Field and Woodland Plants

by William S. Furneaux

A large number of wind-dispersed fruits and seeds are ripe long before the autumn sets in, and have already been distributed by the summer breezes; but now, with fewer flowers to attract attention, one can give more time to the observations of the movements of tufted and winged seeds and fruits as they sail through the air. And, as we brush by the hedgerows and the borders of fields in search of various flowers and fruits, we soon become acquainted with a variety of bristled, hooked, and barbed fruits that are effectually dispersed by the agency of animals, quite a large number of these having securely fastened themselves to our clothing.

Many fruits remain attached to their plants long after the last flowers, and even the leaves, have entirely disappeared. Some of these await the gales of late autumn and winter, and being now no longer sheltered from the wind, are carried to the spots where they are to produce new plants in the following spring; while sheep and other animals, wandering farther afield in search of food, carry away numerous hooked fruits in their woolly or hairy coats.

The feathered fruits of the Wild Clematis adorn the hedgerows throughout the greater part of the cold season, and form a striking feature of the wayside until they have been dispersed by the winter storms; and the hips of the Wild Rose, as well as the berries and drupes of various shrubs, now rendered more conspicuous by their bright colouring and the absence of foliage, are devoured by birds which afterwards deposit the indigestible and, therefore, uninjured seeds, with their excrement, at some distant spot.

Should the reader be interested in the various ways in which the dehiscent fruits discharge their seeds, he will do well to collect a number of species, as yet unopened, and expose them to the sun in a dry place. He will then be able to note not only the directions and extent of the dehiscence, but also to observe the forcible ejection of seeds by those which split elastically, or which, by other mechanical contrivances, have the power of throwing their seeds a considerable distance.

We may find still another subject for study in the beautiful autumn tints assumed by the leaves of many plants. Such tints are, of course, most conspicuous in the foliage of our forest trees and shrubs; and, when speaking of these, we shall have a word or two to say with regard to the nature of the internal changes that give rise to the beautiful display of colours; but not a few of the hedgerow herbs and shrubs exhibit tints equally rich and varied. Note, for instance, the pretty Herb Robert, still in flower in sheltered places, its blossoms standing out beyond a background of richly-coloured leaves.

The vigorous summer growth of flowery banks and hedgerows is often closely trimmed with the sickle for the greater convenience of pedestrians and vehicular traffic, all the flowers and overhanging twigs being closely cut, and the wayside thus destroyed from the Nature-student's point of view; but the ground so denuded has recovered itself by the autumn, and a second crop of flowers, arising from the old stocks, often later than their normal season, is frequently the result.

A considerable number of summer flowers continue to bloom during the autumn months, while a few are truly autumnal, and are not to be found till the summer has nearly or quite passed.

In corn-fields we may still meet with the beautiful Pheasant's-eye (Adonis autumnalis), and in fields the Hairy Buttercup (Ranunculus hirsutus), the Daisy (Bellis perennis) and the Red Hemp-nettle (Galeopsis Ladanum) are yet in flower, while the Annual Meadow Grass (Poa annua) continues to produce new flowers to the end of the year.

On sunny banks in chalk districts we still see the delicate Rock Rose (Helianthemum vulgare); and on banks almost everywhere the Wild Clary (Salvia Verbenaca), and the still more hardy Milfoil (Achillea millefolium), Knapweeds (Centaurea nigra and C. Scabiosa), Field Scabious (Knautia arvensis), Dark Mullein (Verbascum nigrum) and the Toadflax (Linaria vulgaris).

Then, on downs and heaths we find the Yellow Bedstraw (Galium verum), the crimson flowers of the Fine-leaved Heath (Erica cinerea), and the rose-coloured or white blossoms of the Heather or Ling (Calluna vulgaris): also the Carline Thistle (Carlina vulgaris), with its inner involucral bracts broadly spreading while the sun shines, but bent inwards to protect the florets during dull weather when the insects are at rest, the lilac flower-heads of the Devil's-bit Scabious (Scabiosa succisa) and the Small Scabious (S. Columbaria), and the conspicuous flowers of the Chamomile (Anthemis nobilis), all standing out in bold relief against the background of autumnal foliage.