HEATHS AND MOORS 



'55 



ORDER HYPERICACE/E 



Trailing St. John's Wort (Hypericum humi- 

 fusutn, L. ). The habitat of this plant is gravelly 

 and heathy places, roadsides, commons. The 

 plant is prostrate in habit (hence humifusum). 

 The stems are numerous, prostrate, then ascend- 

 ing, with 2 raised lines, or 2-edged, slender. The 

 leaves are oval to oblong, blunt, hairless, minutely 

 dotted, transparent, with black dots on the borders 

 below, the border rolled back. The branches are 

 numerous, flattened, curved upwards, leafy. The 

 flowers are yellow, in forked cymes. The sepals 

 are glandular, toothed, with black dots below, 

 unequal, entire, 3 oblong, blunt, with a short 

 point, 2 lance-shaped. There are 15-20 stamens. 

 The styles are very short. The plant is 4-10 in. 

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

 aceous perennial. 



Narrow-leaved St. John's Wort (Hypericum 

 linariifolium, Vahl). The habitat of this plant 

 is dry rocky banks, granite rocks. The habit 

 is erect or ascending. The stems are more or 

 less round in section, many, leafy. The leaves 

 are linear, blunt, the margins rolled back. The 

 flowers are yellow, few, in cymes. The sepals 

 are unequal, lance-shaped, acute, with glandular 

 teeth and black dots below. The petals are twice 

 as long as the sepals, with black marginal glands. 

 There are few stamens (30). The styles are short, 

 half as long as the capsule. The plant is 4-12 in. 

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

 aceous perennial. 



ORDER LINAGES 



Allseed (Radial a h'noides, Roth). The habitat 

 of this plant is damp, sandy, gravelly places, bare 

 spots on heathy places. The habit is erect, in- 

 versely pyramidal. The stem is repeatedly forked. 

 The leaves are egg-shaped, entire, acute, 3-5- 

 nerved, stalkless, rather succulent. The flowers 

 are solitary, small, white, in the axils and ter- 

 minal. The sepals are deeply acutely 3-cleft, 

 united below, as long as the petals, which are 

 oblong. The parts of the flower are in fours. 

 The plant is 1-3 in. high, flowering- in July and 

 August, and is a herbaceous annual. 



Purging; Flax (Linum catharticum, L.). The 

 habitat of this species is dry pastures, heaths, 

 downs. The plant has the grass habit. The stems 

 are square in section, one or more, much branched, 

 slender, hairless, bluish-green. The leaves are 

 opposite, linear to oblong, inversely egg-shaped, 

 the upper alternate, lance-shaped. The flowers are 

 white, small, in a forked panicle, spreading. The 

 buds are drooping. The sepals are elliptic, acute, 

 toothed, i -nerved, long-pointed. The petals are 

 distinct, acute, oblong, blunt. The plant is 2-10 in. 

 high, flowering between June and August, and is 

 a herbaceous annual. 



ORDER GERANIACE^E 



Dove's Foot (Geranium molle, L.). Dove's Foot 

 is found in pastures and waste places, dry places, 



cultivated ground. The habit is the rosette habit, 

 prostrate. The plant is softly downy, glandular 

 above. The stem is spreading. The leaves are 

 rounded to kidney-shaped, with 7-9 lobes, which 

 are contiguous, wedge-shaped, deep, scalloped, 

 trifid at the tip. The radical leaves are long- 

 stalked. The stipules are ovate. The flowers are 

 small, purple or white, with lilac claws, fringed 

 with hairs, the sepals blunt-pointed, shorter than 

 the petals, which are notched, oblong-. The 

 flower-stalks are axillary. The carpels are per- 

 sistent, transversely wrinkled, keeled, smooth. 

 The seeds are smooth. The plant is 6-12 in. high, 

 flowering from April to September, and is a herb- 

 aceous annual. 



ORDER EMPETRACE^E 



Crowberry (Empetrum nigrum, L.). The habi- 

 tat of this plant is moors and mountain heaths. 

 The plant has the shrub habit. The plant is pros- 

 trate, then ascending, smooth, tufted, slender, 

 wiry, spreading, trailing. The leaves are ever- 

 green, linear to oblong, crowded, blunt, the borders 

 bent-back to the midrib, forming- a tube, an adap- 

 tation to dry conditions, the stomata being below, 

 red when old, the borders roughish, downy below. 

 The flowers are small, purple, stalkless, axillary. 

 The sepals are rounded, hollow. The petals have 

 a membranous margin, and are rather spoon- 

 shaped, bent-back. The anther-stalks are very 

 long, the anthers red. The drupe is black, edible. 

 The plant is 6-18 in. high, flowering- from April to 

 June, and is an evergreen perennial shrub. 



ORDER RHAMNACE/E 



Berry-bearing Alder (Rhamnus Frangula, L.). 

 This plant grows on peaty heaths and in woods. 

 It has the shrub habit. The branches are not 

 spinose, slender, alternate. The leaves are alter- 

 nate, inversely ovate, elliptic, entire, long-pointed, 

 narrow below, the nerves parallel. The stipules 

 are awl-like. The flowers are 5-fid, perfect, a few 

 in the axils, clustered, greenish-white. The calyx 

 is bell-shaped. The style is simple, entire. The 

 fruit is a round drupe, black when ripe, 2-seeded. 

 The stones and seeds are flattened, inversely 

 ovoid. This plant is 5-10 ft. high, flowering- in 

 May and June, and is a deciduous shrub. 



ORDER LEGUMINOS^E 



Dyer's Greenweed (Genista tincioria, L.). The 

 habitat of this plant is meadows, fields, heaths, 

 sunny pastures, coarse pastures, and the plant 

 also grows under the shade of trees and in cop- 

 pices. The plant has the shrub habit. The 

 stem is smooth, branched, rigid, furrowed. The 

 branches are erect or ascending, without thorns, 

 downy above. The leaflets are lance -shaped, 

 elliptic, oblong, hairy at the border, closely 

 pressed. The stipules are very small, awl-shaped. 

 The flowers are yellow, in slender racemes. The 

 keel is hairless, as long as the standard. The 



