130 FLOWERS OF THE CORNFIELDS 



September. The plant is annual or biennial, highly worth cultivating 

 and reproduced by seeds. 



The flowers resemble those of Woodruff, but are lilac in tint. They 

 are gynodicecious. Though they are small they are numerous, and 

 from association are the more conspicuous. The anthers or the stigmas 

 may mature first. Self-pollination occurs. Flies visit the flowers. 



The fruit is provided with a fringe of hairs on the teeth of the 

 calyx, which enlarge after flowering, and is hairy, and dispersed by 

 animals. 



Field Madder is a sand plant, growing in a sand soil, but may be 

 found commonly on lime soils. 



Peronospora calotheca is a microscopic fungus that infests it. The 

 Humming-bird Hawk-moth, Phragmatobia fuliginosa, and Melanippe 

 cristata feed upon this pretty prostrate flower. 



S/ierardia, Dillenius, is a commemoration of Dr. Sherard, a native 

 of Bushby in Leicestershire, b. 1659. The second Latin name indicates 

 its preference for cultivated land. 



This plant is called Allison, Dodger, Herb Sherard, Field Madder. 

 Madderlen, Spurwort. 



ESSENTIAL SPECIFIC CHARACTERS: 



144. Shcrardia arvensis, L. Stem spreading, branched, prostrate, 

 leaves 6 in a whorl, lanceolate, obovate, acute, flowers lilac, in a terminal 

 umbel, calyx 4-fid, fruit small. 



Lamb's Lettuce (Valerianella olitoria, Poll.) 



Seeds of the Lamb's Lettuce have been found in Interglacial beds 

 at West Wittering. The plant is found throughout the Temperate 

 Northern Zone in Europe, N. Africa, and Western Asia. In Great 

 Britain it is absent in Hunts, S. Lines, Kirkcudbright, Stirling, Mid 

 Perth, N. Perth, Elgin, Westerness, Cantire, S. Ebudes, N. Ebudes, 

 W. Ross. Watson regards it as doubtfully native. 



Corn Salad or Lamb's Lettuce is a typical cornfield weed, being 

 always found on cultivated land unless it be waste ground, where it is 

 sometimes to be seen. It grows with Heart's Ease, Corn Marigold, 

 Venus's Looking Glass, Scarlet Pimpernel, Field Bugloss, Hemp 

 Nettle, and many another sand-loving species. 



Lamb's Lettuce is a short, erect plant, with an angular, furrowed, 

 downy, slender stem, divided into two repeatedly, with numerous radical 

 leaves, smooth-veined, spoon-shaped, the upper ones stalked, opposite, 

 distant, fringed with hairs, and notched. 



