Field and Woodland Plants

by William S. Furneaux

The Grey Field Speedwell (V. polita) is common in waste places and rough fields, flowering from April to September. Its flowers are bright blue, about a quarter of an inch across, solitary, axillary, on stalks which are longer than the leaves. The sepals are broadly oval and pointed, and the petals are all of the same colour. The leaves of this plant are stalked, cordate, and irregularly toothed.

Our last example of the order is the Green Field Speedwell (V. agrestis), also common in fields and by the roadside. It has several prostrate stems, from four to eight inches long; and stalked, cordate leaves with irregularly serrate margins. The flowers are small, about a fifth of an inch across, solitary, axillary, on stalks shorter than the leaves. The sepals are narrow, oblong, and blunt; and the lower petal is white. This species flowers from April to the end of the summer.

The White Dead Nettle.

The Dead Nettles (genus Lamium, of the order Labiatæ) may be readily distinguished from the Stinging Nettles, with which they are often confused, by their square stems, and whorls of showy, lipped flowers. Further, these flowers may be recognised from among the others of their own order by the ten-ribbed, bell-shaped calyx; and by the one or two teeth on each side of the lower lip of the corolla.

Three of this group are very common wayside spring flowers. One is the White Dead Nettle (Lamium album), with large, white flowers forming whorls in the axils of the leaves. The leaves of this plant are all stalked, cordate, with a very sharp point, deeply serrate, and often marked with white blotches. The teeth of the calyx are narrow, as long as the tube, with long slender points; and the tube of the corolla is curved, longer than the calyx, gradually widening from below upwards. The two lower stamens are longer than the upper pair, and the anthers are black. The plant varies from six to eighteen inches in height, and flowers from April to September.

The Red Dead Nettle (L. purpureum) grows to the same height, but has much smaller cordate or kidney-shaped leaves, with blunt apices and crenate edges. The upper ones are very crowded, and often tinged with red; and all the leaves are stalked. The flowers are small, of a red-purple colour (rarely white), in crowded whorls in the axils of the upper leaves. The tube of the corolla is straight, longer than the calyx; and the calyx teeth are spreading.

The Yellow Pimpernel.

The third species—the Cut-leaved Dead Nettle (L. incisum or L. hybridum)—is not so abundant as the other two, but moderately common on waste land. Its leaves, which are all stalked, are very deeply cut in a serrate manner; the lower ones being cordate, while the upper are more triangular. The flowers are of a rose-red colour, in crowded whorls near the top of the stem. The tube of the corolla is shorter than the calyx, and straight; and the teeth of the calyx are about as long as its tube. The plant grows from six to eighteen inches in height, and flowers throughout the whole of spring and summer.