CORNFIELDS 



hollow, branched. The leaves are divided into 

 three. The leaflets are inversely egg-shaped, 

 oblong, toothed, notched above, with a short 

 abrupt point. The flowers are yellow, blue, or 

 purple, in a raceme of many flowers, the flower- 

 stalks not so long as the calyx, the main stalk 

 longer than the leaves. The pods are flattened 

 in a loose spiral of 2-3 turns, downy, the hairs 

 close. The plant is 1-2 ft. in height. It flowers 

 from May to August, and is a herbaceous per- 

 ennial. 



Crimson Clover (Trifblium incarnation, L.). 

 The habitat of this plant is cultivated fields, clover 

 fields, &c. The plant has an erect habit, with 

 slender stems, and is downy or softly hairy with 

 spreading hairs, the leaves shortly stalked, the 

 leaflets inversely egg-shaped or heart-shaped. 

 The stipules are egg-shaped, blunt, and hairy. 

 The flowers are in a long, cylindrical, later egg- 

 shaped head, crimson, terminal, on stalks, the 

 calyx teeth not so long as the corolla, lo-veined, 

 and hairy, spreading in fruit, and the mouth is 

 also hairy. The petals do not fall. The wing 

 is longer than the keel, the latter springing back 

 into position after it is depressed by insects, and 

 the stamens are exposed. The stamens are dia- 

 delphous. The filaments have s%vollen tips. The 

 style is thread-like. The pod is stalkless, i -seeded. 

 The plant is 6-18 in. in height, and flowers in 

 June and July, being a herbaceous annual. 



Leafless Yellow Vetchling (Lathyrus Aphaca, 

 L.). The habitat of this plant is cornfields, waste 

 places, gravel pits, and about hedges and road- 

 sides. The habit is climbing, the stem weak. 

 The leaves are tendrils, and the stipules, which 

 are large, egg-shaped, spear-shaped, nerved, do 

 the work of the leaves. The first and second 

 leaves in the seedling are scale-like and 3-lobed, 

 with awl-like points, the third and fourth com- 

 pound, with one pair of leaflets and stipules, and 

 an awl-like tendril. The fifth and later leaves are 

 awl-like points and stipules. The point becomes 

 a tendril above. The flowers are pale yellow, 

 single, rarely on long stalks, erect. The lobes 

 of the calyx are green, linear, about as long as 

 the corolla. The pod is sickle- shaped, broad, 

 nearly erect, beaked, netted, and the 6-8 seeds 

 are smooth and flattened. The plant is 1-3 ft. 

 in height, and flowers in June and July, being 

 a herbaceous perennial. 



Tuberous Pea (Lathyrus htberosits, L.). This 

 plant is a denizen, found in cornfields. The plant 

 is of climbing or trailing habit. The rootstock 

 is creeping, the rootlets tuberous. The stem is 

 angled, not winged. The leaflets (one part) are 

 inversely egg-shaped, with spreading nerves. 

 The leaf-stalk and tendrils are stout, the stipules 

 are large and half-arrowshaped. The flowers 

 are borne on long flower-stalks, 2-5, crimson, in 

 a raceme. The bracts are awl-like. The ultimate 

 flower-stalks are longer than the calyx, the latter 

 with teeth, triangular. The pod is smooth, netted, 

 the seeds smooth and round. The plant is 2-4 ft. 

 in height. It flowers from June to August, and is 

 a herbaceous perennial. 

 VOL. VI. 



ORDER UMBELLIFER^E 



Broad-leaved Parsley (Caucalis latifolia, L.). 

 The habitat of this plant is cornfields, waste places, 

 chiefly on a chalky soil. The habit is erect. The 

 stem is rough, simple, finely furrowed, round. 

 The leaves have the lobes arranged each side of 

 a common stalk, with leaflets divided nearly to 

 the base, lance-shaped, coarsely toothed, the base 

 running down the stem. The flowerheads are 

 white or pink, in shortly-stalked umbels with 

 2-4 rays, the bracts membranous. The branches, 

 bearing 5 fruits, with prickles in 2-3 rows, rough, 

 are 5-seeded. The plant is 6-18 in. in height, 

 and flowers in June and July, being a herbaceous 

 annual. 



Spreading Hedge Parsley (Caucalis arvensis, 

 Huds.). The habitat of this plant is fields, 

 hedgebanks, roadsides, waste places, and corn- 

 fields. The habit is erect, the stem roughly hairy, 

 much-branched, solid, with angles, bearing nume- 

 rous leaves, once or twice pinnate, the leaflets 

 loose, lance-shaped, cut or coarsely toothed. The 

 flowers are white or pink, in terminal stalked 

 umbels, with 2-8 rays, irregular. There is an 

 involucre of one bract or none. The oblong fruit 

 is rough, with spreading hooked prickles at the 

 tips. The plant is 6-18 in. in height, and is in 

 flower between July and September, being a her- 

 baceous annual. 



ORDER RUBIACE/E 



Vaillant's Bedstraw (Gal turn Vaillantii, D.C.). 

 The habitat of this plant is fields. The habit 

 is spreading, and the plant resembles G. spurium, 

 but has stiffly hairy fruit, with hooked bristles, 

 and small green flowers in a cyme, 3-9. The 

 leaves are 6-8 in a whorl, linear, strap-shaped. 

 The plant is lighter green than the Common 

 Cleavers, and the fruit is pale. The stem is 

 rough, and the leaves have turned-down prickles. 

 The plant is 1-3 ft. in height, and flowers in July, 

 being a herbaceous annual. 



Cornfield Galium (Galium /ricorne, Stokes). 

 The habitat of this plant is cultivated fields, corn- 

 fields, &c. The habit is similar to that of Cleavers, 

 the stem prostrate, then ascending and spreading. 

 The leaves are narrow at the tip, 6-8 in a whorl, 

 linear, lance-shaped, rough, the prickles turned 

 back at the margin, and the 3 small creamy- 

 white flowers are in a cyme, on axillary flower- 

 stalks, shorter than the leaves, the middle one 

 only perfect. The fruit is granular, large, white, 

 and the fruit-stalk is turned back eventually. 

 The plant is 4-12 in. in height, and is in flower 

 from June to October. It is a herbaceous annual. 



Cornfield Woodruff (Asperula arvensis, L.). 

 This plant is an alien or casual, found in cornfields 

 and waste places. It resembles Field Madder, 

 but has 6-10 leaves in a whorl, which are long, 

 blunt, linear, lance-shaped. The terminal flowers 

 are blue, in a cluster, with a fringe of long hairs 

 around them. The fruit is smooth. The plant 

 varies in height from 3-12 inches, and flowers 



79 



