The Wild Beaked Parsley.
On dry banks by the wayside we may commonly meet with the Crosswort or Mugwort (Galium Cruciatum) of the Bed-straw Family (Rubiaceæ). It is a prostrate plant, with stem from six to eighteen inches long; and soft, downy, elliptical leaves arranged crosswise in whorls of four. Its fragrant little yellow flowers are in whorled, axillary cymes, each cluster having from six to eight blossoms. The lower flowers have stamens and no pistil, and the upper ones pistil only. The fruits are smooth. The time of flowering is from April to June.
The Garden Beaked Parsley.
Composite flowers (Order Compositæ) are mostly summer-bloomers, but three at least are very common by waysides in spring. One of these is the Mouse-ear Hawkweed (Hieracium Pilosella), a slender plant with leafy runners, rendered silky in appearance by long, soft hairs. The stem is almost leafless, but there are elliptical-lanceolate, entire, radical leaves covered, especially on the under side, by starlike hairs. The yellow heads are solitary, on stalks varying from two to ten inches long. This species flowers from May to August.
The second species is the Common Groundsel (Senecio vulgaris), which may be seen in bloom throughout the year. Though so well known, we think it advisable to call attention to one or two of its characteristic features. The leaves are smooth, deeply cut, toothed, and half clasp the stem. The flower-heads have no ray florets; and the outer bracts are very short, with black tips.
From March to April almost all damp places are more or less thickly dotted with the bright yellow flowers of the Colt's-foot (Tussilago Farfara); and later, after all the flowers have ceased to bloom, the same places are covered with the large, heart-shaped, angular leaves, four or five inches wide, thickly clothed beneath with a loose, cottony down which is also sparingly scattered over the upper surface. The early flowering stems are rather thick and fleshy, about six inches high, and downy. They bear a number of small, narrow, erect, scale-like leaves, and, at the top, a single flower-head, surrounded by a whorl of narrow bracts, and a few smaller outer bracts. The inflorescence consists of several whorls of narrow, strap-shaped, outer florets, with no stamens; and a few central, tubular, perfect florets. The fruits are cylindrical, with a tuft of long, simple hairs.
The Goutweed.
The Speedwells (Veronica) belong to the order Scrophulariaceæ. They are all herbs, with simple leaves; slightly irregular flowers with an unequally four-cleft, spreading corolla, the lower lobe of which is smallest; and only two stamens. At least six species of this genus may be found by waysides, in flower during the spring months.