VIII 



MEADOWS, FIELDS AND PASTURES— SPRING 



It is, of course, impossible to draw a hard and fast line between 

 the flowers of spring and those of summer, for not only does each 

 individual species vary in the time of its first appearance, according 

 to the nature of the season, but many of the spring and summer 

 flowers overlap in such a manner that it is difficult to decide which 

 season has the greater claim to each one. In the present chapter, 

 however, we shall include those flowers of our fields and meadows 

 which usually commence to bloom before the beginning of June, 

 even though they may continue to produce blossoms well into 

 the summer. 



One of the most conspicuous features of the meadows in spring 

 is certainly the abundance of those bright yeUow flowers known 

 collectively as the Buttercups. But the name of Buttercup, 

 standing alone, has no definite, scientific meaning, the name being 

 applied to quite a number of flowers of the Ranunculus genus of the 

 order Ranunculacece, 



The earUest of these is undoubtedly the Pilewort or Lesser 

 Celandine {Ranunculus Ficaria), which appears early in April, and 

 often in such abundance as to cover the ground with its leaves 

 and flowers. This flower is not confined to fields and meadows, 

 but often covers large patches of bank and hedgerow, where, 

 together with the Greater Stitchwort, it produces a most brilliant 

 show of white and yellow stars. 



The plant has a small rootstock, with a number of little oblong 

 tubers which are renewed every year, and sometimes a branched, 

 creeping stem. Its leaves usually all grow direct from the rootstock, 

 and are stalked, heart-shaped, glossy, with crenate or angled 

 margins. The flower-stalks bear a few small leaves, and a single 

 flower with three sepals, and about eight glossy, oblong, yellow 



