TWO COMMON THISTLES 



1039 



flowers, with a slight tinge of 

 red in them, grow singly on 

 short, curving flower stalks, 

 which spring from the axils of 

 the leaves of the year's shoots ; 

 these are succeeded in the 

 autumn by round, nearly black 

 berries with a beautiful bloom 

 on them — they are crowned by 

 the four or five teeth of the 

 calyx. The anthers of the 

 stamens will be seen to bear 

 two little awn-like appendages, 

 somewhat similar to those found 

 on the anthers of the Cross- 

 leaved Heath, but a good deal 

 bigger. The Cranberry {Oxy- 

 coccus quadri'pdala) is a near 

 relation to the Whortleberry ; it 

 grows in peat bogs, and although 

 it is fairly widely distributed 

 throughout the British Isles, it 

 is not very common, and owing 

 to the drainage and reclamation 

 of waste lands it is becoming 

 less plentiful than formerly. 



IVY-LEAVED CAMPANULA 



Down near the rills on the moors and 

 on the banks of streams in woods one of 

 the most delicate-looking of our flowers 

 will be found — this is the Ivy-leaved Bell- 

 flower {Wahlenbergia hederacea). This 

 little plant grows gracefully in a prostrate 

 position, its stems and branches being not 

 much thicker than a coarse thread ; the 

 bright green leaves are heart-shaped, 

 and generally have a few angular teeth 

 round the edges. The flowers are borne 



WHORTLEBERRY. 



on threadlike stems, there being one flower 

 only on each stem, and are of a delicate 

 bluish-purple colour, about half an inch 

 long and bell-shaped ; when in the bud 

 they droop, but become erect as they 

 expand, and then often droop again as 

 the fruit ripens. 



This little Bell-flower is exceedingly 

 attractive in appearance, and forms very 

 graceful festoons around the stones and 

 twigs amongst which it is growing. 



H. PUREFOY FiTzGeRALD. 



TWO COMMON THISTLES 



By BENJAMIN HANLEY 

 "With Photographs by the Author 



I 



X Britain we have no lack of thistles 



of various species, and of these 



without doubt the most common is 



the Creeping Thistle {Cnicus arvensis), 



and one might say without fear of con- 



tradiction it is the most disUkcd — by the 

 agriculturist especially — for whereas most 

 other thistles, whicli live only two years, 

 can be dealt with by cutting down either 

 before flowering or before the seed is ripe, 



