FLOWERS OF THE HILLS, DRY PLACES, ETC. 



[The plants included in this section are usually montane species, but altitude is not the only factor, and the 

 relative moisture is equally important. The species here included are chiefly those that occur on dry hills, 

 where the soil is fairly deep, and the Alpine species which require less soil and moister conditions are included 

 in the last section, which comprises plants more allied to species that grow on rocks or on walls, &c.] 



ORDER RANUNCULACE^E 



Meadow Rue (Thalictrum minus, L.). The 

 habitat of this plant is dry and rocky places. The 

 plant has the erect habit, and is inversely pyra- 

 midal. The stem is solid, smooth or finely fur- 

 rowed, sheathed below, rigid, zigzag, furrowed 

 when dry, leafless, branched. The leaves are tri- 

 angular, 3-4 times pinnate, 3-cleft, bluish-green, 

 the leaflets roundish, acutely or bluntly lobed. 

 The stipules are parallel with the leaf-stalk, with 

 spreading or bent-back auricles. The branches 

 are angular, ascending. The flowers are droop- 

 ing, greenish-yellow, in a loose, branched panicle, 

 with 4 yellow-green sepals. The anthers are 

 apiculate. The achenes are fusiform, stalkless, 

 elliptic to oblong, straight or swollen below, 8-10- 

 ribbed, more or less flattened at the border. The 

 plant is 3 in. to 2 ft. high, flowering in July and 

 August, and is a herbaceous perennial. 



Pasque Flower (Anemone Pidsatilla, L.). The 

 habitat of this species is chalk downs, limestone 

 pastures, &c. The habit is erect. The plant is 

 silky. The rootstock is stout and woody. The 

 leaves mature after flowering, and are 3 times 

 divided nearly to the base, with linear seg- 

 ments. The involucral leaves are silky, stalkless, 

 divided nearly to the base, with long, linear seg- 

 ments. The flowers are solitary, bell-shaped, 

 drooping in bud, erect later, dull -purple, silky 

 outside. The sepals are 6, erect, silky, petaloid. 

 The flower-stalk lengthens after flowering. The 

 outer stamens are yellow, reduced to glands, and 

 may be reduced petals, the imperfect ones con- 

 taining honey. The achenes have long, feathery 

 tails. The plant is 5-8 in. high, flowering in April 

 and May, and is a herbaceous perennial. 



Crowfoot (Ranunculus cheerophyllus, L. = R. 

 flabellatus, Desf.). The habitat of this species is 

 hedgebanks and dry banks. The habit is erect. 

 The root consists of short, egg-shaped knobs and 

 fibres. The stoles are slender with small scales 

 which give rise to a new plant. The stem is 

 generally simple, slender, swollen below, silky, 

 hairy, with tuberous offsets. The leaves are 

 hairy, 3-foliolate. The radical leaves are 3-lobed, 

 with 3-7 divisions. The stem-leaves are 1-2, with 



linear segments. The flowers are bright-yellow. 

 The receptacle is smooth, oblong. The calyx is 

 hairy, spreading. The flower-stalks are furrowed. 

 The achenes form a head, and are hairy, flattened 

 at the border, acute, dotted, oblong, cylindric, 

 numerous, rounded, with an acute beak, rough, 

 small. The plant is 4-12 in. high. It flowers in 

 May, and is a herbaceous perennial. 



Small-flowered Crowfoot (Ranunculus parviflo- 

 rus, L.). The habitat of this plant is fields, banks, 

 roadsides, cornfields, and dry banks. The habit 

 is prostrate. The root is fibrous. The stems and 

 branches are slender, spreading. The leaves are 

 rounded or kidney-shaped, 3-5-lobed, the lobes 

 toothed, the upper leaves oblong, entire, or 3-lobed, 

 with entire, deeply-cut lobes, the lowest entire. 

 The flower-stalks are lateral, opposite a leaf or 

 in the forks, furrowed. The flowers are yellow, 

 with 3-5 small, narrow, oblong petals, the gland 

 with a small scale. The calyx is erect at first, 

 afterwards turned back. The receptacle is hair- 

 less. The achenes are small, rounded, with 

 hooked tubercles. The styles are nearly straight, 

 and short. The plant is 3-12 in. long, flowering 

 in May and June, and is a herbaceous annual. 



ORDER CRUCIFER^E 



Wall Cress (Arabis hirsuta, Br.). The habitat 

 of this plant is dry banks, rocks, walls, dry places 

 generally. The habit is the rosette habit. The 

 stems are hairy (hence hirsuta), with hairs closely 

 pressed, the hairs simple, spreading, leafy, slender, 

 numerous. The radical leaves are more or less 

 narrowed below, shortly-stalked, toothed, the 

 stem-leaves stalkless, or half-clasping, blunt, with 

 spreading auricles, or heart-shaped below. The 

 flowers are small, white, the petals spreading. 

 The pods are erect, narrow, slender, straight, 

 closely pressed. The style is short. The seeds 

 are distant, with a narrow wing. The plant is 

 9-18 in. high, flowering from June to August, and 

 is a herbaceous biennial. 



Alpine Scurvy Grass (Cochlearia alpina, Wats. 

 = C. grcenlandica, Sm.). The habitat of this plant 

 is mountains. The plant was formerly regarded 

 as a sub-species of C. officinalis. It has more 



