i 54 FLOWERS OF THE CORNFIELDS 



The names Day-nettle, Deye- Nettle are derived from the injurious 

 effects of the plant, which stings severely, upon reapers. 



ESSENTIAL SPECIFIC CHARACTERS: 



257. Galeopsis Tetrahit, L. Stem erect, hirsute, branched, swollen 

 at the joints, leaves ovate, serrate, hispid, flowers white, or rose, in 

 dense whorls, with long subulate calyx-teeth, corolla-tube as long as 

 the calyx. 



Wild Oat (Avena fatua, L.) 



The Wild Oat is confined to the North Temperate Zone of Europe, 

 N. Africa, Siberia, and N.W. India. It is not known in any early 

 plant beds. In Great Britain the Wild Oat is found in all English 

 counties, except N. Wilts, W. Kent, Monmouth, S. Lines, Mid Lanes, 

 Westmorland, Cumberland; in Wales, in Carmarthen, Cardigan, Car- 



o 



narvon, Denbigh, Flint, Anglesey; in Scotland (probably introduced), 

 in Ayr, Lanark, Roxburgh, Berwick, Haddington, Edinburgh, Fife, 

 Kincardine, S. Aberdeen, Banff, Elgin, Easterness, Orkneys, and as 

 far north as the Shetlands. It is a native of Ireland and the Channel 

 Islands. 



Regarded by Watson as a colonist, the Wild Oat is a plant only of 

 the cultivated districts in this country, and is but a wanderer in Scot- 

 land. It is found on arable land in cornfields, as well as in all those 

 quarters where corn is liable to be stacked or strewn near buildings, 

 and on waste ground. 



The Wild Oat is tall, erect, graceful, with glossy stout stems, and 

 leaves alike both sides, flat, and slightly rough, the sheaths smooth, 

 with a short torn membrane. 



The flower-stalk is erect and spreading, with whorls of branches, 

 roughish. The spikelets of 2-3 flowers are green, and drooping ulti- 

 mately, with glumes 5 -veined, the flowers shorter than the glumes, 

 having a ring of hairs at the base. The awn is twice as long, and 

 brown. The lower palea is divided into two halfway down. 



The Wild Oat is 2-3 ft. high. The flowers are in bloom from 

 June to August. It is annual, and propagated by seed. 



The floral mechanism closely resembles that of other grass types, but 

 there are 2-3 flowers in each spikelet. There are 3 stamens, short dis- 

 tant styles, and feathery stigmas. The flower is pollinated by the wind. 



The fruit is provided with hairs at the top and attached to the 

 glume, which has a twisted bent awn, and may be caught in the wool 

 of sheep or blown away by the wind, and the awn being hygroscopic 

 jerks the seed away. 



