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THE BOOK OF NATURE STUDY 



these plants have already been described (p. 196) . The Tormentilla 

 belongs to the same genus as the Silverweed ; it has yellow 

 flowers, but only four, not five petals. It is a plant very 

 characteristic of heaths and commons, and sometimes is only 

 a few inches high, but its growth varies very much with its 

 situation. It is a very widely spread plant, frequenting not 

 only heaths and moors, but pastures and even open woods. 

 The Bedstraws always have their leaves arranged in whorls, 

 and very small white or yellow flowers. The Heath Bedstraw 

 has six leaves usually, and white flowers. It is a plant about 

 six inches high, with small leaves, each pointed at the tip. 



This plant bears a general re- 

 semblance to the Goose-Grass 

 or Cleavers, so common in 

 hedges. The Staghorn Moss 

 is not really a moss. It belongs 

 to the group of non-flowering 

 plants known as Lycopodiums 

 or Club Mosses. The leaves 

 are very small and crowded 

 on each other, not unlike the 

 arrangement in a moss. The 

 spores are contained in bags 

 called sporangia, which are 

 borne in erect spikes about 

 one, to one inch and a half, 

 long. When ripe the spores 

 are shed in the form of fine 

 yellow dust> which falls in great quantities. This plant belongs 

 to hilly pastures and heaths, but is far more common in the 

 north than in the south of our islands. Sometimes the chief 

 sub-dominant species of the Nardus heath is the Bilberry ; some- 

 times the Common Ling. It seems certain that many of the 

 Nardus heaths, with Ling, were not so long ago Heather moors. 

 Owing to grazing by sheep the Heather has been ousted and the 

 Nardus has taken its place. 



The Molinia plant association is a larger one than the Nardus. 

 Besides many species of Carices and Rushes, Heather is con- 



FlG. 64. Staghorn Moss (Lycopodium 

 clcmatuwi). 



