ON HEATH, DOWN AND MOOR 



279 



attached to their centres. The oply leaves possessed by tlie plant 

 are the minute, deciduous scales, from the axils of which the 

 cladodes grow. The flowers are white, very small, with a deeply 

 six-cleft, persistent perianth, each one attached to the centre of 

 a cladode by a very minute stalk. They are always on the upper 

 side of the cladode, though it generally happens that they are turned 

 downwards by a twisting of the base of the leaflike branch. The 

 flowers are always imperfect, the 

 male and female blossoms grow- 

 ing on separate shrubs, and both 

 have a small bract at the base. 

 The ovary of the latter develops 

 into a rather large, scarlet, berry- 

 hke fruit containing one or two 

 seeds. The flowers appear during 

 March and April. 



Two of the Rushes (order 

 Juncacece) are very common on 

 heaths and moors. One of these 

 is the Heath Rush {Juncus sqiiar- 

 rosus), which appears on Plate VI. 

 This is a rigid Rush, varying from 

 four to ten inches high, flowering 

 in June and July. Its stems are 

 stout, solid, and generally leaf- 

 less ; and the leaves are narrow, 

 grooved, usually less than half the 

 length of the stem. The flowers 

 are brown, either distinct or in 

 clusters of two or three, arranged 

 in a compound raceme, with a 

 perianth of shining segments 

 membranous at the margins, and 

 about a sixth of an inch long, 

 terminate in a pointed bristle. 



The other is the Field Woodrush {Luzula campestris), a small 

 plant, usually from four to six inches high, flowering from March to 

 June, and often very abundant among the grass of hilly pastures and 

 heaths. Its leaves are fringed with long, soft, white hairs ; and 

 the flowers, which are of a very dark brown colour, are arranged 

 in three or four round or oval spikes. The segments of the perianth 



THE COiDiox MAT Grass. 



The capsules are blunt, but 



