There is
also a blue Pimpernel. Another Pimpernel is the Bog Pimpernel; but we
shall not find it in this dry field of corn, as you may guess by the
name.
One more flower we will look at, and then it will be time to leave our
corn-field and to search elsewhere. Growing on the hedgebank at the side
of the field is a pretty lilac-blue flower on a long bare stalk. It is
the Field Scabious.
The blossoms are in shape like a round ball very much flattened--like a
round pincushion. There are no large petals here, as with the Poppy, but
a great number of small florets. Those on the outer edge of the blossom
are larger than those inside. Each floret is a tiny tube or pipe.
The leaves are on separate stalks from those which bear the flowers, and
they grow in pairs. They are divided into several pairs of lobes, with a
single lobe at the end of each leaf. Some leaves grow from that part of
the stem which is underground, and these are larger than the others, and
are sometimes of a different shape. Both the leaves and the stem are
hairy.
CHAPTER XI
ON THE CHASE
We have now seen a good many Flowers of the Farm; we have found them in
the coppice, on the garden wall, and in the fields.
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