46 REV. DE. HIND — NOTES OX THE PLANTS OF WniCH 



near streams. The flowers appear in early sprinp:, before the 

 leaves ; they are of a pale puriilish colour, and are Lome on, what 

 is technically called, a thyrsus. The male and female flowers 

 are produced by different plants. Tmsilago Farfara, coltsfoot, 

 is a still earlier plant ; its blight yellow blossoms decking our 

 pastures and ploughed fields even before the first breath of spring 

 is felt. Achillea Millefolium, milfoil or yarrow, may be known by 

 its tufted finely-cut leaves, justifying its name (thousand leaves), and 

 by its dense corymbs of white, occasionally pui-pli.sh-red, blossoms. 

 It is common in our pastures, and not infi'equent by the waysides. 

 Chrysanthemum Leucanthemum, ox-eye, is frequent in our meadows 

 and pastures, and is well known as horse or dog daisy. Arte- 

 misia vulgaris, mugwort, is a large and somewhat coarsish plant, 

 occurring on banks and waste places. Its leaves resemble those 

 of the hawthorn in shape, but are more fleshy and softer in their 

 texture, and are woolly and white beneath. The flowers are 

 racemose, brownish-yellow, and altogether unattractive. Senecio 

 Jacohcea, ragwort, does not occur in the Harrow Flora. Its 

 place is supplied by the Senecio aqnaticus and erticifolius. It is a 

 coarse inelegant plant, with raggedly-cut leaves, and a corymb of 

 coarse yellow flowers, which not infrequently are defective, having 

 no ray, or strap-shaped florets which encircle the tubular florets of 

 the disk in Composite flowers. Carclims lanceolatus and arvensis are 

 our two most common thistles — the former the large coarse thistle 

 of our roadsides ; and the latter, the common pest of our pastures, 

 growing in masses and increasing by running roots or underground 

 stems. Sonchus arvensis, corn sow-thistle, frequent in our corn- 

 fields, is a tall plant with large rich yellow flowers, which in hot 

 sunshine give out a perceptible almond scent. Hieracium Pilosella, 

 mouse-ear hawkweed, is a frequent plant on dry banks, with 

 lemon-coloured flowers and oblong hairy leaves. It spreads by 

 creeping scions, and is easily distinguished fi'om other hawkweeds 

 and other Composite plants by these marks. 



47, Campanula rotund ifolia, harebell, a plant affecting diy banks, 

 heaths, and mountain pastures, is easily recognised by its light blue, 

 nodding, bell flowers. Its trivial name, round-leaved, belongs to 

 it only in its early state. As the plant advances, its rounded or 

 kidney-shaped leaves die off", and leave only the lanceolate leaves 

 on the stem. 



48, Ge7itiana campestris, field gentian, is an autumn plant ; it 

 may be found in flower in August, and occasionally as late in the 

 year as October. The corolla is salver-shaped, four-cleft, with a 

 long, slightly swollen tube. The colour is pale or blotched purple. 

 The books set it down as a limestone plant, but I have found it on 

 at least half-a-dozen different formations. It loves a thin soil 

 where its roots can reach the rock below. 



49, Convolvulus sepium, greater bindweed, the white convolvulus 

 of our liedges, is too well known to recpiire further notice. It 

 blooms in tlie end of summer and througliout tlie autumn. 



50, Syt)q)h>jtHm officinale, comfrey, is a coarse plant growing at 



