3. The Nettle-leaved Bell-flower (C. Trachelium).—A very rough plant, with an angled stem, from one to three feet high, bearing a leafy raceme of large blue flowers from July to October. Its leaves are much like those of the Stinging Nettle, being very rough, bristly, and coarsely toothed. The segments of the calyx are rather broad, and very rough with stiff hairs. This species is very abundant in some localities, and is widely distributed. (See [Plate II], Fig. 4.)
4. The Ivy-leaved Bell-flower (C. hederacea).—A pretty little creeping plant that grows in moist woods, flowering during July and August. It is very widely distributed, and is a common flower in many parts of Great Britain, more especially in the southern counties. Its prostrate stem is very slender; and the leaves are small, stalked, very broad, and palmately divided into angular lobes. The flowers are of a pale blue colour, solitary on long, threadlike peduncles; and the capsule is globular, opening by three valves at the top.
From May to August is the best season to study the Holly (Ilex aquifolium—order Aquifoliaceæ). We are all acquainted with this tree in its winter condition, with its bright red or yellow 'berries,' but during the months above named the less familiar flowers are in bloom. The tree is common in the woods of all parts of Britain, and is easily distinguished at all times by its smooth, grey bark, as well as by its thick, glossy, spiny, evergreen leaves, which are placed alternately on the branches, attached by very short stalks. As a rule the leaves have waved margins, and are armed with several very strong spines; but commonly the spines of the upper leaves are much fewer, and are sometimes reduced to a single one at the apex. The little white flowers form dense clusters in the axils of the leaves. Generally they contain both stamens and pistil, but often they are imperfect, the pistillate flowers predominating on some trees and the staminate ones on others. Their parts are arranged in fours, the calyx having four small teeth, and the corolla four spreading lobes, while four stamens are attached to the latter, and the ovary has the same number of cells, and the style terminates in an equal number of small stigmas. The fruits are not really berries, but little, poisonous drupes containing four one-seeded stones.
The Ivy-Leaved Bell Flower.
The Privet (Ligustrum vulgare), which forms, together with the Ash, the whole of the order Oleaceæ, as far as British species are concerned, is very common in the southern counties, where it is often an escape from gardens, the bush being so largely employed in the formation of hedges; but it is truly wild, and very plentiful on the chalky soils of the south and east of England. Except during very severe winters the old leaves remain until the early spring leaves are well formed, so that the bush is always green. The flowers are white, with a very characteristic odour, and are arranged in dense, terminal, conical panicles. The calyx forms a little cup with four teeth, but soon falls; and the corolla is funnel-shaped, with four spreading lobes at the top of its tube. The stamens are short, attached to the corolla; and the superior ovary ripens to a black, globular berry containing two or four seeds. The bushes are in bloom during June and July.
Two Twigs of Holly
One from a lower, and one from the topmost branch of the same tree, the former in fruit.
Three species of Cow Wheat (Melampyrum) are to be found in copses and woods during the summer. They belong to the order Scrophulariaceæ; and, like other allied plants of this group, are partial parasites (See page [349]), deriving a portion of their food from the roots of grasses by means of suckers. They have the following features in common:—Leaves opposite. Calyx tubular, with four narrow teeth. Corolla much longer than the calyx, consisting of a very long tube and two lips, the upper lip undivided, with its sides turned back, and the lower with three spreading lobes. A kind of 'palate' also closes the mouth of the tube. The fruit is an ovate capsule, containing from one to four seeds. The three species referred to are:—
1. The Common Cow Wheat (M. pratense).—A smooth, erect plant, from six to eighteen inches high, with spreading, opposite branches; and sessile, narrow leaves, often coarsely toothed at the base. The flowers are pale yellow, over half an inch long, arranged in pairs in the axils of the upper leaves, and all turned towards one side of the stem. The corolla is three or four times the length of the calyx. This plant is very common in moist copses and thickets, and flowers from June to August.