MEADOWS, FIELDS AND r A STU RES—SPRING 119 



from tlu-ee to ten inches long, more or less recumbent. It leaves 

 are alternately arranged, and pinnately cut into small, toothed 

 segments. The flowers are sessile in the axils of the upper leaves, 

 and vary in colour from rose to white. The calyx is Ijroadly oblong, 

 with five unequal lobes. The tube of the corolla is considerably 

 longer than the calyx ; and its upper Up has a very small tooth 

 on each side, just under the tip. 

 The plant flowers from April to 

 July. 



The only common spring labiate 

 flower (order Lubiatte) of fields is the 

 Henbit Dead Nettle {Laniium am- 

 plexicaitle), which is frequently met 

 with on sandy soils, flo^\•ering from 

 April to the end of tlie summer. It 

 is a low plant, seldom reaching a foot 

 in height, with a branching stem 

 that is too weak to stand erect. 

 The upper leaves are sessile, round, 

 much \\'rinkled, and deeply crenate ; 

 while the lower ones, of the same 

 form, are on long petioles. The 

 flowers are arranged in a few com- 

 pact whorls, in the axils of the upper 

 leaves. The calyx is much shorter 

 than the tube of the corolla ; and 

 its five, pointed teeth, which are as 

 long as the tube, bend together as 

 the fruit ripens. The lipped corolla 

 is of a rose or purple-red colour, 

 about half an inch long, with a comparatively long, straight tube. 



In damp meadows we frequently see the changing Scorpion- 

 Grass {Myosotis versicolor), also known as the Yellow and Blue 

 Scorpion Grass, deriving its name from the fact that the corolla is 

 yellow at first, and afterwards changes to a dull blue. It is a hairy 

 plant, with an erect stem, from four to ten inches high, slightly 

 branched. The leaves are oval or ovate, narrow, and sessile ; the 

 lower ones forming a spreading tuft at the base, while the others, 

 few in number, are erect on the stem. The flowers are very small, 

 almost sessile, and arranged in a one-sided, cvnved raceme. The 

 calyx is deeply cleft into five parts which close quite over the 



THE IlENBiT Dead Nettle. 



