208 AUTUMN WILD FLOWEBS. 



shaped leaves, long lax raceme of purple flowers some- 

 times tinged with green, distinguish it. The "White 

 Helleborine (JE. grandiflord) also grows in woods on a 

 chalky soil, but flowers as early as June. 



Amongst the autumn plants in our woodlands is the 

 Nettle-leaved Bellflower (Campanula tracTieliuni) . Its 

 leaves are much like those of th.6 nettle, and its blue 

 bells grow in a small cluster on a stem some two feet 

 high. The Ivy -leaved Bellflower (Campanula hederacea) 

 is a graceful plant with pale purplish-blue flowers, and 

 the fruit is a globose capsule. The Giant Bellflower 

 (C. latifolia) is common in the north, but in England it 

 is local in its likings. It is easily known, as it grows 

 two or three feet high, and is one of the moftf stately 

 of our wild flowers. Its flowers in Scotland are often 

 white. 



Far more common is the tall and handsome Golden 

 Eod (Solidago virgaurea), with its crowded clusters of 

 bright flowers. The ray and disk both are bright 

 yellow. In the days of the Virgin Queen the golden 

 rod was imported from foreign- countries, and its virtues 

 as a medicinal herb highly extolled ; but on its being 

 discovered to be a native plant, its use and popularity 

 declined. It begins to flower at midsummer, and does 



