54 WILD FLOWERS 



is 6 to 8 ins. high, and bears a single globular head of rose 

 flowers : flowers from spring to autumn. 



110. Centaury, Erythrcea Centaurium, Gentian family. The 

 stem is about a foot high, and is square, bearing pairs of smooth 

 elliptical leaves : towards the apex it is slightly branched, and 

 has a large, flat brush of bright rose-coloured flowers, individually 

 small, but making a handsome show in the mass : flowers in late 

 summer, and not uncommon on dry waste ground and pastures : 

 E. littoralis is a similar, but smaller and rarer plant, growing by 

 the sea. 



111. Bindweed, Convolvulus arvensis, Bindweed family. The 

 stein is slender, and twines through grass and hedges : the 



108. Cross-leaved Heath. 



109. Thrift, Sea -Daisy. 



leaves are halbert-shaped and stalked : the flowers are large, 

 shaped like an open bell, in colour white, variegated with pink : 

 flowers in summer. C. sepium 9 the Great Bindweed, has very large 

 white flowers and arrow-shaped leaves : C. Soldanella, the Sea 

 Bindweed, is less common : it has fleshy, kidney-shaped leaves 

 and handsome pink and yellow flowers. 



112. Knot-Grass, Polygonum aviculare, Dock family. A very 

 common weed of cultivated and waste ground : the long, 

 branched, creeping stems bear many small elliptical leaves, 

 each with a membranous sheath at the base : in the axils of the 

 leaves are little groups of small pink flowers, tinged with green : 

 flowers from spring to autumn. 



113. Spotted Persicaria, Polygonum Persicaria, Dock family. 

 A common weed of cultivated laud : the stem is about 1 ft. 



