Part 1

THE 'SHOWN TO THE CHILDREN' SERIES

Edited by Louey Chisholm

FLOWERS

THE 'SHOWN TO THE CHILDREN' SERIES

1. BEASTS

With 48 Coloured Plates by Percy J. Billinghurst. Letterpress by Lena Dalkeith.

2. FLOWERS

With 48 Coloured Plates, showing 150 flowers, by Janet Harvey Kelman. Letterpress by C. E. Smith.

3. BIRDS

With 48 Coloured Plates by M. K. C. Scott. Letterpress by J. A. Henderson.

PLATE I: 1. LESSER CELANDINE 2. BULBOUS BUTTERCUP 3. MEADOW BUTTERCUP 4. MARSH MARIGOLD

FLOWERS SHOWN TO THE CHILDREN

by JANET HARVEY KELMAN

DESCRIBED BY C. E. SMITH

Illustration

FORTY-EIGHT COLOURED PICTURES

LONDON & EDINBURGH

T. C. & E. C. JACK

TO

ALISON MARY OGILVIE

AND

DOROTHY CLARK

Dear Children,--If you were old enough to go to the bookseller and ask for a book that would tell you about the flowers you see growing in the woods and fields in spring and summer-time, you would find there were already a great many books which had been written with that purpose.

If you examined a few of these books, you would discover that in many the pictures of the flowers were not coloured, and that in these books the flowers were very difficult to recognise. And I think you would at once tell the bookseller you wished a flower-book with coloured pictures, where the flowers looked like real flowers.

Then you would examine more books, some of which have beautiful coloured pictures showing every flower that grows in our country. These books are very large and cost a great deal of money. You would see, too, quite small books which said they could tell about the common flowers we find in our country walks. And I think you would buy one of these.

But next day, suppose you were to find a bright blue flower growing in the field, and wished very much to know what it was called. You would open the flower-book and begin to look at the pictures, and there you would discover that the first picture showed a yellow flower, the next a red, the third a purple, a white or a blue, and you might have to turn over all the pages in the book before you found the flower you sought.

After you had looked at the picture of your blue flower, I think you would wish to know something more about the flower, and would like to read the writing to find out what it said.

But I am afraid you would not be able to understand what the flower-book told. There would be such long words telling about things you had never heard of, and you would begin to wonder if only older people could find out what books had to say about flowers.

Now this new flower-book is written just for the purpose of telling little children about the flowers. And in order to make it easy, the blue flowers have all been put together in one part of the book, the yellow in another, and the white in a third group; so you can at once know in what part of the book you will see a picture of any flower you find.

And I have made the writing which tells about each flower very easy, with as few new words as possible, so I hope you will be able to read it yourself, and find out how many wonderful and beautiful things there are in the flower-world which you might not notice unless you were told what to look for.

There are four new words you must learn to understand before you begin to read this book.

The first word is CALYX, and it means a covering. When the flowers are still babies, or buds, as they are called in flowerland, they are so soft and tender that too much rain, or a cold wind or a night of frost would do them harm. So nearly every flower has been given a warm covering which is folded closely round the tiny bud to protect it. Sometimes this calyx, or covering, is all in one piece like a cup, and the bud sits safely inside. But very often it is made up of five or six or more pieces, and when this is the case, these separate pieces are called sepals.

These SEPALS are very often green, like leaves, but you may have white sepals, or yellow sepals, or blue sepals or pink sepals. You will learn all about them after you know all that is in this flower-book and are able to read a more difficult one.

The third new word you must know the meaning of, is PETALS. Nearly every flower has petals. They are the beautiful coloured leaves of the flower that are within the calyx. It is these lovely petals, pink in the rose, yellow in the buttercup, red in the poppy, and blue in the forget-me-not, that most of us mean when we talk of flowers, and it is these soft, silky petals which attract us, and not us only, but the birds and the bees and the butterflies, which all visit the gay flowers. These petals are among the most beautiful things in this wonderful world.

The fourth new word you must try to remember is STAMENS. The stamens are not very attractive, but they are very important to the flower, as without them there could be no new seeds, and if there were no new seeds we should presently have no more flowers.

