Two of the Rushes (order _Juncaceæ_) are very common on heaths and moors. One of these is the Heath Rush (_Juncus squarrosus_), which appears on Plate VI. This is a rigid Rush, varying from four to ten inches high, flowering in June and July. Its stems are stout, solid, and generally leafless; and the leaves are narrow, grooved, usually less than half the length of the stem. The flowers are brown, either distinct or in clusters of two or three, arranged in a compound raceme, with a perianth of shining segments membranous at the margins, and about a sixth of an inch long. The capsules are blunt, but terminate in a pointed bristle. The other is the Field Woodrush (_Luzula campestris_), a small plant, usually from four to six inches high, flowering from March to June, and often very abundant among the grass of hilly pastures and heaths. Its leaves are fringed with long, soft, white hairs; and the flowers, which are of a very dark brown colour, are arranged in three or four round or oval spikes. The segments of the perianth are very sharp, about an eighth of an inch long, with membranous margins; and the capsules are blunt. We conclude this chapter with a brief notice of two of the Grasses of heaths and downs. One of these is the Common Quaking Grass or Totter Grass (_Briza media_).--A very pretty, erect grass, rather rigid, from six to eighteen inches high, common on dry downs except in the extreme North of Britain, flowering during June and July. Its stems are tufted, or sometimes slightly creeping; and its leaves are narrow and flat. The spikelets are round or broadly ovate, nearly a quarter of an inch long, more or less tinged with purple, on the long, slender branches of a loose, spreading panicle three or four inches long. The broad glumes are all similar in shape, but decrease in size upwards, and are not bristled. The other is the Common Mat Grass (_Nardus stricta_), a densely tufted, wiry grass, from four inches to a foot in height, common on heaths and moors, flowering in June and July. The leaves are very fine and stiff, quite bristle-like. The flowers are in a one-sided spike, from one to three inches long, the one-flowered spikelets being placed alternately in two rows, in the notches of the central axis. The spikelets are often of a reddish or purplish colour, and each has a single, narrow, pointed glume, about a third of an inch long, an inner glume with a short bristle, three stamens, and a single style. [Illustration: _Plate VII._ FLOWERS OF THE CORNFIELD. 1. Long Smooth-headed Poppy. 2. Field Scabious. 3. Corn Cockle. 4. Corn Marigold. 5. Flax. 6. Corn Pheasant's-eye.] XVII IN THE CORN FIELD