Plants -- Identification; Wild flowers -- Great Britain
The order _Caryophyllaceæ_ is represented in pastures by the Bladder
Campion (_Silene inflata_ or _S. cucubalis_)--a flower that is easily
recognised among the Campions and the Catchflys by the globular calyx.
The stem of the plant is semi-erect, branched below, and from two to
three feet high. The leaves are sessile, smooth, oblong, usually acute,
and placed in pairs on the jointed stem. The flowers are rather large,
arranged in lax, terminal panicles, and often droop slightly. The calyx
is globular, veined, and about half an inch or more in diameter; and the
five petals, which are deeply cleft into two lobes, have each a scale at
the base of the spreading limb. The plant is very widely distributed
over Britain, and is very common in some districts, flowering during
June and July.
The same order contains the White Campion (_Lychnis vespertina_)--a
hairy plant, with a branched stem from one to two feet high, and rather
large white or very pale pink flowers that open in the evening. It is
abundant in most parts of Britain, and flowers during June and July.
Its leaves are oval or oblong, usually pointed, and tapering towards the
base. The flowers are in loose cymes, and imperfect; the staminate and
the pistillate ones being usually on different plants. The calyx is
generally more than half an inch long, hairy, with ten ribs and five
narrow teeth. It is tubular at first, but becomes broadly oval, with a
contracted mouth, as the fruit ripens. The five limbs of the corolla are
spreading and rather deeply cleft into two parts; and the fruit is a
capsule that splits at the top by ten teeth which remain erect or curve
only slightly outwards. The plant is found principally in fields and in
open waste ground.
[Illustration: THE WHITE CAMPION.]
Our fields and pastures are particularly rich in flowers of the Pea
family (order _Leguminosæ_) during the summer months; and of these we
shall first note the pretty Kidney Vetch or Lady's Fingers (_Anthyllis
Vulneraria_), which is common in the dry pastures of most parts of
Britain. The whole plant is covered with short silky hairs which lie
close against the surface; and the stem, from six inches to over a foot
in length, is either erect or spreading. The leaves are pinnately
divided into several entire leaflets which are half an inch or more in
length, the terminal leaflet of the lower leaves being generally much
larger than the others. The flowers, which bloom from June to August,
are usually clustered into two dense heads at the tip of each stalk,
with a deeply-divided bract at the base of each head. The calyx is
densely covered with silky hairs; and the small corolla varies in colour
from pale yellow to red.
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