MOUSE-TAIL 89 



both cover the soil at the foot of the cornstalks where light pierces the 

 rows of haulms. Bright-golden appear the flowers of the beauteous 

 corn marigold amid the grain, varied with the rich blue flowerheads 

 of the cornflower. Seeking the sun the scented Corn Sowthistle 

 slowly twists its shocks of golden bloom in the wake of Hyperion. 

 Hiding away itself and its bloom Venus' Looking-glass is rarely seen, 

 though it is fairly common. Small Snapdragon, Ivy-leaved Speedwell, 

 Scarlet Pimpernel, wakeful up till morning, the hard-fruitecl Corn 

 Cromwell, the prickly but pretty field Bug-loss, are all familiar weeds 

 here amid the ancient Wild Oat and the death-dealing Darnel grass. 



Mouse-tail (Myosurus minimus, L.) 



No trace of the Mouse-tail has been found in beds earlier than 

 recent accumulations. It is a plant of the Warm Temperate Zone, 

 found in Europe, W. Asia, N. Africa, and has been introduced in 

 ballast into America and other countries. It is found in S. England, 

 in S. Devon, S. Somerset, Wilts, Dorset, Isle of Wight, Hants, 

 Sussex, Kent, Surrey, Essex, Herts, Middlesex, Berks, Oxford. 

 Bucks, the whole of E. Anglia, W. Oloucestershire, Hereford, 

 \Vorcester, Warwick, Stafford, Lincolnshire, Leicester, Notts, Derby, 

 Chester, N.E., Mid W., X.W. Vorks, Durham, and Northumberland, 

 and thus ranges from the last county to Kent and Devon, as well as 

 in the Channel Islands. 



The Mouse-tail, as almost implied by its name, is a diminutive 

 plant, likely to be overlooked by all but the most observant. Its 

 distribution shows that it is a plant of cultivated ground, coming up 

 in cornfields, when the wheat is yet green, between the lines of grain 

 It is fond of dry soil, and as such is a Xerophile, and though not 

 confined to chalk districts is rather more abundant there than else- 

 where. It has the grass habit, which may be regarded as an adaptive 

 character here. It is also found in clover fields, and on the sides of 

 paths in the dried-up pools where water has long accumulated. The 

 Mouse-tail is associated with Plantain, Corn Buttercup. 



It is a small, erect plant, with a fastigiate habit, i.e. with parallel 

 ascending branches, the leaves, which are linear, expanded below, 

 being clustered in a rosette, but erect, surrounding the taller receptacle, 

 which resembles the mouse's tail, give it a plantain-like habit, in which 

 again it resembles fsoi'/cs, or even Limosella. 



1 his plant is unlike any other British plant, or the three mentioned, 

 in the appearance its ripe carpels present, a plantain also having a 



