EARLY SUMMER FLOWERS 205 



cannot grow at once into a plant like the parent. It is some years 

 before it is able to flower, and during this time it increases in 

 size and forms a larger tuber each year. The young plants can 

 be found in situations in which the plant grows abundantly, and 

 a series of different ages may be collected and will make a portion 

 at least of the life-history clear. 



The account given above will serve as a guide to the study 

 of several British Orchids with root-tubers. In other British 

 species we find an ordinary root-system. The methods of polli- 

 nation are described in the earlier chapters of Darwin's Fertilisa- 

 tion of Orchids, and the more advanced student should consult 

 this work. 



THE GREATER PLANTAIN (Plantago major, L.) AND THE RIBWORT 

 PLANTAIN (Plantago lanceolata, L.). 



The two kinds of Plantain to be described here are among our 

 commonest weeds. They can be found by every roadside in 

 waste places and in grass land. If not known by name they 

 will be identified by two uses to which their inflorescences are 

 commonly put. Those of the Greater Plantain when in fruit 

 are gathered for canaries, while every child knows the black, 

 long-stalked inflorescences of the Ribwort Plantain which are 

 used in the game of " Soldiers." Both plants are perennial 

 and can grow on very bare and unpromising spots, so that they 

 compete successfully with other plants in the colonisation of such 

 places. 



The Greater Plantain (P. major] (Fig. 93), as can be seen in a 

 specimen that has been carefully dug up, has a short, swollen, 

 main stem which continues its growth year after year without 

 forming any vegetative branches. A number of sparingly 

 branched roots fix the almost globular stem in the soil; no 

 main or tap-root can be distinguished. Toward the upper part 

 of the short stem are the crowded leaves, which spread out on 

 all sides and often have their large blades more or less closely 

 applied to the soil. Each leaf has a wide sheathing base, which 

 narrows gradually into the leaf-stalk. This is strongly concave 

 above, and at its upper end expands rather suddenly into the 



