118 



FIELD AND WOODLAND PLANTS 



and ajipearing after the fiowers. The flowering stems each bears 

 a dense cluster of dull [)ink or purple lieads. forming a raceme from 

 four inches to a foot in height. The pistillate and staminate 

 flowers grow almost exclusively on separate plants. In the former 

 case the heads are larger and densely clustered, each one coasisting 

 of filiform, pistillate florets only, or almost entirely of these \vith 



a few tubular, staminate 

 florets in the centre. On 

 other plants the flower-heads 

 arc smaller and not so densely 

 clustered ; and each head con- 

 sists entirely of tubular, male 

 flo\\ers, or has a few filiform, 

 female florets round the out- 

 side. The plant is common 

 in many parts of Britain. It 

 grows in damp meadows, 

 especially along the banks of 

 streams and ditches, flower- 

 ing from March to May. 



The Yellow Rattle {RJii- 

 nanthiis Crista-galli), of the 

 order Scroplmkiriaceoi, is 

 abundant in damp pastm'es, 

 flowering from May to July. 

 It is a parasitic species, de- 

 riving a ])ortion of its food, 

 in the form of ready-made 

 organic compounds, from the 

 roots of sm-rounding grasses, 

 and its paiasitic habits are referred to in Chapter XXIII. Its 

 stem is ei-ect, from six to eighteen inches high ; and the leaves 

 are sessile, opposite, lanceolate, and coarsely toothed. The calyx is 

 almost globular, slightly flattened, with four small teeth. The 

 yellow corolla has a tube longer than the calyx, and terminates 

 in two lips, one or both of which have often a purple spot. The 

 stamens are in two pairs ; and the fruit is an almost globular 

 capsule, containing a few large, flat seeds. 



In similar situations we may find the Field Louse-wort [Pedicu- 

 luris si/lvalka) of the same order, also a parasitic species, extracting 

 nourisluncnt from the roots of grasses. It has spreading branches 



The yellow kattlk. 



