EARLY SUMMER FLOWERS 



213 



useful. Specimens can readily be obtained from gardens, waste 

 ground, by the side of walls, or round farm-steadings, for the 

 Shepherd's Purse accompanies human activity like the Sparrow. 

 It gets its English name from the shape of the flattened and 

 heart-shaped fruits (Figs. 96, 97). 



The plants vary greatly in size, probably owing to the con- 

 ditions of their life. They grow from the seed, flower and fruit 

 and then die, the usual life of a plant 

 being under a year, though individuals 

 may persist over the winter. The well- 

 marked whitish tap-root extends vertic- 

 ally into the soil, giving off branched 

 lateral roots. At the base of the shoot 

 is a rosette of long-stalked leaves, and 

 above this the stem has elongated inter- 

 nodes and bears a few foliage - leaves 

 before passing into the long inflorescence. 

 Larger plants branch from the axils of 

 the leaves. Each branch bears a few 

 foliage-leaves and ends in an inflorescence. 

 The general appearance of the plant will 

 be gathered from Fig. 96. 



Both the stem and leaves bear short, 

 pointed white hairs. The leaves of the 

 basal rosette have an ill-defined leaf- 

 stalk. In the upper leaves on the main 

 shoot the stalk is less marked, while the 

 leaves on the lateral shoots may be de- 

 scribed as without stalks. The leaf-blade 

 has a strong midrib and, though often deeply divided, is not 

 compound or branched. All intermediate forms can be found 

 between leaves with the margin merely toothed and those in 

 which the divisions reach almost to the midrib. 



The inflorescence, as in the Charlock, has no bracts beneath the 

 flowers. Growth proceeds at the end of the shoot throughout 

 the season, so that buds and open flowers will be found near the 

 tip, while fruits of all ages are present lower down. The flowers 

 have fairly long stalks and, though much smaller, are composed of 



FIG. 96. A small complete 

 plant of the Shepherd's 

 Purse. (After Baillon.) 



