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A single pair of leaves rise from the Snowdrop root, with the flower-stalk between them. These leaves look like short straps with blunt points. They are bluey green in colour, and have deep grooves running from base to tip. |
2. Common Star Of Bethlehem |
This beautiful starry plant is found in many places in England and in a few in Scotland, but not in Ireland. It grows in meadows and pastures and orchards in early summer. |
The flowers grow singly on long stalks which branch near the top of the main stem. There is always a withered-looking brown leaf at the base of each flower-stalk. |
The flowers have six large white petals, which are pointed at the tips. The back of each petal is stained with bright green, except round the edge, where it remains white. |
There are six yellow-headed stamens clinging to the base of the white petals. These stamens stand up in a circle round a fat green seed-vessel which sits in the centre of the white petals. This seed-vessel has a tiny pointed column in the middle. |
The leaves of the Star of Bethlehem are very narrow. From the middle each leaf tapers to a long point. These leaves are deeply channelled, and they have a broad white stripe running down the centre. |
3. Ransoms |
This unpleasant-smelling plant is common all over the country, except in the North of Scotland. It grows in woods and copses and on hedge-banks, and it blooms in early summer. |
Each flower grows on a short stalk, in a loose cluster at the end of a stout juicy stem. When in bud these flowers are all enclosed in a brown sheath, which bursts open in two pieces as soon as the flowers are ready to expand. |
Each flower has six narrow white pointed petals, opening flat out like a star. There is a short yellow-headed stamen clinging to each of these white petals. In the centre of the flower, among the white petals, is a green seed-vessel, which is divided into three small oval balls. A slender pillar rises from amongst thes... |
There are no sepals in this flower. |
The leaves of the starry-white Ransoms are not unlike those of the Lily of the Valley. They have long lines running from base to tip, and are a delicate pale-green in colour. |
Plate XXIV: 1. Mossy Saxifrage. 2. Marsh Pennywort. 3. Intermediate Wintergreen. |
1. Mossy Saxifrage |
In all parts of the country this slender, graceful plant is abundant. You will find it growing on damp banks and on the mountain side, and it blooms throughout the summer. |
The flowers are cup-shaped, and they grow singly on short stalks which branch from the main stem near the top. Each flower has five white petals streaked with fine veins. |
Within the petal-cup there is a ring of ten stamens with yellow heads, and in the centre of the flower you can see a green seed-vessel like a small pear, with two wavy points coming out of the top. |
Behind the white petals you find a tiny green calyx-cup, made up of five little sepals. These sepals are joined together at the bottom, but round the mouth of the cup the five points stand up separately. |
The reddish-green stems are slender and wiry. They have single, little leaves growing up them, with a short space in between each leaf. |
Only some of these stems have flowers at the top. Others end in a tuft of leaves, and never bear any flowers. These leafy stems are clothed with leaves all the way to the tip, and each leaf is very small and narrow. At the end the leaf is divided into three small fingers, and these fingers, as well as the stem, are cov... |
2. Marsh Pennywort |
This water-loving plant is very common all over the country in marshes and bogs and by the sides of ditches. It blooms in summer. |
The plant is easily recognised by its round leaves. These have wavy edges, and fine green veins running from the centre of the leaf to the edge. |
The stalk is fastened exactly underneath the centre of the leaf, and it is soft and juicy and covered with fine hairs. |
The flowers of the Pennywort are greenish-white, tinged with red. These flowers grow in little clusters of three or four together at the end of short stalks which spring from the root, close beside the leaf-stalk. But these flower-stalks are so short, and the flowers are so small, you recognise the round leaves long be... |
The Pennywort is one of those plants with a creeping stem, which lies along the surface of the ground. The stem is a delicate, pale pink, and wherever a bunch of flowers and leaves rises, you find a tuft of white, hair-like roots growing down into the mud. |
3. Intermediate Wintergreen |
It is a great delight to discover this dainty plant. It is not very common, but in summer and autumn you find it blooming on heaths in many parts of the country. |
The Wintergreen flowers are not unlike Lily-of-the-Valley. They are delicate, creamy white bells, which hang from short drooping stalks near the top of a slender stem. |
These bells have five ivory petals slightly tinged with pink, which form a dainty fairy cup. |
Within the cup there is a ring of ten stamens with heavy yellow-heads, clustered round the tip of the green seed-vessel. This green tip rises in the centre, like a slender pillar, a good way above the stamens. |
Behind the ivory cup is a green star, with five points. These points are the sepals. Notice that wherever a flower-stalk joins the main stem a tiny pointed green leaf appears. |
The soft juicy stem is twisted near the top and is four-sided. It grows straight from the root. |
The dark glossy leaves of the Wintergreen are spoon-shaped, with wavy edges. They spring from the ground with very short stalks, and they remain on the plant all winter. |
Plate XXV: 1. Grass Of Parnassus. 2. Common Bladder Campion. 3. Sea Campion. |
1. Grass Of Parnassus |
This slender plant grows in bogs and damp places all over Britain and blooms in autumn. |
It has large white flowers, which grow singly at the end of tall green stalks. These stalks are square and slightly twisted. |
Each flower has five creamy-white petals, covered with delicate veins. Inside this ring of petals, lying at the bottom, are five curious scales, like tiny hands. The hands have each ten fingers, tipped with yellow dots, so you may count fifty dots altogether. On the scales are glands which hold honey. This, you may be ... |
In the centre of the flower is a round pale green seed-vessel, and in between the scales with the tiny yellow dots lie five fat stamens with heavy yellow-heads. |
The Grass of Parnassus has also five green sepals, whose tips you can see appearing in between each of the five white petals, as you look down into the flower. |
Most of the green leaves of this plant grow from the root. They are oval, with smooth edges, and each leaf has a stalk of its own. |
But often you will find a single leaf clasping the flower-stalk half way up its stem, and this leaf has no stalk of its own. |
2. Common Bladder Campion |
The Common Bladder Campion is to be found all summer by the edge of fields and pastures. |
It is a tall, slender plant, with white flowers which grow each on a thin short stalk, two or three close together at the end of a smooth stem. |
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