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Plate XVII: 1. Common Chickweed 2. Mouse-Eared Chickweed 3. Greater Stitchwort
1. Common Chickweed
The Common Chickweed is found all over the country. It grows in fields, in waste ground, and on hedge-banks, and it is in flower from spring till autumn.
The Chickweed is a feeble, straggling plant, and it grows in an untidy mass near the ground. It is one of those plants that look very different in different places. It does not thrive well in dry, stony ground, where it looks small and dried up. But in untidy gardens where there is good soil you will find it in large b...
The white flowers are small, with tiny strap-shaped petals, and there are five small, green sepals with sharp points which show like the rays of a green star behind these tiny white petals.
Each flower grows at the end of a stalk which rises between the leaf and the main stem. The Chickweed leaves are oval, with smooth edges, and they grow in pairs up the stem. If you look closely at this stem you will see a line of fine hairs running down one side, and if you break this stem in two you will find that the...
2. Mouse-Eared Chickweed
The Mouse-eared Chickweed is very common all over the country. It grows in dry places, on old walls or on sandy ground, and it is in flower all summer.
It is a much smaller plant than the Common Chickweed. The white flowers are very tiny, and most of them grow in clusters at the end of short stalks which branch from the main stem. But you will also find a single flower appearing between the green leaves which grow in pairs at intervals up the main stem.
These leaves are very hairy. Sometimes they are sticky, and the whole plant is usually covered with dust, and is not at all attractive.
The Mouse-eared Chickweed is not such a feeble, straggling plant as the Common Chickweed. Its stems are stronger, and they rise straight from the ground without requiring support.
3. Greater Stitchwort
You will find the Greater Stitchwort in many places. It grows in grassy meadows, in woods and in thickets, and also on rocks among the mountains; and it blooms in spring or early summer.
The Stitchwort is a tall, slender plant, and the flowers are large and very pretty. They grow singly at the end of short stalks, which usually branch in pairs again and again from the main stem, oftenest where two leaves join. These flowers have five snowy white petals, each of which has a deep notch cut in the outer e...
Behind these beautiful white petals grow five narrow pointed sepals, which have very little colour. These sepals are like tiny scales, slightly tinged with green, and they lie flat behind the white flower.
The stem of the Greater Stitchwort is not very strong, and it has always a line of hard, short bristles, running up each side. The leaves are like blades of grass, narrow and pointed, but they are harder than grass, and the edges curl backwards. On these edges are hard bristles, the same as those on the stems.
Plate XVIII: 1. Goutweed. 2. Wild Angelica 3. Yellow Bedstraw. 4. Hemlock Water Dropwort.
1. Goutweed
This plant grows in all parts of Britain. You find it among old ruins, and by the roadside on damp hedge-banks. It blooms in summer.
The flowers are white and very small. They grow in clusters at the end of long green spokes, like the ribs of an umbrella, and you will notice that there are no little green pointed leaves either at the back of the separate flower clusters, or at the top of the stem where all the green spokes join.
The seed-vessels are almond-shaped, with little hollows running from top to bottom, and they have two long green hairs hanging out at the top.
The stalk of the Goutweed is hollow. It is very glossy and smooth, and has many ridges.
The leaves are shaped rather like rose leaves. They are pale green and are softer than rose leaves, and there is only one other plant with umbrella spokes whose leaves are at all similar. They are quite different from the fern-like leaves of so many other umbrella plants.
Notice the broad sheath where each leaf joins the main stem.
2. Wild Angelica
This bushy plant is common all over Britain. It flowers in summer and autumn, and it likes to grow in damp places, especially beside streams. At first you might mistake the Wild Angelica for Goutweed, as the leaves are very similar, but there are several differences. The Wild Angelica flowers are small and white, somet...
At the back of each cluster of flowers you will find three tiny pointed green leaves, and at the top of the stem where all the spokes join there are other three. This is the first difference.
The seeds of the Wild Angelica are quite a different shape from the Goutweed seeds. They are much broader, with rough ridges running up them, and they have no bristles standing up at the top. This is the second point to notice.
The Wild Angelica stalk is beautifully tinged with rich purple, not in spots as in the Common Hemlock, but all over; and it is smooth, with fine lines running up and down. This is a third point.
And lastly, the leaves grow from the end of a curious large round sheath. This sheath is pale green and is very smooth and silky. It clasps the stem, which seems to grow right through the middle of it.
3. Upright Hedge Parsley
In summer you will find the Upright Hedge Parsley all over the country, on hedge-banks and in waste places.
The tiny flowers are white, and are very often tinged with pink. They grow in clusters on green spokes which rise from the end of the main stem like the ribs of an umbrella. These green spokes are rough and hairy, and you will recognise this plant by these rough spokes.
There is a ring of narrow pointed green leaves at the top of the main stem where all the spokes join, and there are also little leaves at the back of each cluster of flowers.
In the Upright Hedge Parsley the seed-vessels are different from those of any of the other umbrella plants in this book. They are a dark pinky purple in colour, and are covered with short, thick bristles. At the top of each seed-vessel there are two long, thin bristles which bend over, very much like those in the Goutw...
The leaves of the Upright Hedge Parsley are dark green and hairy. They are like ferns, and have many divisions, which are cut into teeth all round the edge.
4. Hemlock Water Dropwort
This is one of the most poisonous plants that grow in Britain. A great many accidents have been caused by cattle and human beings eating its leaves and roots.
The Hemlock Water Dropwort is common all over the country, and it is in flower most of the summer.
The flowers grow in large clusters at the end of green spokes. They are white, and they have each five stamens with large pink heads, so that from a distance the clusters look pink. There are little pointed green leaves at the back of the flower clusters as well as where the spokes join the main stem.
The seed-vessels of the Hemlock Water Dropwort are a light brown colour, with slight ridges, and they have two little points standing up at the top. You will know this plant by these seed-vessels and by the curious roots.
The stems are tall and straight, with grooves running from top to bottom. They are hollow, and so tough that they are very difficult to gather. The roots are shaped like the fingers of your hand, long, fleshy fibres that grow very thick. These poisonous roots have sometimes been mistaken for Water Parsnips. The leaves ...
Plate XIX: 1. Cow Parsnip 2. Wild Chervil 3. Sea Carrot 4. Common Hemlock
1. Cow Parsnip
The Cow Parsnip is a common plant which you find all over Britain in summer and autumn.
It is one of a large family of plants which have from eight to twenty stiff green spokes at the end of the stem. These spokes are all about the same length, and they stand up like the ribs of an umbrella. In late autumn, when the flowers are withered, the brown ribs still remain on the plant.
Each green rib carries a flat bouquet of flowers. In the centre of this bouquet there are green buds, and all round the buds is a ring of small white flowers.