Plants -- Identification; Wild flowers -- Great Britain
The Small Fleabane (_I. Pulicaria_) is a similar plant, but smaller
(from six to twelve inches high) and less woolly. Its flower-heads are
yellow, much smaller, on terminal and axillary stalks; and the florets
of the ray are only slightly longer than those of the disc. The hairs of
the pappus are not surrounded at the base by a little cup, but by a few
minute and distinct scales. This species grows in the south-eastern
counties of England, and flowers during August and September.
The White Ox-eye Daisy (_Chrysanthemum Leucanthemum_) is one of the
largest and most conspicuous of our composite flowers, and is abundant
in dry pastures all over Britain. The plant is generally smooth; and its
erect stem, either simple or slightly branched, is from one to two feet
high. The lower leaves are obovate, coarsely toothed, on long stalks;
and the upper ones are narrow and sessile, with a few teeth. The
flower-heads are large, and placed singly on long, terminal stalks. The
bracts are closely overlapping, with narrow, brown margins; the ray
florets white, strap-shaped, over half an inch long; and the disc
florets numerous and tubular. The flowers bloom from June to August.
[Illustration: THE COMMON FLEABANE.]
Our last composite flower is the Sneezewort (_Achillea Ptarmica_), which
is common in the hilly pastures and meadows of most parts of Britain. It
has an erect stem, one to two feet high. The leaves are sessile, narrow,
with fine, regular teeth, and a smooth surface. The flower-heads are
arranged in a loose, terminal, flat-topped corymb. Each is surrounded by
an involucre of overlapping bracts; and consists of numerous little
disc-florets, intermixed with small scales, and about twelve short,
broad, white florets of the ray. The time of flowering is July and
August.
The Common Centaury (_Erythræa Centaurium_), of the order
_Gentianaceæ_, is a very common plant in dry pastures. Its stem is
erect, simple below, freely branched towards the top, from six to
eighteen inches high; and the leaves are ovate, spreading and closely
placed below, narrow and more distant above. The flowers are rose-red or
pink, in a dense corymb, with a calyx of five very narrow segments, and
a corolla consisting of a narrow tube and five spreading lobes.
[Illustration: THE OX-EYE DAISY.]
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