I. Smooth Cat’s-ear (_H. glabra_). An annual plant, found chiefly in dry fields on gravelly soil, but not nearly so commonly as _radicata_. Its leaves are broader, egg-shaped, and smooth. It has several branched flower-stems. The involucre as long as the florets, the bracts few and unequal. Flowers June to September.
II. Spotted Cat’s-ear (_H. maculata_). A rare perennial, confined to chalky and limestone pastures in several counties, _i.e._, the Lizard, Cornwall; Orme’s head, North Wales; Westmoreland, Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, Essex. Leaves rough, with hairs, stalkless, egg-shaped, often spotted. Flower-stems seldom branched, usually with several small leaves and one large flower-head (sometimes several). Involucre shorter than the florets; outer row of pappus absent. Flowers July and August.
=The Field Scabious= (_Scabiosa arvensis_).
Should any reader who has not previously made a study of botany, but who has followed us thus far, be asked to name the order to which the Scabious belongs, he would almost certainly say the Compositæ. He would be wrong, but almost right. Scabious is certainly a Composite flower, though not one of the Compositæ; it is, instead, included in the order Dipsaceæ. We have already made the acquaintance of so many composite flowers that our readers may be presumed to be fairly familiar with their general structure. It will be remembered, then, that the anthers of Composites are all joined together to form a tube: in Dipsaceæ they are free. Again, the calyx in Compositæ is reduced to a series of hairs (_pappus_), whilst in Dipsaceæ there is a distinct tubular calyx invested in a separate _involucel_ (or little involucre) of tiny bracts, quite independent of the common involucre that invests the whole head of florets.
I. The Field Scabious (_S. arvensis_), is a perennial with a stout rootstock, and a hairy stem. The leaves vary considerably in different specimens, but usually those from the root are entire, of an oblong lance-shape, with toothed margins. The stem leaves are lobed, sometimes almost pinnate. The flower-heads are borne on a long stout stalk, and consist of about fifty florets, increasing in size from the centre to the outer margin, and of a pale blue or lilac colour, the central ones more inclined to red; anthers yellow. Involucral bracts broad and leaf-like, in two rows. Dry fields and downs. June to September.