John Keble's Parishes: A History of Hursley and Otterbourne Part 19

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 s.h.i.+ne out in Ampfield Wood.

PURPLE LOOSESTRIFE (Lythrum salicaria).--Ophelia's long purples adorn the water-courses in the Itchen mead.