19 WAYSIDE AND WOODLAND BLOSSOMS. 



II. R. repens, the Creeping Crowfoot. Rootstock stout, stem 

 declining, with long runners. Flower-stalk furrowed, sepals 

 spreading, but petals less so than in R. acris. Stem one to 

 two feet. Pastures and waste places, too frequent, May to 

 August. 



III. R. bulbosus, Bulbous Crowfoot. Stem erect, half to one 

 foot, greatly swollen at base : no runners. Flower-stalk fur- 

 rowed, sepals Hirned back, nearly or quite touching the stalk ; 

 petals not spreading, but cup-shaped. Meadows everywhere, 

 April to July. 



The name Ranunculus is derived from the Latin, Rana, a 

 frog, in allusion to the damp meadows and the ponds where 

 certain species are to be found in company with frogs. 



Wall Barley (Hordeum murlnum). 



In all waste places on a sandy soil, near towns and villages 

 especially, the Wall Barley, Mouse Barley, Barley -grass, or 

 Way-bent flourishes. At the base of walls is a favourite post 

 for it, where it collects dust, and generally contributes to an 

 appearance of untidiness. Its bristly spike is well known to 

 the schoolboy, who breaks it off and inserts the stem end in 

 the cuff of his shirt-sleeve, whence it works its way auto- 

 matically to the shoulder. If the spike is cut across its length, 

 the spikelets of which it is made up may be separated and 

 examined with a lens. It will then be seen that the spikelets 

 are borne in threes side by side, but that only the central one is 

 a perfect one, the lateral ones being barren. Taking this 

 central one from the others, we find two outer inflated scales 

 (glumes) embracing two other scales, one of which, with the 

 cleft tip and two keels on the back, is the/tf/fc, the other, ending 

 in a long awn, is the flowering glume, within which is the ovary, 

 surmounted by its two feathery stigmas. From beneath the 

 ovary spring the three stamens and two minute scales, called 



