260 



FIELD AND WOODLAND PLANTS 



recognised by their stamens, three or five in number, which are so 

 much branched that they give the appearance of a large number 

 of stamens arranged in three or five clusters. In the two species 

 we have to consider these stamens are three in number. One is 

 the Trailing St. John's Wort {Hypericum Mmijusum), a little 

 tufted, prostrate plant, with small oblong leaves marked by 

 minute transparent spots, and by black dots under the margins; and 



fiowers with unequal 

 sepals. The other is 

 the Small St. John's 

 Wort {H. fulchmm) 

 which is erect, from 

 one to two feet high, 

 with cordate leaves that 

 embrace the stem, and 

 panicled flowers which 

 are tipped with red 

 when in the bud. Both 

 species flower during 

 July and August. 



Passing now to the 

 Leguminosce, we take 

 first the Broom {Saro- 

 ihamus scoparius or 

 Cytisus scoparius) — a 

 smooth or shghtly hairy 

 shrub, from two to six 

 feet high, bearing large, 

 yellow flowers during 

 May and June. Its 

 branches are long, erect, angular and green ; and the leaves are 

 small, ternate, with obovate, silky leaflets, or sometimes reduced 

 to a single leaflet. The large flowers are either solitary or in 

 pairs, shortly stalked, and arranged in the axils of the leaves of 

 the pi'evious summer. The fruits are black pods, usually more 

 than an inch long, hairy round the edges of the valves, and sur- 

 mounted at first by a spirally-curved style. 



The Furze, Gorse, or Whin {Ulex europceus) is a bush of about 

 the same size, A\ith more or less erect branches that all terminate in 

 a sharp, rigid point. Sometimes little lanceolate leaves may be 

 seen near the bases of the short branches, but normally all the leaves 



The Furze or Gorse. 



