370 AUTUMN AND WINTER 



mezereon, which blooms on almost leafless shoots in cottage 

 gardens in early spring. But it bears green flowers instead 

 of pink, and is chiefly attractive for its lustrous leaves and 

 the interest of its curious blossoms. All green blossoms 

 have a kind of fascination, since green is the familiar colour 

 of stems and leaves, but not of flowers ; and the spurge 

 laurel's blossoms are remarkable for their abundant secretion 

 of nectar, which gives them a semi-transparent appearance, 

 and is very attractive to many kinds of flies. Flies are also 

 attracted by the blossoms of the hellebores. Spurge laurel 

 can sometimes be found in bud as early as December ; it 

 is usually in blossom by the latter part of February, and 

 continues blooming into March. 



Most of the young green shoots in the February woods 

 are those of another green-flowered plant the dog's 

 mercury. This is the abundant and vivid plant, a few inches 

 high, with pointed leaves and strings of green blossom, 

 which is seen almost everywhere on earthy hedge-banks and 

 about the edges of copses and woods. It is one of the most 

 precocious spring plants, and pushes its way up in sheltered 

 places from Christmas onwards, spreading in February a 

 vivid mantle under the hazel and hawthorn stems. It will 

 not grow in the darkest recesses of the woods and gorges, 

 and prefers a fairly rich loamy soil, disliking sands ; but, 

 given these conditions, it seems entirely independent of 

 sunshine, and flourishes on moisture and west wind. The 

 longer strings of blossom are borne by the male plants. 

 The flowers also attract and are fertilised by flies. The 

 dog's mercury blooms plentifully by the end of a mild 

 February, and reaches its fullest growth in March and early 

 April. Far on in May, when it is out-topped by newer 

 herbage, and its February vividness is tarnished, the female 

 plant bears round rough seeds under the heavy shadows of 



