MOUSE-TAIL 89 



both cover the soil at the loot of the cornstalks where liL^hl ])ierces the 

 rows of haulms. Hri<^ht-i;ol(len appear tlu- llowers of the i)eautet)us 

 corn mari^dkl amid the strain, varieil with the rich lilue llowerheads 

 of the conitlower. Seekintj the sun the scented Corn Sowthistle 

 slowlv twists its shocks of i^'olden bloom in the wake of Ilyperion. 

 Hiding; a\\a\' iisclf ami its bloom \ cnus' I.ookin^-^lass is rareK' seen, 

 thouL;h it is fairl\- common. .Small .SnapdraL^on, 1 \y-lca\e(,l Speedwell, 

 Scark-t Pim])ernel, wakeful up till morniuL;, the liard-triiited Corn 

 Gromwcll, the prickly but pretty tield Ijus^Ioss, are all familiar weeds 

 here amid the ancient Wild Oat and the death-dealing Darnel grass. 



Mouse-tail ( Myt)SLirus minimus, L.) 



No trace of the .Mousc'-taij has been found in beds earlier than 

 recent accumulations. It is a plant of the Warm Temperate Zone, 

 found in Europe, W. Asia, N. Africa, and has been introduced in 

 ballast into America and other countries. It is found in S. England, 

 in S. Devon. .S. .Somerset, Wilts. Dorset, Isle of W'ight, Hants, 

 Susse.x, Kent, Surrey. Essex, Herts, Middlesex, Berks, Oxford, 

 Bucks, the whole of E. Anglia, W. Cdoucestershire, Hereford, 

 Worcester, Warwick, Stafford, Lincolnshire, Leicester, Notts, Derby, 

 Chester, N.E., Mid W., N.W. Vorks, Durham, and Northumberland, 

 and thus ranges from the last county to Kent and Devon, as wx'll as 

 in the Channel Islands. 



The .Mou.se-tail, as almost implied by its name, is a diminutive 

 plant, likely to be overlooked by all but the most observant. Its 

 distribution shows that it is a plant of cultivated ground, coming up 

 in cornfields, when the wheat is yet green, between the lines of grain 

 It is fond of dry soil, and as such is a Xerophile, and though not 

 confined to chalk districts is rather more abundant there than else- 

 where. It has the grass habit, which may be regardetl as an adaptive 

 character here. It is also found in clover fields, and on the sides of 

 paths in the dried-up pools where water has long accumulated. The 

 ]\Iouse-tail is associated with Plantain, Corn Buttercup. 



It is a small, erect plant, with a festigiate habit, i.e. with parallel 

 ascending branches, the leaves, which are linear, expanded below, 

 being clustered in a rosette, but erect, surrounding the taller receptacle, 

 w'hich re.sembles the mouse's tail, give it a plantaindike hal)it, in which 

 again it resembles Iso'ctes, or even Limosc/la. 



This plant is unlike any other British plant, or the three mentioned, 

 in the appearance its ripe carpels present, a i)lantain also having a 



