244
THE ESSEX NATURALIST.
or with runners which root at the. nodes and send up short shoots,
or are rosette-bearers.1 I will refer to the thirty lawn plants
individually and in the order and nomenclature given in Hooker's
Students Flora, 2nd edition.
Creeping Buttercup (Ranunculus repens L.). A small form
spreading by surface runners which root at the nodes and
which forms rather extensive patches among grass ; it is not
a very desirable species, but the short-stalked flowers give
pleasure.
Mouse-eared Chickweed (Cerastium triviale Link.). Forms low
close-growing patches, the stems bearing many decumbent
leafy shoots.
Pearlwort (Sagina procumbens L.). Abundant in parts, and
mosslike in its dense low growth ; flowering freely.
Dutch Clover (Trifolium repens L.). A small form occurs on our
dry soil where it is a valuable plant, deeply rooting and
surviving the driest seasons. On one small area the flowers
are always rosy instead of white ; this is not very unusual,
but is interesting as showing an approach to var. rubescens
Ser. (var. Townsendii Bab.) which has crimson or purplish-
red flowers, and occurs in the Scilly Isles.
Small Yellow Clover (T. minus Smith). Abundant in patches
and valuable as a deep rooter.
Bird's-foot Trefoil (Lotus corniculatus L.). A few patches.
Heath Bedstraw (Galium saxatile L.). Prostrate and closely
tufted with a soft growth ; flowering freely in late summer.
Knap-weed (Centaurea nigra L.). Inconspicuous in its low
branching habit until it sends up the tough scapes with
purple-red flower heads in late summer.
Daisy (Bellis perennis L.). Not too abundant.
Yarrow or Milfoil (Achillea Millefolium L.). Valuable as a
turf plant with its numerous procumbent rooting branches
thickly set with fern-like leaves, but the stout flowering
stems have to be shorn off.
True Camomile (Anthemis nobilis L.). Abundant and forming
many patches on one part of the lawn ; although closely
resembling Milfoil, when not in flower, it may be distin-
guished by the yellower green colour of its very fragrant
foliage. True Camomile used to grow amongst the turf at
1 I should mention that weeding to produce an entirely even crop of grass is not encouraged.