[VII]
WAYSIDES AND WASTES IN SPRING
In the present chapter we shall consider a number of wild flowers that are to be found by the waysides, including banks and hedgerows, and in waste places, during the spring months.
Our first example is the Celandine (Chelidonium majus), of the Poppy family (order Papaveraceæ), generally spoken of as the Greater Celandine in order to distinguish it from the Lesser Celandine (p. [108]), which belongs to the Ranunculaceæ. This plant is moderately common in shady hedgerows and waste places, grows to a height of from one to two feet, and flowers from May to July or August. It has a yellow, pungent, poisonous sap. The leaves are pinnate, with an odd leaflet at the tip, of a glaucous green colour; and all the leaflets are bluntly lobed. The flowers are yellow, from three-quarters to an inch in diameter, and are arranged in long-stalked umbels. As in the poppies, there are two sepals which fall early, and four petals which are crumpled in the bud. There are numerous stamens, attached below the superior ovary; and the latter ripens into a pod-like capsule of one chamber, about an inch and a half in length, which splits, when ripe, into two valves.
The Shepherd's Purse
The Order Cruciferæ is well represented by the wayside and on waste ground during the spring months, and the reader will do well to note the general characters of the flowers of this order (p. [17]), unless already acquainted with them, before attempting to identify the species here described. Our first example—the Shepherd's Purse (Capsella Bursa-pastoris) is a well-known weed, often troublesome in our gardens, and may be seen in bloom from February to October. It is an erect herb, from six to eighteen inches high, which may be identified at once by reference to our illustration. The small white flowers are in lengthening racemes, and are often made less conspicuous by the conversion of the four petals into stamens. This weed is easily distinguished from all the other plants of the order by the form of the fruit, which is triangular and inversely heart-shaped. When ripe, it splits into two boat-shaped, keeled valves, which separate from a central membrane to which the seeds are attached.
The Common Scurvy Grass (Cochlearia officinalis) is to be found chiefly on the sea shore, but it often extends for miles inland, especially along the banks of the estuaries of rivers. It is a smooth, succulent plant, from four to eight inches high. The little white flowers have spreading petals, and are arranged in a short raceme; and the fruit is globular or oval, nearly a quarter of an inch long, pointed at the top, with several seeds in each cell. This plant commences to flower in May, and continues in bloom until August.
The Common Whitlow Grass (Draba verna) is a very small and inconspicuous plant, abundant on banks and hedgerows, bearing minute, white flowers in April and May. It has a cluster of narrow, toothed, hairy, radical leaves, from a quarter to half an inch long, that spread horizontally close to the ground; and a leafless stem, from one to four inches long, bearing a raceme of flowers on slender pedicels. The petals of the flowers are deeply notched; and the fruits are oblong, about a quarter of an inch long and half that width, containing many seeds.
The Scurvy Grass.