WOODS AND THICKETS IN SPRING 



59 



four, are oblong and ribbed ; and the one or two large flowers are 

 brownish with the exception of the lip, which is yellow and inflated. 



Two species of GarHc (order Liliacece) are also to be found in 

 woods early in the season. They are both strong-smelling plants 

 with bulbous roots, radical leaves, 

 and flowers arranged in an umbel 

 with membranous spathes. One — 

 the broad-leaved Garlic or Ramsons 

 [Allium ursinum) — is very common, 

 grows to a height of from six to 

 twelve inches, and flowers from April 

 to June. The stem is bluntly tri- 

 angular and leafless ; and the broad, 

 radical leaves are much Hke those of 

 the Lily of the Valley. The flowers 

 are white, and form a flat umbel 

 with two sharply-pointed bracts at 

 its base. 



The second species — the Sand 

 Leek or Sand GarUc (.4. Scorodo- 

 prasum) — grows to two or three feet, 

 and is found almost exclusively in 

 sandy woods of North England, 

 where it flowers a little later than 

 the Ramsons. The stem-leaves are 

 linear, and form two-edged sheaths ; 

 and the flowers, which are red- 

 dish-purple, are in a loose umbel. 

 (Plate I, Fig. 4.) 



The Star of Bethlehem [Ornitho- 

 galum umbellcitum) is a pretty flower 

 that was originally introduced for 

 cultivation, but has now become 

 well estabUshed as a wild flower in many parts of Britain. 

 It is found chiefly in copses and thickets, especially in the neigh- 

 bourhood of towns and villages, and flowers in April and May. It 

 has an oval bulb containing an abundance of viscid sap ; long 

 narrow, Hmp, radical leaves ; and a flowering stem from six to 

 twelve inches high. The flowers are white, from six to ten in 

 number, arranged in a raceme the lower stalks of which are 

 lengthened in such a manner as to bring all the flowers to a 



THE HAIRY Sedge. 



