54 



FIELD AND WOODLAND PLANTS 



In shady woods grows the Sweet Woodruff {A sperula odorata — 

 order Ruhiacece) — a small, erect and smooth plant, seldom exc eeding 

 eight inches in height. The leaves are six to nine in each whorl, 

 lanceolate, with small prickles on the margins. The flowers are 

 white, in terminal panicles, and the fruit is rough with hooked 



hairs. The herb emits, 

 when dry, a pleasant odour 

 resembling that of new hay. 

 There are two Periwinkles 

 (order ApocynacecE), both of 

 which have been introduced 

 into Britain as garden 

 flowers, but have become 

 established as wild flowers 

 in several parts. One of 

 these — the Lesser Periwinkle 

 ( Vinca minor) — is moder- 

 ately common, especially in 

 the West, where it is often 

 seen in thickets and other 

 shady places, flowering during 

 April and May. It has a 

 trailing stem, from one to 

 two feet long, rooting at the 

 nodes ; and short, erect, leafy, 

 flowering branches. The 

 leaves are opposite, narrow - 

 elhptical, entire, and quite 

 smooth ; and the blue or 

 violet flowers, which are 

 about an inch in diameter, 

 are solitary on short, erect stalks. The calyx is free, and deeply 

 divided into five narrow segments ; the corolla has a narrow tube, 

 and five broad, spreading parts ; there are five stamens, enclosed 

 in the tube of the corolla ; and the carpels are distinct at the base, 

 but connected at the top by the single style. 



The other species — the Greater Periwinkle {Vinca maj&r) — is 

 a very similar plant, but its leaves are broader, with minute hairs 

 on the margin ; the calyx segments are also hairy at the edges ; 

 and the corolla is larger, with a broad tube. 



The Tooth-wort {Lathrcea squamaria — order Orobanchacece) is 



THE Sweet Woodruff. 



