Flowers Shown to the Children Part 20

PLATE XLI: 1. GREAT WILD VALERIAN 2. SMALL BINDWEED 3. FOXGLOVE

1. GREAT WILD VALERIAN

You find the Great Wild Valerian in most parts of Britain. It grows in marshy meadows and in damp woods, and is in flower all summer.

The Wild Valerian is a tall, handsome plant. It has small pale pink flowers, which grow in thick cl.u.s.ters on long, stiff green stalks rising from the main stem.

If you pull off a single flower you find that its five pink petals are joined together at the bottom into a tube. This tube folds back at its mouth into five pink scallops, and you can see three yellow-headed stamens coming out of the mouth of the pink tube. If you gently split the tube open you will discover that these stamens are clinging to its sides.

The green sepals of the Wild Valerian are also joined into a tube which has five teeth at the top, and after the pink petals are withered, this green tube sends up a tuft of beautiful feathery down.

The stem is dark and glossy. It is ribbed all over and is hollow inside.

In the Wild Valerian each leaf is divided into fingers, which grow in pairs on each side of a slender stalk. Sometimes there will be ten pairs of these little fingers, and you will notice that each finger is not placed exactly opposite its neighbour, but that they grow alternately.

2. SMALL BINDWEED

The Small Bindweed or Convolvulus is common everywhere. You find it in the hedge-banks, on waste places and in fields, and it blooms all summer.

This pretty plant is very well known by its pale pink or pure white flowers. These flowers have a narrow tube which fits into the small green sepal-cup. But round the mouth this tube widens out into a beautiful bell, and the edges of the bell are gracefully waved all round. Inside the flower there are curious markings like large cream-coloured rays, and you must notice how wonderfully the flower of the Bindweed is folded when it is in bud.

The stem of the Bindweed is very curious. It is twisted like a piece of rope. This stem clings to any stronger plant within reach, and it will twist itself round and round that plant till it nearly chokes it.

The leaves are dark and s.h.i.+ny with smooth edges, and they are shaped like the head of an arrow. Each leaf has a short stalk of its own.

3. FOXGLOVE

This is one of the handsomest of our wildflowers. It grows abundantly in woods, on banks and in fields, and it flowers all summer and autumn.

The Foxglove is a tall plant with a very stiff stem, from one side of which hang beautiful rose-pink and purple bells.

These fairy bells are daintily scolloped round the mouth, and the pale pink lining inside is dotted all over with purple spots. When you look down the mouth of a Foxglove bell you see that two long and two short stamens with large yellow-heads are clinging to its side, and rising from the centre of the bell there is a fat green seed-vessel which sends up a slender yellow thread.

Those bells which are nearest the bottom of the stem come out first, and the buds are always found at the top. Behind each bell there are five green sepals with sharp points, and wherever the flower-stalk joins the main stem there is always a small green leaf.

The Foxglove leaves are broad and long, and they are pointed at the end.

Each leaf is covered with a network of fine veins. These leaves are grey-green in colour, and the underside is h.o.a.ry with soft, white woolly down.

PLATE XLII: 1. BROAD-LEAVED WILLOW HERB 2. CORN c.o.c.kLE 3. CROSS-LEAVED PINK HEATH

1. BROAD-LEAVED WILLOW HERB

The Broad-leaved Willow Herb is common in most parts of Britain. You find it growing on old walls, in woods and under hedges, and it blooms all summer and autumn.

It is a tall, thin plant, and has small pink flowers with four petals, each of which has a V-shaped notch cut in the outer edge. Behind these pink petals there are four narrow pointed green sepals, and within the flower grow eight stamens with tiny yellow heads. Amongst these stamens you can see the slender pillar which rises from the seed-vessel; it is divided at the top into four yellow rays.

The flowers grow singly, each at the end of a long thin pod which is slightly red in colour. When the petals and the green calyx fall off, this pod grows larger, and as soon as the seeds inside are ripe, it splits open into four strips, and each strip is lined with a row of small brown hairy seeds.

The leaves of this Willow Herb are oval, with pointed tips, and they are cut into sharp teeth all round the edge. These leaves are dark green, and usually they are smooth all over, but you sometimes find leaves which have hairs along the veins.

The stem is quite smooth, and it is red on the side which gets most suns.h.i.+ne.

2. CORN c.o.c.kLE

The Corn c.o.c.kle is common everywhere. It grows in the cornfields, and you find its pink flowers all summer.

The flowers are large and handsome. In shape they are like a Primrose, but the petals are pale pink and each has a tiny notch in the outer edge. On these petals there are tiny lines of dark purple dots, like rays, which run from the centre of the flower almost to the edge of the petal. The heads of the stamens can only just be seen in the centre of the flower where the five petals meet.

Behind the pink flower there is a green calyx-cup marked with ten ridges, and at the mouth of this cup there are five narrow green teeth, which are so long they look like pointed leaves. These sepals are dark green inside, but the outside is pale green and woolly. You can see their sharp points standing out beyond each of the petals of the flower.

The stem of the Corn c.o.c.kle is stiff, and it grows very straight. Like the calyx-cup, it is covered with soft white wool.

The leaves grow in pairs on each side of the stem. These leaves are long and narrow, with pointed ends. Each leaf is dark green above, but the back is always pale grey-green and woolly.

3. CROSS-LEAVED PINK HEATH

This waxen Pink Heath is to be found all over the country. It grows best in damp places, and is in flower in late summer and autumn before the purple heather is fully out.

The flowers grow in cl.u.s.ters of from five to twelve at the top of the woody stem. Each cl.u.s.ter is made up of pale pink waxy bells, and the mouth of each small bell is edged with four pointed teeth. If you split open one of these pink bells, you will find inside a round green seed-vessel like a tiny pea.

There is a long green spike growing from the top of this seed-vessel, and you can see its point coming out of the mouth of the pink bell.

There is also a ring of yellow stamens hidden inside the bell, and these grow close round the green seed-vessel.

The leaves of this Pink Heath are very small and pointed, and they have hairs along the edge. They grow in fours, and are placed crossways at short distances up the main stem. The edges are usually rolled back on to the woolly underside of the leaf.

The stem of the Cross-leaved Pink Heath is slender and wiry, and this pretty plant is never found growing in large bushes like the common heather. Sometimes the flowers are pure white.

Plate XLIII: 1. BLUE MEADOW CRANE'S-BILL 2. MILKWORT 3. CORN FLOWER OR BLUE BOTTLE 4. TUFTED VETCH

1. BLUE MEADOW CRANE'S-BILL

The Blue Meadow Crane's-bill is one of our handsomest wildflowers. It is to be found by the edge of the fields and in the meadows all over Britain in summer and autumn.

This plant is related to the beautiful geranium which grows in our gardens. The flowers have five large petals. In front these petals are bright blue and are painted with tiny pink streaks. Behind, they are a delicate pale pink.

In the centre of the flower there is a ring of stamens, and within this ring is the seed-vessel.

There is a circle of green sepals behind the pinky-blue petals.

After the blue petals are withered you can see a long spike with a small star at the end coming out from among the sepals.

This spike has five seeds cl.u.s.tered round the bottom, and whenever these seeds are ripe, the spike splits into five fine hairs. Each of these hairs curls up to the top, carrying a seed with it. Then the five seeds are blown by the wind away from the slender hairs.