9 2 FLOWERS OF THE CORNFIELDS 



the wheat, and is held by the farmer to be a pest. But it has a 

 pretty habit and bloom, and the prickly fruits are unique amongst 

 English Crowfoots. 



It is an erect plant, rather rigid, branched, with small leaves, 

 smooth, linear, lance-shaped, and rather stout stems, and pyramidal 

 from below upwards in outline. It grows in scattered groups, and its 

 outline and shape are naturally modified by the distribution of the 

 corn amongst which it grows, the close and erect habit being due 

 to its being elongated. 



This plant is quite smooth with furrowed stems, much divided, and 

 with lower leaves, with leaflets in threes, the upper linear, and the 

 carpels are prickly and hooked, large, flattened, and few. 



The flower is pale-yellow. The stamens vary in number as do the 

 carpels, and the former are sometimes wanting. 



The Corn Buttercup is i to 2 ft. high, flowering in June (and May). 

 It is an annual. 



Hidden amongst the corn this plant has little chance of being cross- 

 pollinated by insects, though it has honey-glands at the base of the 

 petals, which are pale-yellow, glossy, and open. The sepals are also 

 sub-erect. The stamens are numerous (16), and the stigmas are 

 reflexed, the stamens being brighter in colour than the petals. 



The fruit is dispersed by animals. The achenes are provided with 

 numerous hooked spines, which assist in distributing them by means 

 of the wool of animals' coats, in which they may catch. 



Corn Buttercup is distinctly a sand plant, growing on sandy soil 

 derived from sandy formations which furnish a sanely loam. 



No plant or insect pests are known to infest this plant, but it is 

 regarded itself as a pest by the farmer. 



The name arvensis means growing on arable land. 



The English names are Yellow Crees, Corn Crowfoot, Corn 

 or Urchin Crowfoot, Crows'-claws, Devil-on-both-sicles, Devil's-claws, 

 Devil's Coach-wheel, Devil's Currycomb, Dill-cup, English Stavesacre, 

 Goldweed, Gye, Hard-iron, Hedge-hog, Hellweed, Horse Gold, 

 Hungerweed, Jack-o'-both-sides, Joy, Peagle, Pricklebacks, Scratch- 

 bur, Starveacre, Yellowcup. 



It was called by the name Starveacre because it indicated poor 

 land, as also did Hungerweed. The name Urchin Crowfoot refers to 

 its prickly fruits, which also account for Devil-on-both-sides, Devil's- 

 claws, Heclge-hog, Pricklebacks. 



Some of the folk in olden days called it Devil-on-both-sides, because 

 of its supposed association with the Evil One. 



