9 



BRITISH FLORA 



is mountain pastures, hilly districts. The plant 

 has been regarded as a sub-species of V. tricolor, 

 L. The habit is ascending-. The stem is branched 

 and thread-like underground. The rootstock is 

 slender, branched, the branches slender, with 

 short stems and underground runners. The leaves 

 are scalloped, toothed, the lower egg-shaped or 

 lance-shaped. The stipules are lobed, linear, 3 

 lateral one side, i on the other, the middle one 

 entire and larger, divided nearly to the base, the 

 lobes radiating from a centre. The flowers are all 

 yellow (hence lutea), the petals spreading, longer 

 than the sepals. The capsule is round. The 

 plant is 4-9 in. high, flowering from June till August, 

 and is a perennial at high elevations or annual. 



ORDER POLYGALACE^E 



Polygala oxyptera, Reichb. The habitat of this 

 species is limestone and chalky soils, sandy shores. 

 The habit is prostrate. The branches are wavy, 

 the leaves linear, the inner sepals wedge-shaped 

 below, shorter and narrower than the capsule. The 

 flower-stalks are hairless, with smaller flowers, 

 usually blue. The plant is 1-6 in. high, flowering 

 from June to August, and is a herbaceous per- 

 ennial. 



Poly^ala austriaca,Cra.niz. The habitat of this 

 species is chalk downs. It differs from P. amara, 

 L., in the colour of the flowers, which are very 

 small, dull-blue or bluish-white. The capsule is 

 rounded below, narrowed to the base, and the 

 leaves are less fleshy. The plant is 1-3 in. high, 

 flowering in June, July, and is a perennial. 



Chalk Milkwort (Polygala calcarea, E. Schulz). 

 The habitat of this species is dry soil and rocks, 

 chalk hills. The habit is the rosette habit. The 

 stem is weak, prostrate or ascending, nearly naked 

 below, branched, the many branches rooting and 

 proliferous, spreading in an umbel-like manner 

 from the root. The radical leaves are in an 

 irregular rosette, large, egg-shaped, blunt, those 

 of flowering stems short, smaller, lance-shaped, 

 elliptic. The stem-leaves are oblong. The flowers 

 are blue. The calyx-wings are oblong or in- 

 versely egg-shaped, larger than the fruit, the veins 

 branched, the lateral looping, with a branch above 

 the middle of the central vein. The capsule is 

 oblong, inversely heart-shaped. The lobes of the 

 aril are unequal, the lateral half as long as the 

 seed. The plant is 1-6 in. long, flowering from 

 May to July, and is a herbaceous perennial. 



ORDER CARYOPHYLLACE^E 



(See also p. 99) 



Deptford Pink (Dianthus Armeria, L.). The 

 habitat of this plant is fields, dry banks, sandy 

 and gravelly places, waste places, clayey pastures, 

 cloverfields, roadsides, woods, hedgebanks. The 

 habit is erect. The stems are downy, few, rigid, 

 branched. The leaves are linear, opposite, united 

 below, downy, the lower blunt, the upper acute. 

 The bracts are lance-shaped, downy, as long as 

 the calyx, with awl-like tips. The flowers are red 

 with dark dots, or rose with white dots, close 



grouped, in loose cymes. The calyx-tube is cylin- 

 drical with many nerves, the calyx-scales lance- 

 shaped, awl-like, downy. The petals are narrow, 

 distant, toothed. The capsule is 4-valved above. 

 The seeds are nearly flat one side, hollowed out, 

 with a longitudinal keel. The plant is 6-18 in. 

 high, flowering in July and August, and is a herb- 

 aceous annual. 



Silene gallica, L. The habitat of this plant is 

 gravelly places. The plant is erect or much- 

 branched. The plant is hairy and clammy. The 

 lower leaves are spoon-shaped. The flowers are 

 white or pink, in leafy racemes, the petals large, 

 and scales small, entire, or divided into two nearly 

 to the base. The calyx is membranous, with 

 bristle-like teeth, and green, downy ribs. The 

 capsule is egg-shaped on a bent-down flower- 

 stalk, and is incompletely divided internally. The 

 plant is 1-2 ft. high, flowering from June to 

 October, and is a herbaceous perennial. 



Nottingham Catchfly (Silene nn/ans, L.). The 

 habitat of this plant is dry places, limestone, 

 chalky places, rocky places, walls. The habit is 

 as in the last. The plant is downy. The root- 

 stock is woody and branched. The stem is erect, 

 clammy above, hairy. The radical leaves are 

 spoon-shaped, oblong to lance-shaped, stalked, 

 tufted. The stem -leaves are linear to lance- 

 shaped, stalkless. The flowers are white or pink, 

 in (hence mttans] drooping cymes. The branches 

 are opposite, 3-flowered. The calyx is clammy, 

 tubular, swollen in the middle, long, the teeth 

 acute, membranous, with purple veins. The petals 

 are divided into two nearly to the base, crowned, 

 with linear, spreading lobes, narrow, hooded. 

 The capsule is erect, exceeding and rupturing the 

 calyx, longer than the carpophore. The scales 

 are blunt. The plant is 1-3 ft. high, flowering in 

 June and July, and is a herbaceous perennial. 



Least Mouse Ear (Cerastium pumilum, Curt. 

 =glutinosum, Fr.). The habitat of this species 

 is dry banks, calcareous places. The plant is 

 small and sticky, has an erect stem, branched 

 above the middle. The radical leaves are spoon- 

 shaped, with long, linear stalks, the upper oblong. 

 The flowers are in terminal, forked cymes, the 

 petals notched, with branched veins. The sepals 

 are lance-shaped, acute, with the borders and tips 

 membranous. The upper bracts have a narrow, 

 membranous border. The fruit- stalk is short, 

 curved at the top, bent down from the base, at 

 length erect. The capsule is curved upwards, 

 longer than the calyx. The plant is 1-4 in. high, 

 flowering in April and May, and is a herbaceous 

 annual. 



Five-stamened Mouse Ear (Cerastium semi- 

 decandrum, L.).- -The habitat of this plant is dry 

 places, sandy, calcareous places, walls and banks. 

 The habit is erect or prostrate. The plant is 

 downy or clammy, or hairless, branched from the 

 base. The leaves are broadly egg-shaped or oval, 

 the lower with long, linear tufts. The bracts in 

 the upper half have a membranous border. The 

 flowers are white, in cymes, few or many. The 

 petals are slightly notched, with simple veins, 



