CAT'S-TAIL, OR TIMOTHY-GRASS. 26 



the spike after the anthers have passed their prime ; at an 

 earlier period these stand out well from the glumes, and give a 

 very light appearance to the spike. There are three other 

 native species, but they are all more or less local. 



The Sweet Vernal-grass is singular among grasses in the 

 fact that it possesses but two stamens. The panicle is spike- 

 like, with short branches. The spikelets are one-flowered. 

 The outer glumes are four in number, one flowering glume, a 

 pale, but no lodicules. In the Linnaean system plants were 

 classified according to the number of their stamens and pistils, 

 and the artificiality of it was strikingly shown when this plant 

 had to be widely separated from all other grasses, because it 

 was one stamen short, though agreeing with them in all other 

 essentials. The species is abundant in most meadows, and 

 were it absent one of the charms of the hay harvest would be 

 gone also ; for this is the grass that gives the characteristic 

 odour to ripe new-mown hay. It flowers in May and June. 

 The name is from two Greek words, signifying yellow blossoms 



Viper's Bugloss (Echium vulgare). 

 Our artist has chosen to delineate a specimen of this striking 

 plant that has passed its prime in a flowering sense. To our 

 mind the Viper's Bugloss is prettiest when only one or two 

 flowers are open on each cyme. The recurved cymes are then 

 very short, and the unopened flowers packed closely together. 

 As in Lungwort (p. 9), the unopened corollas are purplish-red 

 in colour, when opened bright blue. After flowering, the 

 cymes lengthen until they are as long as shown in our 

 illustration. The parts of the flower, it will be seen, are in 

 fives : calyx five-parted, tubular corolla with five-lobed " limb/' 

 as the free portion is called, stamens five, stigma two-lobed. 

 The lobes of the corolla are unequal, and one of the stamens 

 is shorter than the other four, which protrude from the corolla 

 considerably ; in fact, they serve as a platform upon which 



