1902 Marsh Botany in Spring 127 



woodlands are carpeted with bluebells, the widespreading 

 marshes are still for the most part dreary in aspect and 

 tawny in hue. The marshmen reckon that spring begins on 

 April 6, for by that day, they say, the " colts," or young 

 reeds, are visible above water, and the cutting of the amber- 

 stemmed, grey-plumed reeds must be suspended until next 

 winter. But on the 6th of April you may often look in vain 

 on the level lowlands for such evident floral signs of spring as 

 can be seen in the fields, woods, and upland pastures. One 

 of our commonest marsh flowers, the marsh marigold, often 

 blooms very early in the year, and it is generally believed that 

 by the end of March the marshes are yellow with its bright 

 blossoms ; but in eastern England, where the widest ex- 

 panses of marshland are exposed to keen sea-winds in spring, 

 we have to wait until the middle of April for its full bloom- 

 ing. Writing of this plant, I may say that I have found its 

 sub-species or variety Caltha Giierangerii by no means un- 

 common in the Broadland district. In this variety the 

 flowers are generally small, and the sepals — the marsh 

 marigold has no corolla, but yellow petaloid sepals — rather 

 wide apart. 



During April the most conspicuous marsh flower is, of 

 course, that lilac-blossomed crucifer, the lady's-smock or 

 cuckoo-flower {Cardainine pratensis), concerning which Ger- 

 arde says, " It doth flower in April and Male, when the 

 cuckoo doth begin to sing her pleasant notes without stam- 

 mering." Contemporary with it appears, by the riverside, 

 C. amara, a rarer plant of more straggling habit, and bearing 

 white flowers. Late in the month the marsh valerian {Val- 

 eriana dioica) may be seen springing up amid the cuckoo- 

 flowers on many swampy marshes. It is not until the 

 middle of May, however, that this plant becomes in any 

 way conspicuous. It is remarkable for bearing four kinds 

 of flowers — viz. (i) corolla large, pistil absent ; (2) corolla 

 small, pistil rudimentary ; (3) corolla smaller, anthers rudi- 

 mentary ; (4) corolla very small, anthers absent. This marsh 

 valerian, with the dandelions — Taraxacum pahtstre, the marsh 

 dandelion, is distinguished from the other varieties by its 

 narrow sinuate leaves — the daisies, and a few buttercups, 

 make up the April bouquet of marsh flowers, to which a few 



VOL. I. — NO. 2. I 



