Wayside and Woodland Blossoms. Step Edward

bell-shaped perianth, the mouth split into six recurved lobes. Stamens six, attached to the base of the perianth, around the ovary, which ultimately becomes a globose red berry. It is much more widely distributed than Polygonatum. In woods; flowers May and June. Name from the Latin Convallis, a valley. The only British species.

      Solomon’s Seal has a distinct arching stem, with alternate erect leaves. The flower-stalks spring from the axils of the leaves, and bear from two to five greenish-white flowers each. The berries that succeed the flowers are blue-black. The flowers are similarly formed to the last-mentioned, but longer, more tubular, and the lobes not turned back. The stamens are attached about half-way down the perianth. There are two other native species, both rare.

      The Angular Solomon’s Seal (P. officinale), much smaller than the last, the flowers mostly occurring singly, larger and greener. Wooded limestone cliffs, May and June.

      Narrow-leaved Solomon’s Seal (P. verticillatum), with leaves in whorls around the angled stem. Wooded glens, Northumberland, Perth and Forfar only. June and July; very rare.

      Name from the Greek, polys, many, and gonatos, a knee or angle, in allusion to the many nodes.

Hawthorn (Cratægus oxyacantha).

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      The Hawthorn, May, or Whitethorn, is too well known to require much description. Its more familiar appearance is as a hedge-forming shrub, when it is not allowed to have any natural form, but in the woodlands it becomes a round-headed tree, and when fully in flower looks like a monstrous snow-ball on a stalk. The tyro in botany can tell almost with a glance at its beautiful flowers that it is a member of the great order of Roses, and not distantly removed from the apple section of that order. The calyx-tube adheres to the ovary, and the five petals are inserted at the mouth of the calyx. The stamens are numerous; the styles one, two, or three, corresponding with the number of carpels. In the fruit these are covered by the red, fleshy coat in which the bony cells are enveloped, and which is valued as a food by birds in autumn and winter.

      May or Hawthorn. Cratægus oxyacantha. —Rosaceæ.—

      Buttercup. Ranunculus acris. —Ranunculaceæ.—

      May and June are the usual months for flowering, but occasionally it is in blossom at the end of April. Though the characteristic odour from these flowers is sweet, now and then a tree will be found whose every flower gives out a distinctly fishy flavour that is far from pleasant; often, too, it may be found with pink or crimson blossoms. This is the only British species. The name is from the Greek, Kratos, strength, in allusion to the hardness of its wood.

Buttercup (Ranunculus acris).

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      There are three species of Ranunculus to which the name of Buttercup is applied impartially; but the one to which it most properly belongs is the Bulbous Crowfoot (R. bulbosus), in which the cup-shape is more perfect than in the others. We have already dealt with the general characters of the genus in describing the Lesser Celandine: here we will glance only at the specific differences between this and the other buttercup-species of Ranunculus or Crowfoot.

      I. Ranunculus acris is the Upright Crowfoot. The rootstock is straight and erect. The lower leaves are divided into wedge-shaped segments, which are again much cut up—the upper leaves less intricately so. The petals are broader than in the Celandine, and fewer—usually five, more or less flat when fully expanded. Flower-stalk not furrowed; sepals spreading. Stem one to three feet high. Meadows and pastures everywhere, June and July.

      II. R. repens, the Creeping Crowfoot. Rootstock stout, stem declining, with long runners. Flower-stalk furrowed, sepals spreading, but petals less so than in R. acris. Stem one to two feet. Pastures and waste places, too frequent, May to August.

      III. R. bulbosus, Bulbous Crowfoot. Stem erect, half to one foot, greatly swollen at base: no runners. Flower-stalk furrowed, sepals turned back, nearly or quite touching the stalk; petals not spreading, but cup-shaped. Meadows everywhere, April to July.

      The name Ranunculus is derived from the Latin, Rana, a frog, in allusion to the damp meadows and the ponds where certain species are to be found in company with frogs.

Wall Barley (Hordeum murinum).

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      In all waste places on a sandy soil, near towns and villages especially, the Wall Barley, Mouse Barley, Barley-grass, or Way-bent flourishes. At the base of walls is a favourite post for it, where it collects dust, and generally contributes to an appearance of untidiness. Its bristly spike is well known to the schoolboy, who breaks it off and inserts the stem end in the cuff of his shirt-sleeve, whence it works its way automatically to the shoulder. If the spike is cut across its length, the spikelets of which it is made up may be separated and examined with a lens. It will then be seen that the spikelets are borne in threes side by side, but that only the central one is a perfect one, the lateral ones being barren. Taking this central one from the others, we find two outer inflated scales (glumes) embracing two other scales, one of which, with the cleft tip and two keels on the back, is the pale, the other, ending in a long awn, is the flowering glume, within which is the ovary, surmounted by its two feathery stigmas. From beneath the ovary spring the three stamens and two minute scales, called lodicules, which answer to the perianth in ordinary flowers. It would be well to quite master this arrangement by dissection, for all grass flowers are built on a similar plan.

      Wall Barley. Hordeum murinum. —Graminæ.— Jagged Chickweed. Holosteum umbellatum. —Caryophyllæ.—

      Dandelion. Taraxacum officinale. —Compositæ.—

      Hordeum is the old Latin name for barley. Flowers June and July.

Jagged Chickweed (Holosteum umbellatum).

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      This is a very rare plant, occurring only on old walls about Norwich, Bury and Eye. The rambler in those localities might pass it by as a variety of the vulgar Chickweed, to which, however, it is distantly related. The small white flowers are arranged in an umbellate manner, though not forming a true umbel. Whilst flowering the long pedicels are erect, but after flowering they hang down; after fruiting they become erect again. Flowers April and May.

      Name derived from the Greek olos, all, and osteon, bone, but Artemus Ward would have said it was “wrote sarcastick,” for there is nothing suggestive of bones in so soft a plant.

Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale).

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      Everyone thinks he knows the Dandelion