50 



FIELD AND WOODLAND PLANTS 



The Goldilocks or Wood Ranunculus {Hanunculus auricomus) 

 is a flower very much like the Upright Meadow Buttercup (p. 211), 

 though not nearly so tall, being only froiu six to ten inches Iiigh. 

 It grows chiefly in thickets and copses, and flowers from April to 



July. Its root is fibrous ; 

 the stem erect, slender, and 

 branched ; the radical leaves 

 long-stalked, round or kid- 

 ney - shaped, divided into 

 three, five, or seven lobes ; 

 and the stem leaves few, 

 sessile, and palmately divided 

 to the base into very narrow 

 segments. The calyx is 

 downy, consisting of spread- 

 ing, yellow sepals ; and the 

 petals are often partially or 

 entirely wanting. Tliis |)lant 

 is widely distributed, l)ut is 

 most frequent in the centre 

 and south of England. 



The Columbine (Aqitilegia 

 vulgaris), also one of the 

 RanuncukicecE, so well known 

 as a garden flower, grows 

 wild in the thickets and 

 copses of several parts, bloom- 

 ing from May to July. Its 

 branched stem grows to a 

 height of one or two feet ; and 

 the leaves are stalked, with 

 three broad, stalked, three- 

 lobed segments. The pretty, 

 drooping flowers are usually over an inch in diameter, of a white, 

 blue, or purple coloui', in a loose, leafy panicle. Tliey have live 

 coloured, deciduous sepals ; five petals, each with a ciu-ved spur 

 that j)rojects below the base of the calyx ; numerous stamens ; 

 and an ovary of five carpels which ripen into as many follicles. 



The Dog Violet {Viola canina — Order Violaceoi) is probablj' too 

 well known to need description, seeing that it is easily distinguisiied 

 from the other species of the same genus by the absence of scent 



Thk Goldilock? 



