BRITISH FLORA 



are .slender or stoiil, hollow. The flowers are 

 pink, in dense lulls, with lance-shaped pelals, willi 

 many flowers in Ihe umbel, wilhoul bulbs. The 

 spalhes arc 2, egg'-shaped, poinled, as long as the 

 flowers. The stamens are united below, included, 

 about half as longas the lance-shaped, pale-purple, 

 bell-shaped perianth-segments, shortly stalked. 

 The plant is 6-15 in. high, flowers in June and 

 July, and is a herbaceous perennial. 



Vernal Squill (Sct7/a verna, Huds.). — The habi- 

 tat of this species is grassy places near the sea, 

 rocky pastures. The plant has the lily habit. The 

 bulb is as large as a hazel-nut. The leaves are 

 linear, channelled, hooded at the end, appearing 

 before the flowers (hence venin), numerous, as 

 long as, or longer than, the stalk, bent back. The 

 scapes are not so long as the leaves. The bracts 

 are lance-shaped, as long as the flower-stalks. 

 The flowers are few, bright-blue, fragrant, in more 

 or less of a corymb. The perianth-segments are 

 free. The anthers are purple. The capsule is 

 small. The plant is 4-6 in. high, flowering in April 

 and May, and is a herbaceous perennial. 



Wild Tulip ( Tulipa sylvestris, L.). — The habitat 

 of this plant is chalk pits in the E. counties, mea- 

 dows near Nottingham and Yorks, parks, &c. 

 The plant has the lily habit. The bulb is small, 

 egg-shaped, stoloniferous, with chestnut-brown 

 scales. The leaves are few, lance-shaped, linear, 

 bluish-green. The stem is round, wavy. The 

 flowers are fragrant, bright-jellow, rarely pro- 

 duced in the wild state, the flowers drooping at first, 

 then nearly erect, the perianth-segments elliptic to 

 lance-shaped, the tips hairy, the scape i-flowered, 

 hairless. The stigma is yellow, and Ihe stamens 

 are hairy below. The capsule is acute above and 

 below. The plant is 6-18 in. high, flowering in 

 April and May, and is a herbaceous perennial. 



Order Jlncace^ 



Thin Rush (Junms tenuis, Willd.).— The habitat 

 of this plant is sandy moist ground and roadsides. 

 G. Don found it by a rivulet in marshy ground 

 among the mountains of Clova, near the summit. 

 The plant has the rush habit. The stems are wiry, 

 round, c^'lindric, slender, with few leaves below, 

 the rootstock tufted. The leaves are linear, mostly 

 radical, slender, furrowed, few, enlarged at the 

 base, membranous, with broad sheaths, and long 

 slender laminae. The bracts are erect, thread-like. 

 The flowers are stalkless, and stalked in a terminal 

 compound cyme, shorter than the long bracts, 

 pale. The perianth-segments are lance-shaped, 

 acute, with a long, narrow point, longer than the 

 capsule, which is swollen, spherical, egg-shaped, 

 blunt, notched, shining. The seeds are small, 

 ellipsoid, pointed each end, minutely netted. The 

 plant is 6-18 in. high, flowering from July to Sep- 

 tember, and is a herbaceous perennial. 



Drooping Mountain Woodrush (Lustda amiafa, 

 Sw.).— The habitat of this plant is high alps, the 

 tops of Scotch mountains. The habit is as in the 

 last. The plant is dwarf, with a creeping, loosely- 

 tufted rootstock, and slender stolons. The stems 



are stout or slender. The leaves are slightly 

 hairy, channelled, short, curved, narrowly linear, 

 leathery, bent back. The flowers are in loose 

 umbelled cymes of 3-5 clusters, one-stalked, with 

 few branches, the outer bent back, 1-3 flowered, 

 on long drooping stalks. The perianth-segments 

 are broadly lance-shaped, bristle-pointed, longer 

 than the capsule. The anther-stalks equal the 

 anthers. The capsule is egg-sh.iijed, willi a blunt 

 point, round, the seeds oblong, blunt, with hardly 

 any appendage below. The plant is 1-4 in. high, 

 flowering from June to July, and is a herbaceous 

 perenni.il. 



Dwarf Silvery Sedge (Cunx /m wilts, Leyss. = 

 C. clandes/ina. Good.). — The habitat of this species 

 is limestone hills, dry grassy hills, and downs. 

 The plant has the sedge habit, and the rootstock 

 is creeping, stout. The stems are 3-angIed, 

 smooth, hidden amongst the leaves (hence cluiidcs- 

 Una). The leaves arc radical, linear, with in- 

 rolled margins, curved, stiff', channelled, rough. 

 The bracts are glumaceous, blunt, silvery, mem- 

 branous, bordered. The fertile spikelets are dis- 

 tant, slender, loose, 3-4 flowered, white, enclosed 

 in the bracts, the male spikelets solitary. The 

 fruit is narrow, inversely egg-shaped, stalked, 3- 

 angled, dow-ny, greenish, 2-faced, i-ribbed, the 

 mouth entire, oblique. The silvery glumes are 

 marked with pink and green. The beak is short, 

 entire. The nut is smooth, beaked, pale-brown, 

 3-angled. The plant is low, 1-3 in. high (hence 

 humilis), flowering from April to June, and is a 

 herbaceous perennial. 



Order Graminace/e 



Holy Grass (Hicrochhe borcalis, R. and S. = 

 Sarmstana odorata, L.). — The habitat of this plant 

 is damp grassy places, wet banks. The plant 

 has the grass habit. The rootstock is creeping. 

 The stems are smooth, hairless, and tufted. The 

 leaves are flat, acute, with rough edges. The 

 sheaths are smooth. The ligule is long. The 

 panicle is erect, rather one-sided, pjramidal, with 

 few branches. The stalks are smooth. The spike- 

 lets are broad, egg-shaped, brown, shining. The 

 flowering glumes are shortly-awned near the tip, 

 those of the male spikelets hairy, fringed with 

 hairs, those of the complete florets hairy above. 

 The empty glumes are membranous, shining, 

 acute, toothed, blunt-pointed. The fruit is rounded. 

 The plant is 4-10 in. high, flowering in May and 

 June, and is an annual or perennial, and herb- 

 aceous. 



Purple-stalked Cat's Tail (Plilcum phlcvides, 

 Simonk. = P. plinlaroides, Koel. = P. Boehtncri, 

 Web.). — The habitat of this plant is dry sandy 

 and chalk}' fields and pastures. The plant has 

 the grass habit. The plant is hairless. The 

 culm is purple. The stems are smooth, ascend- 

 ing, leafy below, leafless above, with barren leafy 

 shoots. The leaves are short, flat, rough, bluish- 

 green. The leaf-sheaths are siighth- swollen. 

 The upper ligules are long. The panicle is long, 

 cylindrical, narrow, blunt, green, somewhat inter- 



