Field and Woodland Plants

by William S. Furneaux

The Sweet Violet (Viola odorata)—the favourite flower of wayside banks—is common in many parts, and is generally very easily distinguished from other similar species of the order (Violaceæ) by its pleasing fragrance. It has a short root-stock, and, usually, long creeping runners. At the top of the stock is a cluster of long-stalked leaves, broadly heart-shaped in form, blunt, with crenate margins and a slightly downy surface. At the base of the leafstalks are very narrow, entire stipules; and from among these arise the slender flower-stalks, of about the same length as those bearing the leaves, with a pair of small bracts a little above the middle. The flowers are solitary, drooping, of a violet, lilac, or white colour, with obtuse sepals; a short, blunt, straight spur to the lower petal; and a hooked, pointed stigma. The conspicuous, scented flowers with which we are so well acquainted, bloom from March to April; but all through the summer the plant bears small petalless flowers that produce the seeds.

Of the order Caryophyllaceæ our first example is the Ciliated Pearlwort (Sagina ciliata), a small, creeping plant, flowering in May and June in dry places. The leaves are very small, narrow, ciliated, terminating abruptly in a sharp point; and the two of each pair are united at their bases. The flowers are very small and stalked; and the petals are either very minute or absent. The sepals, stamens, styles, and valves of the capsule, are each four; and the sepals lie close against the capsule.

The Procumbent Pearlwort (S. procumbens), also found in dry places, is a similar little plant, smooth and prostrate, with very small white flowers that appear in May and bloom till the end of the summer. The peduncles of this species curve backward just after flowering, but become erect afterwards; and the sepals, which are sometimes five in number, are not close against the fruit, as in the last, but spreading.

The Procumbent Pearlwort.

The genus Stellaria includes some plants with pretty, white, star-like flowers, some of which adorn our hedgerows in early spring. The most conspicuous of these is the Greater Stitchwort or Satin Flower (S. Holostea), the flowers of which are three-quarters of an inch in diameter, and are arranged in loose, leafy cymes. The sepals have no veins, and are about half as long as the petals, which are so deeply cleft that the flower, at first sight, appears to possess ten instead of five.

The Lesser Stitchwort (S. graminea) is a very similar flower, common in dry places, blooming from May to August. The plant is smooth, and does not possess the glaucous hue of the last species. The stem is very straggling and slender, from one to three feet long; and the leaves are grass-like, sessile, and acute. The flowers are very similar to those of the Greater Stitchwort, but are smaller. The sepals have each three veins, and are as long as the petals.

The Greater Stitchwort.

The Little Chickweed (S. media), so troublesome in our gardens, belongs to the same genus. Its decumbent, branching stem has a longitudinal line of hairs placed alternately on opposite sides from joint to joint; and its ovate, smooth, succulent leaves are shortly pointed, the lower ones having hairy stalks. The little star-like, white flowers grow from the axils of the leaves, and have each five hairy sepals, as long as the deeply-cleft petals, with narrow, membranous margins.