66 FAMILIAR WILD FLOWERS. 



bedecks the hedgerows, or amidst the standing 1 corn. The 

 last of these localities is especially characteristic. The 

 field scabious is a perennial, and should be sought in flower 

 towards the end of June and during July and August. 

 Its large blossoms and general habit of growth tend to 

 make the plant one of the more conspicuous denizens of 

 the pasture or the harvest-field, while the delicate beauty 

 of the tint of its flower-heads always renders it one of the 

 most attractive. The general look of the flower-head is 

 very suggestive of the structure of the composite order; 

 and the order to which it really belongs, the Dipsacacese, is 

 closely allied to the composite. 



The root of the field scabious is perennial, dark in colour, 

 somewhat woody in texture, and by its subordinate root- 

 lets takes such a hold of the ground that it is with great 

 difficulty eradicated. The plant is ordinarily some two 

 or three feet in height. The stems are round in section 

 generally, but slightly branched. They are somewhat 

 coarse to the touch, a good deal clothed with short 

 whitish hairs, and somewhat bare of leaves except near 

 their bases. The leaves vary much in character in different 

 plants, and in different parts of the same plant, some 

 being much more finely divided than others, though there 

 is a quite sufficient general resemblance amongst them to 

 prevent any real difficulty arising in identifying the plant 

 wherever we see it, even when we have not its grand 

 flower-heads to make assurance doubly sure. The leaves 

 grow in pairs on the stems, and share fully in the general 

 hairiness of the plant. The radical leaves, the lowest of 

 all, are stalked, very simple in character; they are lanceolate 

 or lance-headed in shape (a form that may be perhaps 

 better known to our readers in the foliage of the well- 



