulaceæ), which is very common in cornfields and on other cultivated ground, flowering from May to very late in the autumn. The stem of this plant is procumbent and much branched, the branches sometimes reaching a length of considerably more than a foot; and its leaves are opposite, sessile, broadly ovate, undivided, and dotted beneath. The little flowers are solitary in the axils of the leaves, on long, slender peduncles that are always curved backwards as the fruits ripen. The calyx is deeply cleft into five pointed segments; and the bright scarlet (occasionally pink or white) corolla, fringed with minute hairs, spreads its five lobes only in sunny weather. The fruit is a little globular capsule, enclosed in the persistent calyx, splitting transversely into two hemispheres when ripe.