94 FLOWERS OF THE WOODS AND COPSES 
apparently not fond of some sandy districts, but rather of a humus 
subsoil, which it obtains in the dry woods and hedge-banks, which 
are its natural habitat. In some districts such surface may be leached 
out, causing it to disappear. 
The root-stock is creeping, and from it the stems issue more or less 
in an erect manner, being simple, with many leaves, but leafless below, 
rounded, with wings. The leaves vary and may be rough, smooth, or 
hairy, oval, acute, stalked, with saw-like teeth, in pairs, with white 
glands on the margin. At the base of the leaf-stalks are 2 small 
acute stipules or leaflike organs. They form a cup to catch rain, and 
a rounded ridge in it with a row of hairs occurs and absorbs moisture. 
The flowers are in loose spikes in the axils of the upper leaves, 
greenish, with no corolla. The female flowers are hidden among the 
leaves, more or less stalkless, the male on long flower-stalks very 
slender, with acute sepals. Male flowers may occur on the female 
rarely. The capsule is rounded, double, with 2 cavities with white 
cuticle, and there are 2 carpels. 
Dog’s Mercury is about 1 ft. in height. It flowers in April and 
May, and is perennial, as the second name implies, and reproduced by 
root-division. 
The plant is dicecious, the stamens and carpels being on different 
plants, the males in axillary spikes, and the females clustered in a short 
raceme of 3 flowers. The styles are long and bent back, stigmatic in 
front. There is no corolla, and 2 carpels. The flowers are pollinated 
by the wind. The pollen is dust-like. The stigmas are said to be ripe 
at least two days before the anthers are ripe. On some female plants 
there may be a few male flowers capable of pollination. 
When ripe the seeds fall out of the capsule around the parent plant. 
Dog’s Mercury is more or less a humus plant, requiring a humus 
soil. 
The fungus Ce@oma mercurzals attacks it. 
Several beetles are found on Dog’s Mercury, Hermaophaga mer- 
curtalis, Apion germari, A. pallipes, Trophiphorus mercurials, Mela- 
gethes kunzet, and a moth, Phlogophora meticulosa. 
Mercurialis, Pliny, was so called after the god Mercury, who is 
said to have discovered its virtues, and the second Latin name indicates 
its perennial character. 
This plant is called Adder’s-meat, Boggard-flower, Bristol-weed, 
Cheadle, Dog's Mercury, Dog’s Cole, Kentish Balsam, Maiden Mer- 
cury, Wild Mercury, Leaf Mercury, Sapwort, Snake’s Bit, Snake 
Weed, Town-weed. Dog’s Mercury is so called to distinguish it not 
