In damp woods we commonly meet with the tall, stout, branching Angelica (Angelica sylvestris) of the same order (Umbelliferæ), with a thick, furrowed stem, two to four feet high, downy above, and usually more or less shaded with purple. Its lower leaves are very large, with stalked, ovate leaflets, from one to two inches long, often three-lobed, and always sharply toothed. The upper leaves are much smaller, with fewer leaflets, and often consist only of a broad sheath with a few small leaflets at its summit. The flowers are white, generally tinged with pink, and form a large terminal umbel of from sixteen to forty rays, with two or three narrow primary bracts, and several fine secondary ones. They bloom during July and August, and are succeeded by flattened fruits with three ribs on the back of each of the two carpels. The carpels are also broadly winged; and, as the wings do not adhere, each fruit is surrounded by a double wing.
The Elder.
The order Caprifoliaceæ includes the Common Elder (Sambucus nigra), the white or cream-coloured flowers of which are so conspicuous in our woods and hedgerows in June. This tree grows to a height of fifteen or twenty feet, and its young branches are remarkable for the large quantity of pith they contain. The general form of the leaves and the arrangement of the flowers are seen in our illustration. Each flower has a calyx with five small teeth; a corolla with a short tube and five spreading limbs; five stamens attached to the base of the corolla; and an inferior ovary. The fruit is a black, berry-like drupe containing (usually) eight little, seedlike stones.
The Guelder Rose.
The Guelder Rose or Water Elder (Viburnum Opulus), of the same order, is a flowering shrub, usually six or eight feet high, moderately common in moist woods and copses, especially in the South, bearing showy cymes of white blossoms in June and July. The cymes are flat-topped, consisting of numerous flowers, the outer of which are much larger, often nearly an inch in diameter, but without stamens or styles, while the others are perfect, with five stamens and three sessile styles. The fruit is a blackish-red, almost globular, slightly-flattened berry, containing a single seed. The cultivated variety of this shrub, known as the Snowball Tree, has large, globular cymes of flowers, all of which are large and barren.
The Great Valerian or All-heal (Valeriana officinalis—order Valerianaceæ) is moderately common in moist woods, and is rather widely distributed. It is an erect plant, from two to four feet high, flowering from June to August. There seems to be two distinct varieties of this plant, one with from four to six pairs of leaflets, and the other with from six to ten pairs, in addition to the terminal leaflet in each case. The flowers are small, flesh-coloured or nearly white, in terminal and axillary corymbs. The little inferior ovary is surmounted by a calyx which is compactly rolled in at first, but which expands into a spreading, feathery pappus as the fruit ripens. The corolla is tubular, with five short, equal, spreading lobes. It is not spurred as in the case of the Red Valerian (p. [302]), but the base of the tube is pouched on one side. This plant is shown on [Plate II], Fig. 1.
We have now to note some composite flowers (order Compositæ) of wooded and shaded ground. Of these we will first take the Blunt-leaved or Succory-leaved Hawk's-beard (Crepis succisæfolia or C. hieracoides), which is moderately common in the woods of North England and Scotland, but does not occur in the South. It is an erect plant, varying from one to three feet in height, smooth or slightly hairy, flowering during July and August. The fruits (achenes) are marked by many fine, longitudinal ridges, and are surmounted by a dense pappus of soft, white hairs which are a little longer than the fruits themselves. This flower is represented in [Plate II], Fig. 3.