120 



FIELD AND WOODLAND PLANTS 



ripening fruit ; and the small corolla has a comparatively long 

 tube and five spreading lobes. The plant flowers from April 

 to June. It belongs to the order Boraginacece 



The Cowslip [Primula veris — order Primnkicece) is common in 

 pastures in many parts of Britain. It usually grows from six to 

 ten inches high, and flowers during May and June. The whole 

 plant is clothed with soft, downy hairs ; and its leaves are all 



radical, obovate, nar- 

 rowed towards the base, 

 and much wrinkled like 

 those of the Primrose. 

 The flowers are arranged 

 in a ch'ooping umbel, on 

 a long stalk. The calyx 

 is tubular, with five 

 broad, blunt teeth ; and 

 the corolla has a long, 

 narrow tube, with five 

 spreading lobes that form 

 a shallow cup. 



Two species of Sorrel 

 are very common in 

 meadows and liastures 

 during the spring. They 

 are plants very much 

 resembling the docks ; 

 in fact, they belong to 

 the same genus (Rtimex) 

 of the order Pohjgonacece. 

 Both have erect, leafy 

 stems, with sheathing stipules ; and numerovis, small, green flowers 

 which soon turn red. The latter are imperfect, with a deeply- 

 cleft perianth of six lobes. The male flowers have six stamens ; 

 and the females have three styles. The fruits are little triangular 

 nuts, more or less enclosed in the segments of the perianth. 



One of these — the Common Sorrel {Rumex Acetosa) — is very 

 abundant in damp meadows and pastures all over Britain. It 

 varies from one to two feet in height, with a stem that is usually 

 unbranched, and flowers from May to July. The leaves have a 

 very acid juice, and are often used as a salad. The radical ones 

 are oblong, arrow-shaped at the base, with pointed lobes, and have 



'J'UE COWSLU-. 



