QI WAYSIDE AND WOODLAND BLOSSOMS. 



Common Cow-wheat ( Melampyrum pratense). 



Quite a number of our common plants have been distin- 

 guished in popular nomenclature by the prefix " cow," and as 

 a general rule it would appear to have been applied in 

 depreciation, as in the parallel cases of " dog," " horse," and 

 " hog," to signify coarseness or worthlessness. In the case of the 

 Cow-wheat our forefathers had a notion that if its seeds were 

 ground up with wheat the bread made from the flour would be 

 black. One of the species (M. arvense} affects cornfields, and 

 its seeds are like black grains of wheat, and from this fact the 

 genus gets its scientific appellation from the Greek, melas, 

 black, and puros, wheat. In addition the plants themselves 

 turn black when dead and dry. 



I. Common Yellow Cow-wheat (M. pratense) is an annual, partially parasitic 

 upon roots, like Eyebright. The leaves are almost stalkless, very narrow, with even 

 margins, and produced in pairs. The flower follows the general structure of the 

 Scruphularineae (see pp. 33 and 50 ante). The calyx is five-toothed, the corolla 

 tubular, straight, dilated at the mouth and two-lipped, the upper with the edges 

 turned back, the lower three-lobed. The four stamens will be found close under the 

 upper lip, with the small stigma. It should be noticed that in this species, which is 

 common in dry woods and on heaths, the pale yellow flowers assume a horizontal 

 position, whilst the capsule is mere deflexed. May to September. 



II. Small-flowered Yellow Cow-wheat (M. sylvaticuni) is a rare species, found in 

 alpine woods from Yorkshire northwards. It has a small deep yellow corolla, which 

 is borne more erectly than in pratense. Other points of difference will be found in 

 the curved corolla-tube, and in the position of the capsule, which is not deflexed. 

 Flowers July and August. 



III. Purple Field Cow-wheat (M. arvense). This is a local species who^e distri- 

 bution in this country is restricted to Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Herts, and the Isle of 

 Wight. Where it occurs it is a conspicuous item in the cornfield flora, by reason of 

 its large spikes of flowers with their many colours. The bracts are reddish-purple, 

 the corolla rosy, with yellow throat, and the lips a full pink. Flowers July and 

 August. 



IV. Crested Cow- wheat (M. cristafum). This also is a rare plant, confined to the 

 Eastern counties of England, and affecting woods, copses, and cornfields. It has 

 broad, heart-shaped, purple bracts, with long fine teeth. The flowers in a dense 

 spike (not so large as in arvense) ; corolla-tube curved, yellow, the upper lip purple 

 within. Flowers September and October. 



