Plants -- Identification; Wild flowers -- Great Britain
The Little Chickweed (_S. media_), so troublesome in our gardens,
belongs to the same genus. Its decumbent, branching stem has a
longitudinal line of hairs placed alternately on opposite sides from
joint to joint; and its ovate, smooth, succulent leaves are shortly
pointed, the lower ones having hairy stalks. The little star-like, white
flowers grow from the axils of the leaves, and have each five hairy
sepals, as long as the deeply-cleft petals, with narrow, membranous
margins.
These three species of _Stellaria_, and, in fact, all the species of the
genus, are distinguished by their divided petals and the presence of
three styles; but there is another group of flowers in the same order
known as the Mouse-ear Chickweeds (_Cerastium_), also with divided
petals, but having either four or five styles.
[Illustration: THE CHICKWEED.]
Three of the species of this group may be included among the spring
flowers of waysides. One of these is the Broad-leaved or Clustered
Mouse-ear Chickweed (_Cerastium glomeratum_), which flowers from April
to the end of the summer. It has an erect, sticky, hairy stem; and pale
green ovate leaves. The little white flowers are tufted, on short
stalks, with sepals and petals of equal length. A second--the
Narrow-leaved Mouse-ear Chickweed (_C. triviale_)--has a similar but
spreading stem; and the leaves are narrow, and of a deep green colour.
In this one, too, the sepals and petals are equal; but the former are
hairy, and the flower-stalks are longer. The other is the Field
Mouse-ear Chickweed (_C. arvense_), which has numerous white flowers,
in forked cymes, blooming from April to August. Its stem is hairy,
prostrate, from six to ten inches long; the leaves very narrow; and the
sepals only about half as long as the petals.
[Illustration: THE BROAD-LEAVED MOUSE-EAR CHICKWEED.]
The pretty Wild Geraniums, of which there are several species, often
form a very attractive feature of the wayside. They are readily
recognised as a group by the swollen joints of their stems; the simple,
stipuled, lobed leaves; the axillary flowers; and the fruit composed of
five distinct carpels, with their five long styles adhering to a long
central beak. The flowers have five distinct petals and sepals, and ten
stamens, five of which become alternately larger. When the fruit is ripe
the five carpels separate, and are raised by the curving of the smooth
styles which remain for a time attached to the beak.
In early April, and from then to August or September, the Dove's-foot
Crane's-bill (_Geranium molle_) may be seen in flower by the wayside.
The plant is prostrate, soft and downy, with rounded leaves lobed and
cut. The pretty pink or lilac flowers are from a third to half an inch
in diameter, with abruptly-pointed sepals and notched petals. This
species may be readily distinguished from similar plants of the same
genus by the smooth, wrinkled capsules, and smooth seeds.
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