The stamens are usually fine, slender threads which grow either singly, or in little bunches or in a ring within the circle of petals. Each slender thread has a fat little head at the end, a purple head, or a pink head, or a red head, or, very often, a yellow head. And this stamen head is filled with fine powder which is needed to make the new seeds grow.

These four, CALYX, SEPALS, PETALS, and STAMENS, are the only new words you will have to learn in order to understand all that is written in this little flower-book, and I hope that, when summer comes, you will try to find all the plants that I have written about here, and that you will be able to tell the names, without reading them, of every flower of which Miss Kelman has made you a picture.--Yours sincerely,

C. E. SMITH

LIST OF FLOWERS

YELLOW FLOWERS

Plate Page

I. 1. Lesser Celandine,................ 1 2. Bulbous Buttercup,............... 2 3. Meadow Buttercup,................ 3 4. Marsh Marigold,.................. 4

II. 1. Wallflower,...................... 5 2. Wild Mustard,.................... 6 3. Hedge Mustard,................... 7

III. 1. Yellow Horned Poppy,............. 8 2. Rock Rose,....................... 9 3. Opposite-leaved Golden Saxifrage, 10

IV. 1. Common Whin or Gorse,............ 11 2. Broom,........................... 12 3. Needle Whin,..................... 13

V. 1. St John's Wort,.................. 14 2. Common Avens,.................... 15 3. Tormentil,....................... 16

VI. 1. Birdsfoot Trefoil,............... 17 2. Hop Trefoil,..................... 18 3. Lady's Fingers,.................. 19 4. Meadow Vetchling,................ 20

VII. 1. Creeping Cinquefoil,............. 21 2. Silver Weed,..................... 22 3. Common Agrimony,................. 23

VIII. 1. Common Nipplewort,............... 24 2. Autumnal Hawkbit,................ 25 3. Yellow Goatsbeard,............... 26

IX. 1. Coltsfoot,....................... 27 2. Common Groundsel,................ 28 3. Common Ragwort,.................. 29

X. 1. Crosswort,....................... 30 2. Biting Stonecrop,................ 31 3. Yellow Bedstraw,................. 32 4. Mugwort,......................... 33

XI. 1. Wild Mignonette,................. 34 2. Common Dandelion,................ 35 3. Tansy,........................... 36

XII. 1. Primrose,........................ 37 2. Cowslip,......................... 38 3. Bog Asphodel,.................... 39

XIII. 1. Honeysuckle,..................... 40 2. Yellow Water Iris,............... 41 3. Daffodil,........................ 42

XIV. 3. Common Comfrey,.................. 43

WHITE FLOWERS

Plate Page

XIV. 1. Sneezewort Yarrow,............... 44 2. Mountain Everlasting,............ 45

XV. 1. Traveller's Joy,................. 46 2. Wood Anemone,.................... 47 3. Water Crowfoot,.................. 48

XVI. 1. Shepherd's Purse,................ 49 2. Common Scurvy Grass,............. 50 3. Hairy Rock Cress,................ 51

XVII. 1. Common Chickweed,................ 52 2. Mouse-eared Chickweed,........... 53 3. Greater Stitchwort,.............. 54

XVIII. 1. Goutweed,........................ 55 2. Wild Angelica,................... 56 3. Upright Hedge Parsley,........... 57 4. Hemlock Water Dropwort,.......... 58

XIX. 1. Cow Parsnip,..................... 59 2. Wild Chervil,.................... 60 3. Sea Carrot,...................... 61 4. Common Hemlock,.................. 62

XX. 1. Meadow Sweet,.................... 63 2. Wild Strawberry,................. 64 3. Wood Sorrel,..................... 65

XXI. 1. Goosegrass or Cleavers,.......... 66 2. Woodruff,........................ 67 3. Yarrow or Millfoil,.............. 68

XXII. 1. Ox-eye Daisy,.................... 69 2. Daisy,........................... 70 3. Scentless Mayweed,............... 71

XXIII. 1. Snowdrop,........................ 72 2. Common Star of Bethlehem,........ 73 3. Ransoms,......................... 74

