50 



FIELD AND WOODLAND PLANTS 



The Goldilocks or Wood Ranunculus {Ranunculus auricomus) 

 is a flower very much Hke the Upright Meadow Buttercup (p. 211), 

 though not nearly so tall, being only from six to ten inches high. 

 It grows chiefly in thickets and copses, and flowers from April to 



July. Its root is fibrous ; 

 the stem erect, slender, and 

 branched ; the radical leaves 

 long-stalked, round or kid- 

 ney - shaped, divided into 

 three, five, or seven lobes ; 

 and the stem leaves few, j 

 sessile, and palmately divided I 

 to the base into very narrow | 

 segments. The calyx is | 

 downy, consisting of spread- i 

 ing, yellow sepals ; and the ! 

 petals are often partially or ' 

 entirely wanting. This plant 

 is widely distributed, but is 

 most frequent in the centre j 

 and south of England. 



The Columbine {Aquilegia 

 vulgaris), also one of the . 

 Ranunculacece, so well known 

 as a garden flower, grows 

 wild in the thickets and 

 copses of several parts, bloom- 

 ing from May to July. Its 

 branched stem grows to a 

 height of one or two feet ; and 

 the leaves are stalked, with 

 three broad, stalked, three- 

 lobed segments. The pretty, 

 drooping flowers are usually over an inch in diameter, of a white, 

 blue, or pm-ple colour, in a loose, leafy panicle. They have five 

 coloured, deciduous sepals ; five petals, each with a curved spur 

 that projects below the base of the calyx ; numerous stamens ; 

 and an ovary of five carpels which ripen into as many folhcles. 



The Dog Violet ( Viola canina — Order Violaceoi) is probably too 

 well known to need description, seeing that it is easily distinguished 

 from the other species of the same genus by the absence of scent 



The Goldilock?. 



