FLOWERS OF THE WOODS AND COPSES 



[N.B. The woodland plants preceded the vegetation 01 the open country, e.g. meadows and cornfields, 

 but they may be found lingering where woods have been cut down, in shaded places, or in the open. Scrub, 

 also, is an inti-rmriliate stage, and therefore the plants enumerated here may be found in some cases not 

 in actual woodlands to-day, in meadows, or in hedges, &c.] 



ORDER RANUNCULACE^ 



Meadow Rue (Thalictrum majus, Crantz). 

 The habitat of this plant is copses, wet rocky 

 places, damp bushy and stony places. The habit 

 is erect. The stem is branched, tall, with nu- 

 merous large leaves below, solid, finely furrowed. 

 The leaves are twice or thrice pinnate, with lobes 

 each side of a common stalk, 3~5-lobed, and 

 the stipules have the auricles bent back. The 

 flowers are drooping-, in a panicle, with spread- 

 ing branches. The flower-stalks have spreading 

 branches. The carpels are elliptical. The anthers 

 have a point at the tip. The plant is 2-4 ft. high, 

 and flowers in July and August. It is a herba- 

 ceous perennial. 



Yellow Wood Anemone (Anemone ranuncu- 

 lottles, L.). The habitat of this plant is planta- 

 tions, and the plant is rare. The habit is that 

 of the Wood Anemone, with a horizontal root- 

 stork. The leaves are 5-lobed. The scape bears 

 an involucre of deeply-cut, ternate bracts. The 

 flowers are yellow, drooping, solitary or two 

 together. The 5-7 sepals are elliptic, externally 

 downy. The carpels are downy, pointed, not 

 feathery. The plant is 4-6 in. in height. It 

 flowers in April and May s and is a herbaceous 

 perennial. 



Blue Mountain Anemone (Anemone apennina, 

 L.). This species is an alien introduced from 

 Italy, and scarcely naturalized, being found in 

 plantations. The habit is similar to the last, the 

 rounded rootstock tuberous. The leaves are thrice- 

 ternate, stalked, and deeply cut. The involucre 

 of bracts is similar to the leaves. The flowers 

 are blue, solitary, erect. There are many (10-14) 

 lance-shaped sepals. The carpels are not feathery, 

 but pointed. The Blue Mountain Anemone is 

 4-6 in. in height. It flowers in April. The plant 

 is a herbaceous perennial. 



Stinking Hellebore (Helleborus fcefidus, L.). 

 The habitat of this plant is woods, plantations, 

 and thickets in S. and E. England. The habit 

 is erect. The stems are leafless, smooth below 

 and downy above, below scarred. The leaves 

 are stalked, with lobes arising from a centre, and 



the lateral ones also lobed, bent back, the lower 

 stalked, the upper leaves having large sheaths 

 and becoming bracts above. The flowers are 

 numerous, green, drooping, the sepals green, 

 blunt, with purple margin. The petals are not 

 as long as the stamens. The follicles are wrinkled 

 and glandular, with an awl-like style. The plant 

 is 1-2 ft. high, and flowers from March to May. 

 It is an evergreen perennial. 



Winter Aconite (Eranthis hyemalis, Salisb.). 

 In the south of England this plant is naturalized 

 in thickets, and occurs in ornamental plantations, 

 parks, and old gardens. The plant has an erect 

 habit, with a tuberous rhizome or underground 

 stem. The radical leaves are rounded, on long 

 stalks, the lobes 5-7, blunt, deeply cut, the lobes 

 oblong, linear, arising from a common centre 'or 

 palmate. The stem-leaves are in whorls, and 

 form an involucre of stalkless bracts below the 

 flowers, which are single and yellow, cup-shaped. 

 There are 5-8 oblong sepals, which are petaloid, 

 overlapping and falling. The small petals are 

 clawed, and 2-lipped. Therearenumerous stamens, 

 longer than the petals. The carpels are stalked, 

 5-6, the follicles being separate, with numerous 

 egg-shaped seeds. The plant is 4-6 in. in height, 

 flowering from January to April, and is a herba- 

 ceous perennial. 



Monkshood (Aconitum Napellus, L.). The 

 habitat of this plant is shady places, near streams, 

 banks of rivers and brooks. The habit is tufled. 

 The black root of 2 knobs is spindle-shaped. 

 The stem is erect, simple, slightly downy. The 

 leaves are much divided, with deeply-cut seg- 

 ments arising from a common centre, 3-5-lobed, 

 the tipper ones stalkless. The leaf-stalk is en- 

 larged below. The flowers are purple, irregular, 

 in a raceme. The petals small, 2-5, the two upper 

 swollen above, forming spurs which are bent down, 

 horizontal, on long curved stalks, the lip large. 

 The sepals are large, coloured, the upper enclos- 

 ing the rest and curved back, helmet -shaped. 

 The erect flower-stalks are downy. The filaments 

 are hairy, with blunt-pointed wings, enlarged 

 below. The stamens are numerous, the anthers 

 greenish-black. The carpels are spreading, the 



