142 



BRITISH FLORA 



ORDER COMPOSITE 



Fen Ragwort (Senecio paludosus, L.). The 

 habitat of this plant is fen ditches. The habit is 

 the rosette habit more or less. The rootstock is 

 short. The stem is erect, hollow, woolly, slightly 

 cottony, branched above, leafy, straight. The 

 leaves are stalkless, undivided, cottony below, 

 narrow, oblong, lance-shaped, tapering, coarsely 

 and sharply toothed. The flowerheads are' yellow 

 with spreading rays, on long stalks, with bracts in 

 loose, spreading, simple or compound, terminal 

 corymbs, the rays consisting of 13-16 narrow 

 florets. The involucre is broadly bell-shaped, the 

 outer phyllaries awl-like, long, the inner blunt. 

 The fruit is hairless. The plant is 1-3 ft. high, 

 flowering in June and July, and is a herbaceous 

 perennial. 



Marsh Fleawort (Senecio palustris, Hook.). 

 The habitat of this plant is fen ditches in the E. 

 counties. The habit is as in the last. The stem 

 is stout, erect, tall, downy or woolly, hollow, leafy, 

 much branched, corymb-like above. The leaves 

 are undivided, or nearly entire, half-clasping, 

 oblong to broadly lance-shaped, the lower wavy, 

 toothed, blunt or acute. The flowerheads are 

 pale, bright-yellow, erect, numerous, crowded in 

 compound corymbs, broadly bell-shaped, short 

 like the stalk, hairy. The heads have spreading 

 rays. There are no scales below in the involucre. 

 The bracts are slender and numerous. The ray- 

 florets are short. The fruit is ribbed without hairs. 

 The plant is 2-4 ft. high, flowering in June and 

 July, and is a herbaceous biennial. 



Meadow Thistle (Cnicus pratensis, Huds. - 

 Cirsium anglicum, D.C. = Cirsium britannicum, 

 Scop.). The habitat of this plant is wet or boggy 

 meadows, marshes and bogs. The habit is erect, 

 more or less of the rosette type. The plant is cot- 

 tony. The roots are fibrous. The stem is simple, 

 without wings, round in section, leafless above, 

 a few scaly bracts springing from the creeping 

 rhizome. The leaves are soft, broad, lance-shaped, 

 with wavy teeth, fringed with bristles, or more or 

 less divided, or 2-3 fid. The lower leaves are 

 long-stalked, the lobes being angular, and the 

 upper are half-clasping, auricled. The flower- 

 heads are usually solitary, or 2-3, cottony. The 

 florets are dark-purple. The involucre is cottony, 

 hemispherical, with lance-shaped, closely-pressed 

 bracts, with long, spinous points, the outer blunt- 

 pointed, the inner slender, purple, narrow-pointed. 

 The fruit is pale, slender, smooth, with a dirty- 

 white pappus. The plant is 10-18 in. in height, 

 flowering from June to August, and is a herb- 

 aceous perennial. 



Taraxacum palustre, D.C. (= T. paludosum, 

 Sch.). The habitat of this species is moist moor- 

 lands, damp places. In this plant, which has the 

 rosette habit, the leaves are dull-green, runcinate, 

 deeply divided, with wavy teeth, the lobes broad. 

 The outer phyllaries are ovate to long-pointed, 

 closely pressed, spreading or erect, the inner 

 simple at the tip. The fruit is pale-yellow or 

 brown, muricate at the top. The plant is 4-12 in. 



in height, flowering between June and September. 

 It is a herbaceous perennial. 



Marsh Sow Thistle (Sonchus palustris, L.). 

 The habitat of this plant is marshes.. The habit 

 is erect. The rootstock is branched. The stems 

 are simple, stout, hollow, angled, leafy. The 

 leaves are long, linear to lance-shaped, acutely 

 arrow-shaped, with a long, narrow point, finely 

 toothed, the lower leaves long, with 2-4 linear- 

 lance-shaped lobes, runcinate, with the lobes bent 

 backwards, or with one arrow-shaped blade and 

 a broad winged leaf-stalk, bluish-green below. 

 The upper leaves are entire, arrow-shaped, stalk- 

 less, with acute auricles. The flowerheads are 

 pale lemon, in a sort of umbel, glandular, hairy, 

 with a stout, hairy, glandular stalk. The fruit 

 has 4 rough ribs, and is pale. The plant is 5-9 ft. 

 high, and flowers between July and September, 

 being a herbaceous perennial. 



ORDER CAMPANULACE^: 



Ivy-leaved Bellflower ( Wahlenbergia hederacea, 

 Sch.). The habitat of this plant is moist woods 

 and turfy places, bogs and damp places, damp 

 peaty places in the S. and W. The habit is pros- 

 trate. The stem is graceful, branched, slender, 

 the rootstock creeping, the whole plant hairless. 

 The leaves are membranous, alternate, stalked, 

 heart-shaped or rounded, more or less acutely 

 5-lobed, or angled, ivy-shaped (hence hederacea), 

 the upper sometimes opposite, the flower-stalk 

 slender. The flowers are pale-blue, with dark 

 veins, bell-shaped, nodding then erect, narrow, 

 the corolla cylindric, with short, blunt lobes, bent 

 back. The calyx-tube is shortly conical, with tri- 

 angular to awl-shaped erect lobes. The flower- 

 stalks are longer than the leaf-stalks and leaves, 

 solitary. The fruit is nearly round, and is a mem- 

 branous capsule opening within the calyx-lobes. 

 The plant is creeping, and flowers in July and 

 August, being a herbaceous perennial. 



ORDER VACCINIACE.E 



Great Whortleberry (V actinium uliginosum, 

 L.). The habitat of this plant is mountain bogs 

 and copses. The plant has the undershrub habit. 

 The stem is rigid, round in section, prostrate. 

 then ascending, woody, naked below, the branches 

 ascending, round in section. The leaves are tough, 

 deciduous, oblong, inversely egg-shaped, entire, 

 blunt or acute, bluish-green below, with netlike 

 veins below. The flowers are egg-shaped, pink 

 or flesh-colour. The calyx-tube is hemispheric, 

 with 4-5 blunt, broad lobes. The flower- stalk 

 bears one flower. The corolla is more or less 

 globular. The anthers have dorsal awns or pro- 

 cesses. The berry is black, with a milky bloom. 

 The plant is 6-18 in. high, flowering in May and 

 June, and is a perennial undershrub. 



ORDER PRIMULACE^E 



Bird's Eye Primrose (Primula farinosa, L.). 

 The habitat of this plant is bogs and meadows, 



