XV 



BOGS, MARSHES AND WET PLACES— SUMMER 



The Crowfoot group of the Ranunculacece contains two bog-plants 

 popularly known as Spearworts on account of their spear-like 

 leaves. One of these — the Lesser Spearwort(i?anwwc2/Zw5 Flammnla) 

 — is abundant in wet places, especially the edges of muddy pools 

 and ditches, where its buttercup-like flowers may be seen from 

 June to September. It is a slender, smooth plant, witli a branched 

 stem, more or less decumbent at the base, from four to twelve 

 inches high. Its leaves are narrow-oval in form, stalked, and either 

 slightly toothed or quite entire ; and the yellow flowers are about 

 half an inch in diameter, on long peduncles. 



The other is the Greater Spearwort (i?. Lingua), a much larger 

 species, varying from two to four feet in height, and flowering 

 during the same months. It has stout, hollow, erect stems which 

 throw off whorls of root fibres from the lowest joints ; and the glossy, 

 yellow flowers vary from one to one and a half inches in diameter. 

 This species is not nearly so common as the other, but occurs more 

 or less in most parts of Britain. 



Taking next the cruciferous plants [Cruciferce), we have first 

 to note a few species of the Nasturtium genus, including the Water- 

 cress and the Yellow- cress. These are all smooth plants, with 

 small yellow or white flowers. They may be distinguished from 

 other crueifers by their loose calyx ; simple, rounded stigma on 

 a very short style ; and their oblong or narrow pods with the seeds 

 arranged in two rows on each side of the membranous partition. 

 The species with which we are at present concerned are : — 



1. The Water-cress {Nasturtium officinale). — A succulent plant, 

 with a branched stem rooting at the base, growing freely in ditches, 

 shallow streams and muddy places, and flowering from May or June 

 to the end of the summer. Its leaves are pinnately divided into 



