John Keble's Parishes: A History of Hursley and Otterbourne Part 18

RED CAMPION (Lychnis diurna).--Robins, as children call it, with the bright pink in every hedge and the undergrowth in every copse.

WHITE C. (L. vespertina).--The white flowers make a feature in fallow fields.

RAGGED ROBIN (L. Flos-cuculi).--The curiously slashed and divided pink flowers flourish in the water-meadows by the Itchen.

CORN c.o.c.kLE (Agrostemma githago).--The beautiful purple blossoms, set in long graceful calyxes, adorn the paths through wheat and barley fields everywhere.

LESSER St.i.tCHWORT (Maenchia erecta). -

CHICKWEED - (Cerastiurn vulgatum) Early plant. Uninteresting (C. arvense) tiny white flowers.

STARWORT (Stellaria Holostea).--The bright st.i.tches of white embroidery on our banks.

CHICKWEED (S. media.)--The chickweed dear to bird-keepers.

(S graminea).--Cobweb-like, almost invisible stems, and blossom with a fairy brightness over the heaths.

(S. uliginosa).--The same adapted to marshes--Cuckoo Bushes, Helmsley.

SANDWORT (Arenaria Rubra).--The little pink flowers crop up through the gravel paths.

CORN SPURREY (Spergula arvensis).--Very long-spurred, with white small blossoms.

(Alsine tenuifolia).--Roman road between Hursley and Sparsholt.

KNAWEL (Scleranthus annuus).--Hursley.

ST. JONN'S-WORT TRIBE

TUTSAN (Hyperic.u.m Androsaemum).--Handsome flower, and seeds--Cranbury and Allbrook.

ST. JOHN'S-WORT (H. perforatum).

(H. dubium).

(H. hirsutum).--All frequent in the hedges.

(H. humifusum).

(H. pulchrum).

(H. Elodes).--Bogs near Cuckoo Bushes.

(H. quadrangulum).

MALLOW (Malva sylvestris).--Everywhere by roadsides, used to be esteemed by old women as a healing "yarb."

MUSK M. (M. moschata).--A beautiful pink or white flower, grows all over the park at Cranbury.

DWARF M. (M. rotundifolia).--Flower white, with purple streaks, almost stemless, grows under a wall in Otterbourne Street.

SMALL-LEAVED LIME (Tilia parvifolia).--Hursley Park; avenue at Brambridge, where four rows form three magnificent aisles.

CRANESBILL TRIBE

DOVE'S-FOOT CRANE'S-BILL (Geranium Columbinum).--Roadsides.

SHINING C. (G. lucidum).--Heap of stones, Hursley.

(G. dissectum).--Everywhere.

(G. Molle).--Otterbourne

HERB ROBERT C. (G. Robertianum).--Very common, and the crimson leaves a great winter ornament.

b.l.o.o.d.y C. (G. phaeum).--Ladwell Hill, where it may be a remnant of a cottage garden.

STORK'S-BILL (Erodium moschatum).--Otterbourne Hill.

(E. cicutarium).--Farley Mount.

WOOD-SORREL (Oxalis Acetosella).--This exquisite plant with delicate flower and trefoil leaves grows on many mossy banks, especially on one on the Ampfield Road.

HOLLY (Ilex Aquifolium).--The glory of the peaty woods. The people distinguish the berried shrubs as holly, i.e. holy, those without berries being holm.

SPINDLE-TREE (Euonymus europaeus).--Also called skewer wood. "A tree that grows on purpose," as an old woman said of the material of her pegs. The charming berries with their crimson hearts are plentiful in King's Lane.

BUCKTHORN (Rhamnus Frangula).--Otterbourne Hill.

(R. catharticus) .--Hursley.

SYCAMORE (Acer Pseudo-plata.n.u.s).--Road by Oakwood.

MAPLE (A. campestre).--Painting the hedges in autumn with its yellow leaves.

LEGUMINOSE

FURZE (Ulex europaeus).--Brilliant on all the commons on gravel or peat.

DWARF FURZE (U. na.n.u.s)--Rather less frequent.

BROOM (Genista scoparia).--Exquisite golden spires on the peat.

NEEDLE BROOM (G. anglica).--Cuckoo Bushes.

DYER'S GREENWEED (G. tinctoria).--In a ditch in a meadow on the Ampfield Road.

REST HARROW (Ononis arvensis).--Pretty pink and white blossoms like miniature lady-peas on a troublesome weed.

KIDNEY VETCH (Anthyllis Vulneraria) .--Borders of down.

BLACK MEd.i.c.k (Medicago lupulina).--Chalk-pit.

(M. denticulata) .--Ampfield.