lIIvVRT'S i:,\SE 107 



of tlu' wiKl iil.iiu, ;iiul is ciilu-r white or crimson in colour. Ibcris 

 tu)tbcllala, which ciiiic troni C.uuli.i, is ;i lar:_;cr tlowcr. 



It is ciulowcil with ,1 \cr\' hitter taste, hut has not Ijecn larLJciy 

 used except ;is a Cress or lor such coni[)laints as sciatica. It is not 

 now employed for any such purposes. 



ESSENTI.M, Si'I'.CII-IC CiiARArri.Ks: — 



36. I/uT/s aiiiara. L. — .Stem hranchetl, spreatlin;^, leaves lanceolate. 

 dentate, flowers in <i corymb, petals une(|ual.. the t)Liter radiant, white 

 or lilac, pods orbicular, wini^ed, nolchetl, with trian;^iil,ir lobes. 



Heart's Ease (\'i<ila arvensis. Murr. ) 



This plant has not been tound in .seed-bearini^j^ beds. The Marsh 

 \'iolel, howe\er, is tound in l)eds ran^iny' from the Pre-glacial to 

 the Neolithic period. It is to-tlay found in the Temperate and 

 Arctic Zones in Arctic luirope, X. Africa, X. and \V. Asia, as far 

 as -Siberia and N.W. India. It is found in every county in Great 

 ISritain, as tar as .Shethuu.l, as well as in Ii'eland and the Channel 

 Islands. In Yorkshire and in .Scotland it is fountl at altitutles of 

 lOCXD ft. 



Heart's Ease is one of the commonest cornfield \vc;eds, cominj^ up 

 not only in the furrows, but covering every a\ailable space it can 

 obtain. In its forms it \aries tremendously, and / . tricoloi' or the 

 garden form will rt-\erl to a form like this. It is lound also (jii waste 

 groinul aroimd farnnards and l)y the wayside. 



The stem is angular, spreading, and branched, and more or less 

 lies on the ground except at the tip, the leaves have long stalks, and 

 are narrowly elliptical, with rounded teeth or oval, the stipules are 

 divided with lobes larger upwards, or deeply divided, and very variable. 

 The whole plant is slender and delicate. Man\- ])lants grow together 

 in a station, and \ary much in general habit according to the crops 

 with which they grow. 



The flowers are while with a yellow centre, and the calyx is longer 

 than the petals, and hairy. The capsule is rounded, and contains 

 numerous brown shining smooth seeds. in\ersely egg-shaped. 



The plant is usualK' 6 in. high, sometimes c). It is in flower tor 

 nearly six months, from A])ril onward. It is annual, and reproduced 

 by the numerous seeds. 



The Heart's P'ase is pollinatetl by 'J'hrips, though Darwin said if 

 bees were excluded it was more or less barren. W hen the flowers 

 were covered up they yielded only 18 capsules, in which some pos- 



