Proserpina, Volume 2 - Studies Of Wayside Flowers by John Ruskin
page 57 of 120 (47%)
page 57 of 120 (47%)
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5. Montana. D. 1201. The first really creeping plant we have had to notice. It throws out roots from the recumbent stems. Otherwise like agrestis, it has leaves like ground-ivy. Called a wood species in the text of D. 6. Persica. An eastern form, but now perfectly naturalized here--D. 1982; S. 973. The flowers very large, and extremely beautiful, but only one springing from each leaf-axil. Leaves and stem like Montana; and also creeping with new-roots at intervals. 7. Triphylla, (not triphyll_os_,--see Flora Suecica, 22). Meaning trifid-leaved; but the leaf is really divided into five lobes, not three--see S. 974, and G. 10. The palmate form of the leaf seems a mere caprice, and indicates no transitional form in the plant: it may be accepted as only a momentary compliment of mimicry to the geraniums. The Siberian variety, 'multifida,' C. 1679, divides itself almost as the submerged leaves of the water-ranunculus. The triphylla itself is widely diffused, growing alike on the sandy fields of Kent, and of Troy. In D. 627 is given an extremely delicate and minute northern type, the flowers springing as in Persica, one from each leaf-axil, and at distant intervals. 8. Officinalis. D. 248, S. 294. Fr. 'Veronique officinale'; (Germ. Gebrauchlicher Ehrenpreis,) our commonest English and Welsh speedwell; richest in cluster and frankest in roadside growth, whether on bank or rock; but assuredly liking _either_ a bank _or_ a rock, and the top of a wall better than the shelter of one. Uncountable 'myriads,' I am tempted to |
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