Another common Labiate—the Ground Ivy (Nepeta Glechoma)—may be seen almost everywhere in the spring, in bloom from March to May. It has a procumbent, creeping stem, and deeply-crenate, kidney-shaped leaves. The flowers are of a blue-purple colour, arranged in whorls of three or four in the axils of the leaves. The calyx has five teeth and fifteen ribs; and the two front stamens are shorter.
The Dog's Mercury.
The Early Field Scorpion Grass (Myosotis collina) belongs to the order Boraginaceæ—a family of (usually) hairy herbs with alternate leaves and one-sided spikes or racemes of showy flowers. The flowers have a five-lobed calyx and corolla, five stamens, and a fruit of four nutlets. It is in the same genus as the familiar Forget-me-not, and, in fact, somewhat closely resembles that plant, which is often confused with certain species of Scorpion Grass. It is a slender, more or less prostrate herb, with blunt oblong leaves; and minute, bright blue flowers which are at first hidden among the leaves, but afterwards exposed by the lengthening of the stem. The flowers have very short pedicels; and are in long, slender, leafless, spikelike racemes, with a single flower some distance down, in the axil of the highest leaf. The popular name of Scorpion Grass has been given on account of the characteristic arrangement of the flowers when in the bud, these being then tightly coiled in a scorpoid fashion. In order that the present species might be distinguished from allied plants, we should note that the pedicels are shorter than the calyx; that the calyx is furnished with hooked bristles, and is open and swollen when the fruits are formed; also that the tube of the corolla is very short. The Early Field Scorpion Grass is very common on dry banks. Its stems vary from about four to ten inches long, and the flowers appear during April and May.
The Black Bryony in Fruit
The Wood Loosestrife or Yellow Pimpernel (Lysimachia nemorum) of shady waysides and woods is a member of the Primulaceæ or Primrose family. It is altogether a pretty little plant, much like the Scarlet Pimpernel in general appearance, but somewhat larger and more glossy. It has a prostrate, spreading stem, often tinged with red; and opposite, oval, acute leaves with short stalks. The flowers are yellow, usually a little more than half an inch in diameter, with a spreading corolla. They are axillary, placed singly on very slender peduncles, and have very narrow sepals. This species flowers from May to August.
The Perennial or Dog's Mercury (Mercurialis perennis), of the Euphorbiaceæ or Spurge family, is one of our earliest spring flowers, and may be seen in abundance on almost all shady waysides, in bloom from March to May, and growing from six to eighteen inches high. The minute green flowers, which have three sepals and no petals, are in racemes or spikes that grow from the axils of the upper leaves. They are unisexual; the staminate flowers in slender racemes, with several erect stamens; and the pistillate ones in short, few-flowered spikes, with a two-celled ovary, two styles, and a few imperfectly formed stamens.
The Black Bryony (Tamus communis)—order Dioscoriaceæ—is a pretty climbing plant, the slender stem of which twines for several feet among the hedgerow trees and shrubs. Its leaves are cordate and acute, and change either to a bright yellow or a beautiful bronze colour in the autumn. The flowers, which appear in May and June, are yellowish green, in small clusters; and the fruits are oblong berries, turning to a bright scarlet as the leaves assume their autumn tints.
