FIELDS AND MEADOWS 



leaves stalkless, opposite, rough, with prominent 

 nerves below, egg-shaped or oblong lance-shaped, 

 coarsely toothed. The flowers are yellow, glan- 

 dular, in axils, distant, crowded above, the oblong 

 capsule downy, not so long as the calyx, with 

 numerous seeds, granulate. The plant is 418 in. 

 high, flowering from June to October, and is a 

 herbaceous annual. 



Great Yellow Rattle (Rhinanthus major, Ehrh.). 

 The habitat of this plant is fields and cultivated 

 ground. The habit is erect, the stem tall, with 

 many branches, the leaves coarsely toothed, linear, 

 lance-shaped. The flowers are yellow with violet 

 spots, large, in a dense spike and numerous. 

 The bracts are yellow with green points. The lobes 

 of the upper lip of the corolla are oblong. The 

 seeds have a broad wing. The plant is 6-18 in. 

 in height, and flowers from June to August, being 

 an annual, herbaceous plant, semi-parasitic on 

 the roots of grasses. 



Perrier's Yellow Rattle (Rhinanthus Perrieri, 

 Chabert). The habitat of this plant is pastures, 

 cornfields. The plant is gregarious, with simple 

 stem or with few branches, the stem-leaves shorter, 

 simple, smooth above, rough below. The flowers 

 are few, yellow. The calyx in fruit blackish-violet. 

 The corolla-tube lengthens during flowering, and 

 in the absence of insects self-pollination takes 

 place. The seeds are adapted to dispersal by the 

 wind. The plant is 9-18 in. in height, flower- 

 ing in June and July, and is an annual hemi- 

 parasite. 



Yellow Rattle (Rhinanthus stenophyttus, Schur.). 

 The habitat of this plant is pastures. The habit 

 is as in the Common Yellow Rattle, but the simple 

 stem has many internodes, the leaves coarsely 

 serrate, lance-shaped, narrow, the stem-leaves, 

 with two or three leaves in the axils and inter- 

 calary branches. Otherwise it resembles the 

 Common Yellow Rattle, having yellow flowers, 

 being 9-18 in. high, flowering in July and August, 

 and is an annual hemi-parasite. 



Mountain Yellow Rattle (Rhinanthus moniicola, 

 Druce). This is a native, and found on mountain 

 pastures, grassy ground, by stony footpaths in the 

 north. The plant resembles the last, but has a 

 shorter stem, with very short and numerous lower 

 internodes, the intercalary internodes elongate, 

 with many branches. The stem-leaves are very 

 narrow, linear, and often bent back. The flowers 

 are treacly-brown. The plant is 2-6 in. in height, 

 and flowers in July and August, being an annual 

 hemi-parasite. 



ORDER OROBANCHACE^ 



Yarrow Broomrape (Orobanche arenaria, 

 Borkh.). This plant is parasitical upon Achillea 

 Millefolium, which grows in fields and by the 

 wayside. The stem is simple and leafless. The 

 corolla is tubular, curved in front, the tube flat- 

 tened at the back in the central part, the throat 

 expanded, glandular on the outside, the lobes of 

 the lip blunt, with edges bent back. The tubular 

 calyx is glandular, downy, has 5 sepals, with 



awl-like teeth. The stigma is nearly 2-lobed, the 

 style glandular. The smooth filaments have hairs 

 below. The side bracts are awl-like, the inter- 

 mediate ones lance-shaped, narrow above. The 

 plant is 12-18 in. high, flowering in July and 

 August, and is perennial, parasitic, never green, 

 but brown. 



Knapweed Broomrape (Orobanche elatior, 

 Sutton). The habitat of this saprophytic parasite 

 is that of the host -plants Centaurea Scabtosa, 

 Knautia aruensis, Carduus lanceolatus, meadows 

 and pastures, roadsides, and waste places. The 

 stem is erect, yellow, the bracts not so long as 

 the corolla, which is glandular outside, curved, 

 tubular, flattened at the side above, the upper lip 

 2-lobed, toothed, the lobes bent inwards. It is 

 at first rose-yellow, then pale or dull. The sepals 

 are divided into two nearly to the base, glandular, 

 hairy all over, as long as the tube. The stigma is 

 2-lobed, yellow, and the anthers white when dry. 

 The anther -stalks are slender below, smooth 

 above. The plant is 9-24 in. in height, flowering 

 from June to August, and is perennial. 



Clove-scented 'Broomxa.pe(Orobanchecaryophyll- 

 acea, Sm.). The habitat of this plant is that of 

 the host-plants Galium Mollugo, G. verum, and 

 Rubus fruticosus. The habit is erect, the stem 

 brown, the flower more or less bell-shaped, or 

 tubular, curved on the back, the sepals divided 

 into two nearly to the base, shorter than the tube, 

 the 3 lobes of the lower lip nearly equal, wavy 

 and toothed, the upper 2-lobed. The stamens 

 are inserted above the base of the tube, which 

 is hairy below, glandular above. The stigma is 

 purple, with 2 lobes nearly separate. The plant 

 is 6-12 in. in height, and flowers between May 

 and July, being perennial. 



Common Broomrape (Orobanche minor, Sm.). 

 The habitat of this plant is that of the host-plants 

 Clover and Crepis virens. The stem is erect, yel- 

 lowish-brown or purple, slender, the corolla yel- 

 lowish-white, with violet or black veins, the tube 

 narrow in the middle, the sepals many-veined, the 

 tube erect or curved downwards, the limb white 

 or yellow, the lobes of the upper lip spreading, the 

 lower toothed, nearly equal, wavy. The stigma 

 is purple, bilobed, the lobes hardly connected, the 

 anthers yellow when dry. The stamens are in- 

 serted below the middle of the tube, smooth, with 

 scattered hairs, below the style also smooth, with 

 only a few hairs anteriorly. The plant is 6-24 in. 

 high, flowering from June till August, and is annual. 



Purple Broomrape (Orobanche purpurea, Jacq.). 

 The habitat of this plant is grassy pastures, 

 where the host-plants, Achillea Millefolium, &c. 

 grow. The habit is erect, the stem blue-purple, 

 tough, not swollen below, downy, like the scales, 

 bracts, calyx, and corolla. There are 3 bracts. 

 The calyx is bell-shaped, with 4 teeth or lobes, 

 which are shorter than the tube, lance-shaped or 

 triangular. The tube is curved, the lobes of the 

 lips acute, the upper lip 2-lobed, the lobes pale- 

 blue with darker veins. The stigma is white, 

 hardly divided, the anther-stalks smooth. The 

 middle of the tube is narrow. The capsule has 



