The leaves of the Sea Carrot are like fine soft ferns. They are so pretty that people use them for decoration among flowers.

4. COMMON HEMLOCK

The Hemlock is a common plant which is found all summer in waste places by the roadside and in open woods. It is poisonous, and you should look at it carefully, so as to know and avoid it.

The flowers grow in cl.u.s.ters at the end of green spokes like the ribs of an umbrella, which do not droop before they are fully out.

At the back of each little cl.u.s.ter of flowers you find three tiny pointed green leaves which are all turned to one side. This is the first point by which to recognise the Common Hemlock.

The stem is covered with purple blotches, and there is only one other umbrella plant which has a spotted stem.

The Common Hemlock stem is not hairy. It is smooth, with green ridges running up it, and it is not swollen where the leaves branch from it.

This is the second point to notice.

The third point, and a very important one, is the shape of the seed-vessels. In the Wild Chervil these are little green beaks, rather long and thin, standing up in cl.u.s.ters. But in the Common Hemlock the seed-vessels are short and round; they are like two small apples stuck close together, and each has a little green swelling at the top. These seed-vessels are covered all over with rough ridges.

The leaves are fern-like, and resemble many of the other umbrella plants.

PLATE XX: 1. MEADOW SWEET. 2. WILD STRAWBERRY. 3. WOOD SORREL.

1. MEADOW SWEET

The Meadow Sweet grows abundantly all summer by the side of streams and in damp places. Many a time its delightful scent has tempted us to gather it in handfuls.

The flowers are creamy white, and are very small, with a great many yellow stamens in the centre. They grow in large cl.u.s.ters on short branching stalks, and the buds look like tiny ivory b.a.l.l.s set in small green cups. You often see two or more branched stalks which shoot high above the ma.s.s of open flowers, bearing a great many closed buds. When the flowers are withered, the five green sepals fold back against the stem.

The green leaves of the Meadow Sweet are dark and rough above, but underneath they are covered with white down. They have a central leaf-stalk, and on each side of the stalk grow a pair of big leaflets and a pair of small leaflets alternately. Sometimes two pairs of very small leaflets may come together, and at the end of the stalk you always find one big leaflet which has several points.

The stem of this plant is hard, and it has lines running from end to end. Where the flower-stalk and the leaf-stalk join this stem, you find a curious green sheath, which seems to clasp them all together, and this sheath has sharply cut edges.

2. WILD STRAWBERRY

The Wild Strawberry is common all over Britain. In early summer you find it in woods and on shady hedge-banks. This pretty plant is related to the Wild Rose. It has dainty little flowers, with five small white petals, and behind these petals is a star of ten green pointed sepals.

Five of these sepals have large points which show in between the white petals as you look down into the flowers, and the five which are smaller you can only see at the back of the flower.

The stamens grow in a ring close round the seed-vessel, and as they are joined to the sepals, they do not fall off when the white petals wither.

As the fruit ripens, the seed-vessel swells into a bright red berry, and you can see the tiny yellow seeds clinging all over this juicy berry.

The green leaves of the Wild Strawberry are beautiful. They are dark and crinkled, with soft hairs on the edges, and these edges are cut into large teeth. There are always three leaflets at the end of each stalk.

This Strawberry plant sends out long green shoots which lie close to the ground. Wherever a tuft of leaves rises from one of these shoots, a little bunch of white roots grows down into the ground, and these help to keep the plant steady.

3. WOOD SORREL

The dainty Wood Sorrel is common all over the country. It grows in damp woods and in shady places, and it blooms in spring.

The flowers grow singly at the end of slender pink stalks. They are large, and have five beautiful white petals, slightly tinged with pink.

These petals are covered all over with fine veins, and when the sun shines on the plant they open out almost flat.

If you look closely at the bundle of yellow stamens in the centre of the flower, you will find that five are long and five are short.

Behind the white petals there is a tiny green cup, which is made up of five sepals joined together. The mouth of this cup is edged with five sharp points.

The leaves of the Wood Sorrel are very pretty. Each leaf has a slender pink stalk which springs straight from the root, and every leaf is divided into three delicate leaflets, which are pale green above, and a delicate pale pink below. These leaflets are heart-shaped, and before they have fully opened, they droop close to the stem.

If you taste one of the Wood Sorrel leaves, you will find it is bitter but not unpleasant.

PLATE XXI: 1. GOOSEGRa.s.s OR CLEAVERS 2. WOODRUFF 3. YARROW OR MILLFOIL

1. GOOSEGRa.s.s OR CLEAVERS

This clinging plant is common everywhere. It grows abundantly on every hedge-bank, and it is in bloom all summer and autumn.

The flowers are so small that you scarcely notice them. Each flower has four tiny white petals, and four yellow-headed stamens. Behind the flower there is a ring of narrow pointed pale green leaves.

When the white petals fall off, you see two pale olive or dull purple seeds, shaped like little b.a.l.l.s. These b.a.l.l.s always grow in pairs, and they are covered with sharp, p.r.i.c.kly hooks, which cling to everything they touch. You find them clinging to your clothes, and they get caught in the hair of a dog's back, and you see them sticking to the wool of the sheep who nibble at the hedge-banks.

The square stem of the Goosegra.s.s is rather weak. It, too, has hooks on its four sides, and these hooks catch hold of stronger plants in the hedge-bank, and so help the Goosegra.s.s to rise well above the ground.

The leaves are long and narrow, and they have little hooks along the edge. They grow in a circle of eight round the square stem, with a short s.p.a.ce between each circle. You will notice that the stalks which bear the tiny white flowers spring from the same part of the main stem as the leaf circles.

2. WOODRUFF

The sweet-smelling Woodruff is common all over the country, and when dried its perfume is like new-mown hay. It grows in woods and on shady hedge-banks, and it flowers in early summer.

The flowers are small and white, with four petals which stand round the mouth of a tiny tube. Inside this tube are four yellow-headed stamens, and there is a small green sepal-cup in which the white tube stands. The flowers grow in cl.u.s.ters at the end of the main stem. They do not rise from each circle of leaves as in the Goosegra.s.s. The tiny seeds are black, and each seed is thickly covered with soft bristles, which are hooked at the end.

The ridged stem of the Woodruff is often a dull red colour. This stem is very feeble, so the Woodruff is usually found lying in a tangle along the ground. It has not so many hooks as the Goosegra.s.s with which to catch hold of other plants, and so raise itself.

The leaves grow about an inch apart on the stem, in beautiful circles.

In each circle there are eight narrow leaves which are pointed at the end. The circles nearest the foot of the stem lie flat open like a rosette, but those that are further up are usually half closed, with all their points standing upwards.

3. YARROW OR MILLFOIL

The Yarrow or Millfoil is a very common plant all over Britain. It grows on waste ground and in the corners of fields, and it is in flower in late summer and autumn.

It is one of the daisy plants, and you must look at it carefully. The flowers grow in cl.u.s.ters, three or four together, at the end of stalks which branch from the main stem. They are white, and look like tiny daisies. You must pick one of them gently to pieces, and then you will find that each daisy is really made up of a great many small flowers crowded together on a disc. The outer flowers consist of a white tube, with one long white strap, and there is a row of these white straps standing out like a frill round the yellow centre. Inside this white border there are a great many tiny yellow tube flowers, with five points at the mouth of each tube, but these you will not see without a microscope.

Outside this ma.s.s of flowers grows a ring of small green leaves, which are closely packed together and are very woolly.