XXIV. 1. Mossy Saxifrage,................. 75 2. Marsh Pennywort,................. 76 3. Intermediate Wintergreen,........ 77

XXV. 1. Grass of Parnassus,.............. 78 2. Common Bladder Campion,.......... 79 3. Sea Campion,..................... 80

XXVI. 1. Common Eyebright,................ 81 2. White Dead Nettle,............... 82 3. Spotted Orchis,.................. 83

XXVII. 2. Chickweed Wintergreen,........... 85

XL. 2. Burnet Rose,..................... 125

GREEN FLOWERS

Plate Page

XXVII. 1. Red-Berried Bryony,.............. 84 3. Cuckoopint or Wake Robin,........ 86

XXVIII. 1. Common Mare's Tail,.............. 87 3. Greater Burdock,................. 89

XXIX. 1. Mouse-Tail,...................... 90 2. Ribwort Plantain,................ 91 3. Knotty Figwort,.................. 92

XXX. 1. Lady's Mantle,................... 93 2. Dog's Mercury,................... 94 3. Common Nettle,................... 95

PURPLE FLOWERS

Plate Page

XXXI. 1. Purple Sea-Rocket,............... 96 2. Cuckoo Flower or Lady's Smock,... 97 3. Marsh Cinquefoil,................ 98 4. Water Avens,..................... 99

XXXII. 1. Dog Violet,...................... 100 2. Heartsease,...................... 101 3. Common Mallow,................... 102

XXXIII. 1. Scotch Thistle,.................. 103 2. Marsh Plume Thistle,............. 104 3. Field Scabious,.................. 105

XXXIV. 1. Common Ling or Heather,.......... 106 2. Black Knapweed,.................. 107 3. Wild Thyme,...................... 108

XXXV. 1. Early Purple Orchis,............. 109 2. Purple Loose-strife,............. 110 3. Common Butterwort,............... 111

XXXVI. 1. Common Bugle,.................... 112 2. Ground Ivy,...................... 113

PINK FLOWERS

Plate Page

XXVIII. 2. Common Butterbur,................ 88

XXXVI. 3. Hairy Water Mint,................ 114

XXXVII. 1. Common Fumitory,................. 115 2. Ragged Robin,.................... 116 3. Red Campion,..................... 117

XXXVIII. 1. Dove's-foot Crane's-bill,........ 118 2. Herb-Robert,..................... 119 3. Stork's Bill,.................... 120

XXXIX. 1. Rest Harrow,..................... 121 2. Saintfoin,....................... 122 3. Red Clover,...................... 123

XL. 1. Dog Rose,........................ 124 3. Lousewort, or Red Rattle,........ 126

XLI. 1. Great Wild Valerian,............. 127 2. Small Bindweed,.................. 128 3. Foxglove,........................ 129

XLII. 1. Broad-Leaved Willow Herb,........ 130 2. Corn Cockle,..................... 131 3. Cross-Leaved Pink Heath,......... 132

BLUE FLOWERS

Plate Page

XLIII. 1. Blue Meadow Crane's-bill,......... 133 2. Milkwort,......................... 134 3. Corn Flower or Blue Bottle,....... 135 4. Tufted Vetch,..................... 136

XLIV. 1. Wild Succory,..................... 137 2. Blue Bell or Harebell,............ 138 3. Sea Holly,........................ 139

XLV. 1. Germander Speedwell,.............. 140 2. Brooklime Speedwell,.............. 141 3. Great Water Forget-me-not,........ 142

XLVI. 1. Common Borage,.................... 143 2. Evergreen Alkanet,................ 144 3. Wood Hyacinth,.................... 145

XLVII. 1. Field Gentian,.................... 146 2. Sea Aster,........................ 147 3. Viper's Bugloss,.................. 148

RED FLOWERS

Plate Page

XLVIII. 1. Red Poppy,........................ 149 2. Scarlet Pimpernel,................ 150 3. Common Sorrel,.................... 151

PLATE I

1. LESSER CELANDINE

This is one of the first flowers you will see in springtime. It covers the ground in patches in every wood, and you will find it too under the hedges and on banks by the roadside.

The flower has eight long narrow petals, which are much narrower and more pointed than those of the Buttercup.

