70 WILD FLOWERS 



delicate flower, rose-coloured with tiny purple 

 tips, which grows amongst corn and hay. 

 Its name is derived from the Latin fumus 

 terrae, earth's smoke, from a curious fancy 

 that it sprang from the ground without seed, 

 the product of vapours arising from the earth. 



The Kibwort Plantain, or ribgrass (Plantago 

 lanceolata), Plate IV., Fig. 12, is not at all 

 like a flower. Its brown head with cream- 

 coloured filaments, at the end of a long, 

 tough stalk, renders it eminently suitable for 

 a plaything. The children call the flowers 

 'soldiers' and (in Scotland) 'carle doddies,' 

 and fight mimic battles with them, each 

 trying to strike the head off the other's 

 soldier. The leaves have a certain value 

 to the grazier for feeding purposes. 



Amongst the long grass there is a small, 

 pale-blue flower, with some of the blooms 

 tinged with pink, closely resembling the 

 forget-me-not, of which, indeed, it is a 

 relation. This is the Field Scorpion-grass 

 (Myosotis arvensis). 



The Meadow Vetchling (Lathy rus pratensis), 

 Plate V., Fig. 7, with yellow, pea-shaped 

 flowers, abounds in damp meadows. Its stem 



