WAYSIDES AND WASTES IN SPRING 



89 



(C. arvense), which has numerous white flowers, in forked cymes, 

 blooming from April to August. Its stem is hairy, prostrate, from 

 six to ten inches long ; the 

 leaves very narrow ; and the 

 sepals only about half as long 

 as the petals. 



The pretty Wild Geraniums, 

 of which there are several 

 species, often form a very attrac- 

 tive feature of the wayside. 

 They are readily recognised as 

 a group by the swollen joints of 

 their stems ; the simple, stipuled, 

 lobed leaves ; the axillary flowers ; 

 and the fruit composed of five 

 distinct carpels, with their five 

 long styles adhering to a long 

 central beak. The flowers have 

 five distinct petals and sepals, 

 and ten stamens, five of which 

 become alternately larger. 

 When the fruit is ripe the five 

 carpels separate, and are raised 

 by the curving of the smooth 

 styles which remain for a time 

 attached to the beak. 



In early April, and from 

 then to August or September, 

 the Dove's-foot Crane's-bill 

 {Geranium molle) may be seen 

 in flower by the wayside. The 

 plant is prostrate, soft and 

 downy, with rounded leaves 

 lobed and cut. The pretty pink 

 or lilac flowers are from a third 

 to half an inch in diameter, with 

 abruptly -pointed sepals and notched petals. This species may be 

 readily distinguished from similar plants of the same genus by 

 the smooth, wrinkled capsules, and smooth seeds. 



A second species — the Jagged-leaved Crane's-bill [G. dissectum) — 

 is also very common in wastes and by waysides. It is a hairy, rather 



THE Broad-leaved Mouse-ear 

 Chickweed. 



