118 



FLOWERS OF THE HEATHS AND MOORS 



Great Wood Rush (Luzula sylvatica, Gaud. = L. maxima, D.C.) 



This is a woodland arctic type which is known to us only from 

 its present distribution in N. Temperate and Arctic Europe (except 



Greece) and Russia. In Great Britain it 

 is found in every county except Suffolk 

 and Hunts, both lowland districts; as far 

 north as the Shetlands, up to 2300 ft. in 

 the Highlands, and in Ireland and the 

 Channel Islands. 



The Wood Rush, that is to say, here, 

 the largest of the species, is a typical wood- 

 land plant, forming a definite feature in cer- 

 tain types of wood, oak woods, growing in 

 the shade, which it loves more than all the 

 other wood rushes, and forming big clumps 

 over a wide area, but it also grows on 

 heaths. 



This plant is a tall, graceful wood rush 

 with a grass- like habit. The leaves are 

 clothed and fringed with hairs, which spring 

 from the sides of the long, flat leaves, 

 which taper to a graceful point, and are 

 mainly radical. They are channelled. The 

 few stem -leaves towards the top of the 

 stem are short, drooping, and bract-like. 



The flowers are in clusters of three 

 in a densely compound cyme, with long 

 flower -stalks; the perianth -segments are 

 awned or bristle -like and as long as the 

 capsule, with small anther- stalks. The 

 capsule is tuberculate, beaked, egg-shaped, 

 acute, and 3-seeded. 



The stem towers gracefully to a height of 18 in. Flowers may be 

 found in May. The plant is a perennial, propagated by seeds, and is 

 suited to plantation in woods and shrubberies. 



As in the case of the Rushes the flowers are pollinated by the wind, 

 and self-pollination is rendered impossible as the stigma matures first, 

 this condition lasting 4-5 days. The perianth is only partly open, and 

 then expands for a few hours. The flowers are in clusters of 34, 



Photo. Flatters &<;arn<-l 



GREAT WOOD Rf.su (Luzula 

 svlvutiai, (laud.) 



