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

Chapter 24

GROUND IVY (N. Glechoma).--Everywhere in woods.

PLANTAIN TRIBE

KNOCKHEADS (Plantago major).

LESSER PLANTAIN (P. media).

(P. lanceolata).

STAGSHORN (P. Coronopus).--Otterbourne Hill.

GOOD KING HENRY (Chenopodium Bonus-Henricus).

GOOSEFOOT (C. alb.u.m).

(C. urbic.u.m).

DOCK (Rumex sanguineus).

(R. obtusfolius).

(R. pratensis).

WATER DOCK (R. Hydrolapathum).--Fit table-cloth for the b.u.t.terfly"s table.

SORREL (R. Acetosa).

LESSER SORREL (R. Acetosella).--Elegant and slender, making red clouds all over Cranbury.

BUCKWHEAT (Polygonum f.a.gopyrum).--For several seasons in a meadow by Brooklyn. Now vanished.

KNOTGRa.s.s (P. Convolvulus).

BLACK BINDWEED (P. aviculare).

WATER PEPPER (P. Hydropiper).

PERSICARIA (P. Persicaria).

(P. dumetorum).--Ampfield.

b.a.s.t.a.r.d TOADFLAX (Thesium linophyllum).--Crab Wood.

SUN SPURGE (Euphorbia Helioscopia).--Corn-fields.

WOOD S. (E. amygdaloides).--Cranbury and Otterbourne Park.

SMALL S. (E. Peplus).

(E. exigua).

DOG"S MERCURY (Mercurialis perennis).--First to clothe the banks with fresh vernal green.

NETTLE (Urtica dioica).

SMALL NETTLE (U. nana).

HOD (Humulus Lupulus).--If not native, it has taken well to the hedges, and clothes them with graceful wreaths.

ELM (Ulmus campestris)--Largest of spreading trees.

OAK (Quercus Robur).--Acorns differ on many trees. Five varieties of Cynips produce different oak-apples. Oak is still worn on the 29th of May, and it is called Shik-shak Day. Why?

BEECH (f.a.gus sylvatica).--Beautiful at Ampfield and South Lynch, and permitting only a select few plants to grow under its shade.

HAZEL (Corylus Avellana).

ALDER (Alnus glutinosa).

BIRCH (Betula alba).--Silver-leaved and white-barked, making fairy groves.

ASPEN (Populus tremula).--Aps, the people call it. The catkins are like caterpillars.

WILLOW or WITHY (Salix Caprea).--Our yellow goslings in spring, as they shoot from their silver rabbit-tail catkins, and our palms on Palm Sunday, though it is unlucky to bring one home earlier.

(S. triandra).--Near the old church, Otterbourne.

(S. rubra).

ROUND-LEAVED W. (S. aurita).

SALLOW W. (S. cinerea).

WHITE W. (S. alba).

(S. fragilis).

DWARF W. (S. repens).--Bogs towards Baddesley.

OSIER W. (S. viminalis).--Ampfield.

JUNIPER (Juniperus communis).--Above Standon on Down.

YEW (Taxus baccata).--Scattered in hedges, or singly all over the chalk district.

REEDMACE (Typha latifolia).--Itchen. n.o.ble plant, commonly, but incorrectly, called bulrush.

BUR-REED (Sparganium ramosum).--With fertile flowers like p.r.i.c.kly b.a.l.l.s.

LORDS-AND-LADIES or CUCKOO-PINT (Arum maculatum).--Showing their heads under every hedge. The lords have a red column, the ladies a white.

DUCKWEED (Lemna trisulca).

GREAT WATER PLANTAIN (Alisma Plantago).--Stately ornament of bogs.

THE LILY TRIBE