MELILOT (Melilotus officinalis).--Kiln Lane, Otterbourne.
BIRDSFOOT (Ornithopus perpusillus).--Otterbourne Hill.
(Trigonella ornithopodioides).--Otterbourne.
TREFOIL ( Trifulium subterraneum).
(T. pratense).
DUTCH CLOVER (T. repens).
HOPDOWN (T. proc.u.mbens).
(T. minus).
(T. hybridum).
STRAWBERRY TREFOIL (T. fragiferum).--Once on ca.n.a.l bank.
MILK VETCH (Hippocrepis comosa).--Hursley.
BIRD"S-FOOT TREFOIL (Lotus corniculatus).--This golden or ruddy part of the embroidery of the down is known to children as Ladies"
Slippers or Ladies" Fingers.
(L. major).--A taller variety.
TARE (Ervum hirsutum).--Tiny grey flowers.
(E. tetraspermum).
PURPLE VETCH (Vicia Cracca).--Throwing royal purple garlands over every hedge in the lanes.
COMMON V. (V. sativa).--Very common, varying from crimson to dark red.
WOOD V. (V. sepium).--A brilliant little red flower.
GRa.s.s VETCHLING (Lathyrus Nissolia).--Found once in a bank near Chandler"s Ford; once at Silkstede.
WOOD V. (L. sylvestris).--Doubtful, but something like it grows in Sparrow Grove near the waterworks.
YELLOW V. (L. pratensis).--Common, mixed with gra.s.s.
HEATH PEA (Orobus tuberosus).--On the peat soil.
ROSE TRIBE
BLACKTHORN (Prunus spinosa).--It is believed that no hurt is so hard of healing as from a blackthorn. Also blackthorn winter is supposed to bring fresh cold in spring, when the bushes almost look as if clothed by h.o.a.r-frost.
WILD CHERRY (P. Avium).--The fine, tall, shapely trees put on their bridal show in the woods of Cranbury and Ampfield.
BIRD-CHERRY (P. Padus).--Not very common. There is one in the grounds at Otterbourne House, but it is not certainly wild.
MEADOW-SWEET (Spiraea Ulmaria).--Raising its creamy cymes of blossoms in every ditch where there is a little moisture.
DROPWORT (S. Filipendula).--On the borders of Pitt Down and Crab Wood.
AGRIMONY (Agrimonia Eupatoria).--Long yellow spikes in all dry hedges.
BURNET (Sanguisorba officinalis).--Chalk-pit by Sparrow Grove, also Dane Lane, where the green b.a.l.l.s with tiny red blossoms may be found, and sometimes the green and crimson burnet moth.
BARREN STRAWBERRY (Potentilla Fragariastrum).--How often has "mustn"t pick the strawberry blossom" been quoted to this delusive little white cinquefoil in early spring, when it peeps out among leaves very like strawberry-leaves in the hedge.
TORMENTIL (P. Tormentilla).--This is now ranged among the cinquefoils, though it has only four petals, owing perhaps to the very dry barren heathy soil it brightens with its stars.
CINQUEFOIL (P. repens).--A smiling pentagon star by the wayside.
SILVER-WEED or GOOSE-GRa.s.s (P. anserina).--Why dedicated to geese, even in Latin, it is hard to say. Silver-weed is more appropriate to the silver-grey leaves that border road-sides, sometimes with golden flowers.
MARSH CINQUEFOIL (Comarum pal.u.s.tre).--A prize in Baddesley bog, unless drains have banished its pure flower.
WOOD STRAWBERRY (Fragaria vesca).--Profuse in Cranbury and on banks of railway at Sparrow Grove.
WILD RASPBERRY (Rubus Idaeus).--Cranbury, near the road.
WILD BLACKBERRY (R. fruticosus).--Brambles, of course, everywhere, but it is impossible to pa.s.s them without a tribute to their beauty, in flower, in fruit, and, above all, in autumn foliage.
DEWBERRY (R. caesius).--What is probably dewberry grows by the roadway through Mallibar Copse.
(R. leucostratus).--Roman Road and Cranbury Common.
HERB BENNET (Geum urbanum).--Insignificant yellow flower.
WATER AVENS (G. rivale).--Quaint little ruddy half-expanded blossoms, called by the villagers Granny"s Night-caps.
(G. intermedium).--Really intermediate--probably hybrid. Found once in a copse between Boyatt Lane and the Southampton Road.
LADY"S MANTLE (Alchemilla arvensis).--Crabwood.
SWEET-BRIAR (Rosa rubiginosa).--Copse by pond, Cranbury.
DOG-ROSE (R. canina).--With handsomer hips.
WHITE DOG-ROSE (R. arvensis).
HAWTHORN (Crataegus monogyna).--Who does not love when the blossoms cover them like snow-drift? Well are they called May.
MOUNTAIN ASH (Pyrus Aucuparia).--This rowan-tree of Scotland has no weird horrors here, but it is the ornament of the woods, with white cymes, red berries, and feathery leaves.
CRAB-TREE (P. Malus).--Romsey Road, where the pinky blossoms show opposite Cranbury Gate.
WHITEBEAM (P. Aria).--Grey or white leaves shine out in Ampfield Wood.
PURPLE LOOSESTRIFE (Lythrum salicaria).--Ophelia"s long purples adorn the water-courses in the Itchen mead.