CHAPTER VI 



SPRING FLOWERS 



The Lesser Celandine The Lady's Smock The Sweet Violet The Primrose 

 The Lesser Periwinkle The White Dead-nettle The Dandelion The 

 Tulip The Field Wood-rush The Daffodil The Crocus. 



THE LESSER CELANDINE (Ranunculus Ficaria, L.). 



THE Lesser Celandine, as its scientific name indicates, is a close 

 relation of the yellow Buttercups which flower later in the season. 

 One of the Buttercups has already been described, and a compari- 

 son of the Lesser Celandine with this will show admirably in what 

 different ways closely related plants are fitted to meet the needs of 

 their life, and of competition with other plants. That the Lesser 

 Celandine is well adapted to the conditions under which it grows 

 is shown by its abundance, especially in shady and marshy spots, 

 under trees and by streams. Considerable tracts of soil may be 

 covered by it, and be bright with its yellow flowers, which appear 

 in March and April and are over early in the summer. 



The Lesser Celandine is a perennial plant, and, like many other 

 spring flowers, grows rapidly early in the year at the expense of 

 food materials manufactured by the leaves of the preceding season, 

 and stored in the subterranean parts for this purpose. The 

 underground parts will be found to be specially modified for the 

 storage of food material, so that the specimens to be examined 

 should be carefully dug up and their roots washed free from soil. 

 A superficial inspection of a whole plant at the time of flowering 

 (Fig. 60) will show that in addition to a number of thin branched 

 roots of ordinary appearance there are a number of club-shaped 

 tuberous roots clustered at the base of the stem. The shoot has a 

 number of foliage leaves crowded together at the lower part, while 

 above this the internodes are elongated and the shoots branched. 



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