When the Celandine is still in bud the outside of these petals is beautifully streaked with purple. But when the flower opens in the sunshine, the petals are a bright yellow colour, and are as glossy as if they were wet.

In the centre of the flower there is a ring of yellow stamens with a cluster of green seed-vessels amongst them.

Behind the coloured petals are three narrow pointed sepals. These protect the flower when it is in bud.

The green leaves of the Celandine are dark and glossy, with wavy edges, and each leaf has a stalk of its own.

If you look carefully at one of these leaves you will see that the stalk is flattened at the foot. This helps it to clasp the main stem more easily.

The root is divided into five or six hard little brown fingers. These brown fingers are called tubers, and each tuber, if planted separately, will produce a new plant.

2. BULBOUS BUTTERCUP

In spring the Bulbous Buttercup is found everywhere, filling the meadows with its sunshiny flowers.

Each flower has five glossy yellow petals which do not lie flat open as in the Celandine, but form a cup, a yellow cup or Buttercup.

At the base of each petal you find a small honey pouch, which the bees love to visit.

When the flower is still in bud, the yellow petals are almost covered by five pale-green hairy sepals. You can see only the yellow tips peeping out. But when the flower opens, these hairy green sepals fold back close round the stalk.

In the centre of the flower is a thick cluster of yellow-headed stamens with a knot of green seed-vessels in the middle.

The stalk on which the flower grows is slightly hairy, and has a narrow groove on one side.

The root is shaped like a small turnip, and has a great many white threads growing out of it.

The leaves of this Buttercup are dark green, with soft hairs all over them. They are shaped very irregularly, and are deeply cut up all round the edges.

3. MEADOW BUTTERCUP

The Meadow Buttercup is abundant all over the country. It grows beside the Daisy in every field and hedge-bank.

In this Buttercup the flower has five bright glossy yellow petals, which open out flat and are not cup-shaped as in the Bulbous Buttercup.

There is a hard green knot of seed-vessels in the centre of the flower, with a ring of yellow stamens all round it. When the yellow stamens and petals fall off, this bunch of seed-vessels grows bigger and bigger, until it looks like a small green raspberry.

Outside the yellow petals are five pale-green sepals. These remain close behind the yellow flower and do not fold back against the stalk as in the Bulbous Buttercup.

The flower-stalk is slightly hairy, but it is not grooved.

The green leaves are dark, and are covered with soft hairs. Each leaf is divided into three parts, which are very deeply cut up all round the edge.

You will easily recognise this Buttercup if you remember three things.

1. The flower-stalk has no groove.

2. The little green sepals do not fold back close to the stalk.

3. The root has no bulb.

4. MARSH MARIGOLD

This is one of our handsomest wildflowers. It grows abundantly in springtime by the side of ponds, or on the marshy edge of a slow-running stream. It looks like a large, thick Buttercup.

The Marsh Marigold is closely related to the Buttercup family, though it differs from the Buttercups in various ways.

The five bright yellow petals of the flowers are glossy, and have little veins running up from the bottom.

In the centre of these petals there is a big bunch of yellow stamens, with a group of green seed-vessels amongst them.

If you look at the back of an open flower you will see that there are no green sepals such as there are in the Buttercups.

The flower-stalks are thick and hollow, with ridges along the sides. They snap off easily when gathered, but very soon they lose their stiffness and become soft and flabby. This means they are thirsty, and if you give them plenty of water to drink they will soon be as stiff as when they were growing.

The green leaves of the Marsh Marigold are dark above, but underneath they are much lighter. They are very glossy and smooth, and each leaf is covered with a fine network of veins.

In shape they are like a heart with crinkled edges.

PLATE II: 1. WALLFLOWER. 2 WILD MUSTARD. 3. HEDGE MUSTARD.

1. WALLFLOWER

The Wallflower, as its name tells you, likes to grow on walls. In early spring you will see it on the top of old walls or high up on the broken roof of a ruined castle. How did it get there? The wind or the birds must have carried the seed.

The flowers are a rich golden yellow, and they have a delightful scent. Each flower has four beautiful petals, which are broad above with a long strap forming the lower part.

