68 



BRITISH FLORA 



ORDER ARISTOLOCHIACE^ 



Asarabacca (Asarum europaeum, L.). The 

 habitat of this plant is woods (in Yorks), shady 

 places, banks, under hedges. The habit is rosette- 

 like. The rootstock is creeping and fleshy. The 

 stem and branches are short. Two leaves and two 

 large scales are developed annually. The leaves 

 are radical, dark-green, on long stalks, evergreen, 

 kidney-shaped, blunt, shining. The scapes are 

 axillary, short, and downy. The flowers are bell- 

 shaped, drooping, lurid purple, or greenish-brown, 

 solitary, the stalk short and bent back. The peri- 

 anth lobes are bent inwards, egg-shaped. The 

 anther-stalks are awl-like, the alternate ones 

 longer. The styles are bent back, the stigma 

 projecting. The fruit is round, leathery, with 

 wrinkled, boat-shaped seeds. The plant is 4-6 in. 

 high, flowering from May to August, and is a 

 herbaceous perennial. 



ORDER THYMELEACEJE 



Mezereon (Daphne Mezereum, L.). The habi- 

 tat of this plant is woods and copses. Mezereon 

 has the shrub habit. The branches are few and 

 erect. The leaves are deciduous, inversely egg- 

 shaped or spoon -shaped, lance -shaped, narrow 

 below, acute, membranous, stalked, and appear 

 after the flowers. The flowers are usually in 

 threes, stalkless (or nearly so), lateral in the axils 

 of the previous year's leaves, purple, pink, rarely 

 white. The tube is hairy, as long as the lobes, 

 which are egg-shaped, acute. The fruit a berry 

 is bright red, egg-shaped. The plant is 1-3 ft. 

 in height, flowering in March, and is a deciduous 

 shrub. 



ORDER LORANTHACE^E 



Mistletoe (Viscum album, L.). The habitat of 

 this plant is woodlands, where it is parasitic on 

 trees Hawthorn, Apple, Poplar, rarely on Oak. 

 It is a parasite, with the shrub habit. The branches 

 are smooth, yellowish-green, rounded, dividing into 

 two regularly, knotted. The yellow-green colour 

 is supposed to be due to the plant being nourished 

 by the descending sap, which is partly elaborated, 

 and green leaves are thus dispensed with. But 

 the leaves undoubtedly manufacture carbohydrates 

 in winter in the ordinary way, and the root is fixed 

 in the host so that it receives both the ascending 

 and the descending sap. The plant thus estab- 

 lishes a symbiotic relationship. The leaves are 

 broader in the male plant, opposite or in whorls 

 inversely egg-shaped or lance-shaped, blunt. The 

 flowers are green, the males in threes, the females 

 in fives, in axillary clusters, stalkless. The berries 

 arc rounded, clammy, white, transparent, i -seeded, 

 crowned with the calyx. The plant is 1-3 ft. in 

 height, flowering from February to May, and is 

 an evergreen shrub. 



ORDER EUPHORBIACE^: 



Spurge (Euphorbia stricta, L.). The habitat of 

 this plant is woods. The habit is erect, spurge-like. 



The stem is much branched. The leaves are 

 oblong, lance-shaped, scattered, clasping. The 

 " flowers " or flowerheads are greenish-yellow in a 

 moderate umbel, with a small involucre with oval 

 lobes, 3-5, with 3-5 divided and forked rays. The 

 general and partial bracts are clasping, the re- 

 maining bracts heart-shaped. The stamens are 

 usually 2 in each involucre. The capsule is small, 

 with conical warts. The seeds are small, smooth, 

 shining, oblong, reddish -brown. The plant is 

 12-36 in. in height, flowering from July to Septem- 

 ber, and is a herbaceous annual. 



Irish Spurge (Euphorbia hiberna, L.). The 

 habitat of this Spurge is copses and hedges, shady 

 places. The plant is downy. There are several 

 leafy more or less simple stems. The leaves are 

 elliptic, ovate, lance-shaped, oblong, the upper 

 ones heart-shaped, entire, stalkless, blunt or 

 notched at the tip, thin, broad, downy below. 

 The flowerheads are in an umbel of 5 rays, twice 

 forked. The bracts are broad, the upper ones 

 rounded at the base. The lobes or glands of the 

 involucre are kidney -shaped. The capsule is nearly 

 round, furrowed, warted, the warts cylindrical, 

 the valves not keeled, smooth. The seeds are 

 smooth, broad, pale brown, inversely ovate, 

 shining. The plant is 1-2 ft. high, flowering from 

 May to July, and is a herbaceous perennial. 



Euphorbia dulcis, L. This species occurs in 

 plantations. The habit is erect. The leaves are 

 long, lance-shaped, narrowed to the base, inversely 

 ovate, blunt. The bracts are similar. The flower- 

 heads are in umbels of 5 long rays, divided into 

 2 nearly to the base. The partial bracts are tri- 

 angular to ovate, blunt at the base. The invo- 

 lucral glands are purple and rounded. The cap- 

 sule has few prominent tubercles, when young 

 downy. The plant is 9-18 in. long, flowering in 

 May and June, and is a herbaceous perennial. 



Hairy Spurge (Euphorbia pilosa, L.). The 

 habitat of this species is shaded places. The 

 habit is as in the last. The plant is hairy or 

 downy. The stem is tall, branched at the top, 

 with numerous leaves. The leaves are hairy, ob- 

 long, lance-shaped, with fine teeth, blunt. The 

 bracts are yellow, oblong, blunt, egg-shaped or 

 elliptic. The flowerheads are greenish -yellow, 

 in an umbel of 4-6 rays, divided into 3, then 2, 

 nearly to the base. The involucre is smooth or 

 hairy, with oblong glands, with oval lobes. The 

 capsule is smooth or hairy, warted, the seeds in- 

 versely egg-shaped, smooth. The plant is 2-4 ft. 

 in height, and flowers in May and June, being a 

 herbaceous perennial. 



Leafy Wood Spurge (Euphorbia Esula, L.). 

 The habitat of this plant is woods, fields, stream- 

 sides. The habit is creeping. The stem is erect, 

 slender, leafless below, simple, the lateral branches 

 in the axils not bearing flowerheads. The leaves 

 are oblong, lance-shaped, with small teeth, stalk- 

 less, blunt or acute, thin, i -nerved. The bracts 

 are kidney-shaped, heart-shaped, blunt, with a 

 point. The flowerheads are greenish -yellow in 

 an umbel with 10-20 rays, which are forked at 

 the top, and slender. The involucres are long- 



