34 FLOWERS OF THE HILLS AND DRY PLACES 



the colours of the flowers, especially in Great Burnet. Sanguisorba 

 (sanguis, blood, sorbere, to absorb) is Latin for blood-stanching. 

 This plant is called Burnet, Pimpernel, Pimpinell, Salad Burnet. 



" Of pympurnalle to speke thenky zet, 

 And Englysch y-called is Burnet." 



It was formerly used in tankards. It was put in a preparation made 

 for festering wounds, and was one of the herbs used in "Save", of 

 Chaucer's time. It is nutritious and very astringent. Sheep are said 

 to thrive on it. It has been sown with clover. The bruised leaves 

 smell like cucumber and taste like the skin. 



ESSENTIAL SPECIFIC CHARACTERS: 



1 02. Poteri2im Sanguisorba, L. Stem erect, angular, leaves pin- 

 nate, leaflets ovate serrate, flowers apetalous, in heads, crimson above, 

 calyx 4 -cleft, smooth, stamens below, with drooping filaments, fruit 

 quadrangular, veined. 



Field Scabious (Scabiosa arvensis, L.) 



Though found at the present day in the Northern Temperate and 

 Arctic Zones, in Arctic Europe, Siberia, North Africa, there is no 

 earlier trace of this plant as there is in the case of Devil's Bit Scabious. 

 In Great Britain it is not found in Cardigan, Mid Perth, Westerness, 

 Main Argyle, Cantire, the Ebudes, West Ross, E. Sutherland, Caith- 

 ness, Hebrides, Orkneys, or the Shetlands. 



The Field Scabious is not so often found in the valleys and low- 

 lands generally as its near ally, Devil's Bit Scabious, being addicted to 

 a much drier habitat. It is a plant of the mountains and hills, growing 

 very often on dry banks in the open fields, but generally only in upland 

 districts. It is occasionally to be found, however, in the cornfield, 

 where it grows gregariously. 



Field Scabious is taller than Devil's Bit Scabious, but it has much 

 the same habit, though it grows in clumps, and is not scattered across 

 the meadows as the latter often is. The stem is simple or branched, 

 rough, leafless above, and hairy at the base. The lower leaves are 

 simple, entire, opposite, roughly hairy, 1 egg-shaped, coarsely toothed, 

 the upper stalkless, clasping, with the lobes divided nearly to the base 

 into four. 



The flowerheads are blue, terminal, and borne on stalks. The 



1 The hairs are long and simple, long and dark glands, and numerous. 



