CORNFIELDS 



233 



is extended. In the second place, waste ground 

 is usually broken and open, and thus suited to 

 the colonization of plants derived from corn- 

 fields. In the third place, the origin of the 

 waste -ground plants, such as aliens and 

 casuals, is essentially the same. They have 

 been brought from elsewhere by the same 

 agencies. 



The Grass Habit in the Cornfield. If the 

 growth habits of the plants are studied it will 

 be seen that though there are three zones of 

 plant societies, as in woods and meadows, 

 and though several types of habit may be 

 distinguished, yet, considered generally, a 

 dominant habit is resolved from the manifold 

 conditions of the cornfield which is in all par- 

 ticulars analogous to that of the chief charac- 

 teristics of meadows and pastures. This is 

 the grass habit. 



The cereals themselves are Grasses, and are 

 associated, like meadow-grasses, in close rank. 

 It is one feature of a cornfield that it should 

 make for this manner of growth in order that 

 there may be the greatest possible result in 

 the least possible space, and the exact balanc- 

 ing of the conditions most favourable to attain 

 this end. 



Consequently this factor has the most pro- 

 found effect upon the associated cornfield 

 weeds. All the plants that may be said to 

 belong to the tree type or zone, such as Gold 

 of Pleasure, Flax, Corn Cockle, Chicory, Corn 

 Sow Thistle, are of the grass habit more or 

 less. Many, too, in the two lower zones 

 (scrub and ground flora) adopt the same habit, 

 as Spurrey, Shepherd's Needle, Lamb's Let- 

 tuce, Mousetail, &c. 



Absence of Brilliant Colours in the Corn- 

 fields. One usually associates a cornfield with 

 masses of scarlet poppies or sulphur-yellow 

 Charlock. In favoured localities a touch of 

 puce or magenta is lent by the Corn Cockle, 

 but this plant seldom grows en masse, and the 

 same may be said of the Cornflower, which 

 like the last is dying out of the cornfield. On 

 rich red soils the Corn Marigold may here and 

 there contribute a golden glow to the corn- 

 field. 



These, however, are the jewels of the corn- 

 field, as the buttercups and lady's smocks and 

 red clovers are in the meadows. As a whole 

 we may indeed regard the cornfields as devoid 

 of brilliantly-coloured flowers. Many are white, 

 or nearly so, such as Candytuft, Heart's Ease, 

 White Campion, Spurrey, Shepherd's Needle, 

 Fool's Parsley, Lamb's Lettuce, Blue Sherardia 

 (pale lilac), Corn Gromwell, Hemp Nettle (white 

 or pink), and a number apetalous. 



This may be connected with another factor 

 which is characteristic of the cornfield, namely, 



the inaccessibility of the cornfield plants to 

 the insects that visit, as a rule, the brilliantly- 

 coloured flowers. 



Late Flowering of the Cornfield Weeds. The 

 majority of the cornfield plants do not flower 

 so early as those in the meadows. There are, 

 of course, as in all different types of vegeta- 

 tion, natural or artificial cycles of flowering. 

 For each month is characterized by the flower- 

 ing of some particular species, whilst locally 

 some are perennially in flower, e.g. Shepherd's 

 Purse, Groundsel, White and Purple Dead 

 Nettle, and in the cornfield the Heart's Ease 

 also. Some of the Speedwells are also in bloom 

 nearly all the year round. Blue Sherardia 

 flowers as early as March, and as late as 

 November. 



The earliest- flowering cornfield plants in- 

 clude Mousetail, Ivy-leaved Speedwell, Heart's 

 Ease, Lamb's Lettuce (April). In May Corn 

 Buttercup, Fumitory, Charlock, Venus's Look- 

 ing Glass, Field Bugloss, Corn Gromwell, 

 begin to flower. The majority appear in June, 

 which is somewhat late compared with the 

 season for flowering in other habitats. Such 

 are Larkspur, Poppies, Candytuft, Charlock, 

 White Campion, Corn Cockle, Spurrey, Flax, 

 Alsike Clover, Shepherd's Needle, Corn Mari- 

 gold, Bluebottle, Scarlet Pimpernel, Wild Oat, 

 Darnel. Several of these continue till Sep- 

 tember, e.g. Alsike Clover, Cornflower, Scarlet 

 Pimpernel. Still later in flowering are Fool's 

 Parsley, Corn Sow Thistle, Small Snapdragon, 

 Common Hemp Nettle. 



The reason for this late flowering is the 

 disturbance of the ground in February and 

 March. 



Annual Character of Plants. One feature of 

 the cornfield is its ephemeral character. This 

 lack of permanence of conditions makes itself 

 felt upon the plants associated with the corn 

 itself. It can hardly be otherwise. For the 

 time which elapses between one ploughing 

 and the next precludes the continuity of the 

 bulk of the plants in the cornfield beyond one 

 season. Thus all but three of the plants whose 

 life-history has been described in detail are 

 annuals which must germinate in March and 

 April, and flower and fruit from June till 

 September. 



This indeed is the only adjustment that can 

 be made, and it is owing to their annual 

 character that nearly all the cornfield plants 

 bloom so late. White Campion (June to July), 

 Alsike Clover (June to September), Corn Sow 

 Thistle (July to August), are three cornfield 

 perennials that grow in cornfields. 



Two others, Cornflower and Blue Sherardia, 

 both of which flower up till September, may 

 be annual or biennial. So that there seems 



