Plants -- Identification; Wild flowers -- Great Britain
In damp meadows we frequently see the changing Scorpion-Grass (_Myosotis
versicolor_), also known as the Yellow and Blue Scorpion Grass, deriving
its name from the fact that the corolla is yellow at first, and
afterwards changes to a dull blue. It is a hairy plant, with an erect
stem, from four to ten inches high, slightly branched. The leaves are
oval or ovate, narrow, and sessile; the lower ones forming a spreading
tuft at the base, while the others, few in number, are erect on the
stem. The flowers are very small, almost sessile, and arranged in a
one-sided, curved raceme. The calyx is deeply cleft into five parts
which close quite over the ripening fruit; and the small corolla has a
comparatively long tube and five spreading lobes. The plant flowers from
April to June. It belongs to the order _Boraginaceæ_.
The Cowslip (_Primula veris_--order _Primulaceæ_) is common in pastures
in many parts of Britain. It usually grows from six to ten inches high,
and flowers during May and June. The whole plant is clothed with soft,
downy hairs; and its leaves are all radical, obovate, narrowed towards
the base, and much wrinkled like those of the Primrose. The flowers are
arranged in a drooping umbel, on a long stalk. The calyx is tubular,
with five broad, blunt teeth; and the corolla has a long, narrow tube,
with five spreading lobes that form a shallow cup.
[Illustration: THE COWSLIP.]
Two species of Sorrel are very common in meadows and pastures during the
spring. They are plants very much resembling the docks; in fact, they
belong to the same genus (_Rumex_) of the order _Polygonaceæ_. Both have
erect, leafy stems, with sheathing stipules; and numerous, small, green
flowers which soon turn red. The latter are imperfect, with a
deeply-cleft perianth of six lobes. The male flowers have six stamens;
and the females have three styles. The fruits are little triangular
nuts, more or less enclosed in the segments of the perianth.
One of these--the Common Sorrel (_Rumex Acetosa_)--is very abundant in
damp meadows and pastures all over Britain. It varies from one to two
feet in height, with a stem that is usually unbranched, and flowers from
May to July. The leaves have a very acid juice, and are often used as a
salad. The radical ones are oblong, arrow-shaped at the base, with
pointed lobes, and have rather long stalks; the stem-leaves are
smaller, few in number, with shorter stalks. Sometimes both male and
female flowers grow on the same plant, but often the plant produces the
one kind only. They are arranged in long, leafless panicles; and the
outer lobes of the perianth of the female flowers are turned back on the
peduncle, while the inner are enlarged and swollen, and close over the
fruit.
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