This Scarlet Pimpernel is one of our few red flowers. It has five round
scarlet petals, which are joined together like a wheel. In the centre of
the wheel there is a seed-vessel, the size of a tiny green pea, and
closely clustered round its thread-like pillar are five yellow-headed
stamens. The slender stalks of the stamens are covered with hairs, and
so are the edges of the scarlet petals.
The calyx consists of five narrow green sepals, with sharp points: these
you can see appearing between the edges of the petals as you look down
into the flower.
Each flower grows singly on a short, fine stalk, and these flower-stalks
always rise between a leaf and the stem. The stem is four-sided, and it
is very easily broken. It is a very feeble stem, and straggles along the
ground.
The leaves of the Scarlet Pimpernel are small and oval, with smooth
edges and blunt points. They have fine lines running from base to tip,
and underneath they are a blue-green colour, with little dots all over
them.
3. COMMON SORREL
You find the dull crimson Sorrel everywhere. It grows in meadows and
pastures and open woods, and it is abundant all spring and summer.
The flowers are small and unattractive. They grow on a spike in whorls
or circles, with five to eight flowers in each circle, and these circles
are separated at short distances.
Each flower droops from a tiny stalk. It has three narrow green sepals,
which fold back close to the stalk when the seed is ripening. Inside
these sepals are three dull crimson petals, also small and narrow. But
when the flowering time is past, these three petals grow broad and oval,
and become thicker, and at the base of each petal you see a tiny
swelling, which is the seed.
The stem of the Common Sorrel is tinged with pink. It is ribbed all
over, and is very juicy. Both it and the leaves are acid to taste and
are often eaten in salads.
The leaves are quite smooth, with the edges uncut. They are dark green
above, but much lighter underneath. Each leaf is shaped like an
arrow-head, and those close to the root have a long stalk.
INDEX
Agrimony, Common, 23.
Alkanet, Evergreen, 144.
Anemone, Wood, 47.
Angelica, Wild, 56.
Asphodel, Bog, 39.
Aster, Sea, 147.
Autumnal Hawkbit, 25.
Avens, Common, 15.
Avens, Water, 99.
Bedstraw, Yellow, 32.
Bethlehem, Star of, 73.
Bindweed, Small, 128.
Birdsfoot Trefoil, 17.
Biting Stonecrop, 31.
Black Knapweed, 107.
Bladder Campion, Common, 79.
Bluebell or Harebell, 138.
Blue Bottle or Corn Flower, 135.
Blue Meadow Crane's-bill, 133.
Bog Asphodel, 39.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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