In the centre where these four petals meet, you can just see the tips of the stamens peeping out: but the seed-vessel is hidden from sight.

The four sepals are a dark purple colour, and they form a cup in which the lower or strap-shaped part of the petal is held.

Those flowers which are nearest the foot of the stem open first. You will often find eight or ten yellow flowers blooming at the same time and a bunch of dark purple buds at the end of the stem.

The stem of the Wallflower is tough and woody near the ground, but further up it is green and smooth.

The leaves are narrow pointed straps with smooth edges. They are dark green, but sometimes they have a touch of purple at the tips.

2. WILD MUSTARD

This is a plant the farmers are very sorry to see. They do not want it among the corn, but in springtime the fields are often covered with its yellow flowers.

The flowers grow in a cluster near the top of the stem. There are often four or five in full bloom at once, gathered round a bunch of green buds which rises in the centre of the cluster. While the first cluster is in flower, the stem continues to grow, and by the time these flowers fall off, another cluster appears at the end of the lengthened stem, and so on.

If you pull off one of the flower-petals you will see that the lower half is strap-shaped. But the petal is much broader at the other end, and it is round, with a tiny nick in the outer edge.

In the centre there are six stamens whose tips you can just see where the four petals meet. But the seed-vessel is hidden until the petals and sepals and stamens fall off. It then grows into a thin green pod, and you will find many of these slender pods standing out from the hairy stem.

Behind the yellow petals are four thin sepals. When the flower is fully out these lie flat open. They do not form a cup.

The leaves of the Wild Mustard are dusty green. They are each in one piece and are broadly pointed, with the edges cut like the teeth of a saw.

3. HEDGE MUSTARD

This is a very common little plant, but it is not at all attractive. You find it by the roadside and in waste places in early summer, and it always looks very dusty.

The flowers are quite small. They grow in little clusters at the end of a long spike, and there are usually four or five flowers out at the same time. These flowers have each four tiny petals of a pale yellow colour, and unless you look very closely, and pull these petals gently apart, you will not see either the stamens or the seed-vessel, which are almost hidden from sight.

The little green sepals at the back of each flower stand straight up from the stalk and form a cup. This cup has slits down the sides and it holds the flower.

The stalk is almost covered with thin, hairy, green pods pressed closely against it. These pods hold the seeds, and they look like green caterpillars creeping up each side of the stem.

The leaves of the Hedge Mustard are a dull grey-green colour and are very rough and hairy. Those nearest the ground have no stalks, they grow like a rosette, with one leaf close above another.

But the leaves further up the stem are each separate. They are very much cut up, and their edges are toothed like a saw.

PLATE III: 1. YELLOW HORNED POPPY 2. ROCK ROSE 3. OPPOSITE-LEAVED GOLDEN SAXIFRAGE

1. YELLOW HORNED POPPY

The Yellow Horned Poppy grows all summer on sandy seashores or among stones. It is a showy plant, with large, orange-yellow flowers.

Each flower has four petals which open almost flat. These petals are very soft and are daintily waved round the edges.

In the centre of the petals rises a big bunch of stamens. In the middle of these stamens stands a curious green horn. This is the seed-vessel, and it is divided at the tip into three little forks.

As soon as the yellow stamens and the petals fall off, this horn grows into a long curved pod, and in this pod are the seeds.

The Horned Poppy has two green sepals which are very rough and hairy. They cover the flower so long as it is in bud, but whenever the flower begins to expand these sepals burst open, and as soon as the yellow petals have smoothed out their crinkles in the sun these little green coverings fall off.

The leaves of this Poppy are thick and leathery, and are covered with hairs which make them look grey.

These leaves have no separate stalks, but grow close to the stem as if they were clasping it.

2. ROCK ROSE

This is a delicate little branching plant which trails in summer-time along the ground, on grassy hills, and among rocks and gravel.

The flowers grow singly on short stalks, and each flower has five bright yellow petals which lie flat open. These petals are not stiff and glossy like those of the Buttercup, but soft and easily crinkled like the Poppy petals.

If you touch very lightly the yellow stamens in the centre of the flower, they will spread out and lie down.