The flowers are bright yellow, and like the Daisy and Dandelion, which belong to the same family, they are made up of a great many tiny tubes grouped close together. Those tubes round the edge have a long, narrow, yellow strap at the outside.

After the flowers are withered, the seeds remain at the end of the stalk, and each seed sends out a tuft of beautiful, straight, white down which forms a delicate ball as in the Dandelion. But the Coltsfoot down-ball is neither so starry nor so beautiful as that of the Dandelion.

The leaves of the Coltsfoot are entirely covered with cotton wool when they are small; as they grow bigger, they become glossy grey-green above, and are white only underneath.

Each leaf is nearly round, with beautiful pointed scollops at the edge, and it has a long stalk.

2. COMMON GROUNDSEL

This plant is one of the very commonest we have. It is in flower all the year round, and grows everywhere. We have all gathered it to give to the canaries, who love to pick the tiny seeds.

The Groundsel flowers grow in small heads of two or three together at the end of short stalks which branch at intervals from top to bottom of the stem. These stalks are not very strong, and as the flower-heads are heavy, they make the stalks bend over.

This is another plant whose flowers are composed of a great many small tubes tightly packed together. These tubes are yellow, and some have a broad, short strap at the mouth of the tube, and in some the mouth is evenly nicked all round. They grow in a tiny green cup, which is made up of narrow strap-shaped green leaves tightly pressed together, and you can only see the tips of the yellow flowers at the mouth of this cup.

After the flowers are withered, a bunch of white down is seen coming out of the mouth of the green cup.

The stem of the Groundsel is soft and juicy, and it has a good many hairs upon it.

The leaves are glossy dark green, and are shaped like a feather, with large, regular divisions up the sides. Each division is finely waved all round the edges.

3. COMMON RAGWORT

The Ragwort is a very common plant. It grows everywhere, and is in flower in late summer and autumn.

It is a stout and rather coa.r.s.e plant, with bunches of small yellow daisies growing on short forks which branch from the top of the main stem.

These daisies are rather poor looking, and they are made up of a great many little flowers crowded together inside a green cup, and a few of the flowers round the edge of the cup have yellow straps which are thin and straggling.

The yellow tube flowers in the centre are evenly nicked all round the mouth, and they have yellow stamens whose heads you can see forming a circle round the yellow tip of the seed-vessel with its two curled points.

The stems of the Ragwort are sometimes white and woolly, and they are covered all over with deep ridges.

The leaves are dark green and shiny. They are long and feather-shaped, and are deeply cut up almost to the centre rib, forming narrow green horns on each side of it.

PLATE X: 1. CROSSWORT. 2. BITING STONECROP.

3. YELLOW BEDSTRAW. 4. MUGWORT.

1. CROSSWORT

The Crosswort is common in England and in the South of Scotland, but it does not grow far North. It is in flower all spring and summer, and you find it abundantly in woods and thickets. This is rather a soft, weak plant, which you will easily recognise by the curious way the leaves are placed on the stem.

These leaves are small, and pointed, and they grow in form like a cross.

The crosses appear about an inch apart all the way up the stem, and their leaves are soft and thin, and are covered all over with fine hairs.

The flowers grow in cl.u.s.ters on very short stalks close to the stem where the four leaves meet. They are yellow and very tiny. Each flower has four petals, and these petals are joined together and show four points standing out round the edge. You will notice four tiny stamens, one of which lies flat between each of the petals, and there are also two narrow green leaves springing from among the small groups of flowers, as well as the four which form a cross.

The stem of the Crosswort is four-sided, and, like the leaves, it is covered with fine hairs.

2. BITING STONECROP

The Biting Stonecrop is common all over Britain. It is abundant in summer on rocks and in sandy places by the seaside, and you find it growing inland too.

The Stonecrop grows in large tufts close to the ground. It is a small plant with a great many little branches, and these branches are of two kinds. Some are thickly covered with fat, juicy leaves. These leaves are very tiny, and they are laid thickly all round the stem in the same way as the scales are laid on a fir-cone. Those leaves nearest the end of the branch are often tinged with red.

On the other branches of the Stonecrop the fat green leaves are not nearly so closely packed together, and near the end of each branch grow two or more flowers.

These flowers are golden yellow, and they have five pointed petals which resemble the rays of a star, and there are ten yellow stamens lying flat out, on and between these petals.

In the centre of the flower you see five fat little seed-vessels standing up. After the yellow petals have all fallen off, these seed-vessels lie down and show five points like a small green star.

3. YELLOW BEDSTRAW

The Yellow Bedstraw is to be found all over the country. It grows in pastures, and on the hedge-banks, and it is in flower all summer and autumn.

There is a white bedstraw as well as a yellow, and you will often find great ma.s.ses of both growing like a carpet on the gra.s.sy hedge-banks.

The stems of the Yellow Bedstraw are not strong, although they grow to a great length, and the plant is usually lying in a tangled ma.s.s near the ground.

The flowers are very tiny. They grow in dense cl.u.s.ters. Each cl.u.s.ter has a short stalk which branches opposite another stalk on the main stem.

The flowers have four petals and four stamens, and these stamens have almost no stalks. They look just like dots lying on the yellow petals.

The leaves of the Yellow Bedstraw are very tiny. They resemble small green straps, and they grow in circles, with eight to ten leaves in a circle round the main stem, close to where the flower cl.u.s.ters grow. You also find a circle of leaves growing on the short stalks which hold the cl.u.s.ters of flowers. These tiny leaves are hairy underneath.

4. MUGWORT

The Mugwort, or Wormwood as it is often called, is common all over the country. It grows in waste places and by the borders of the fields, and it blooms in autumn.

You will easily recognise this plant by its greeny-white woolly flowers, with their yellow or red centres. These flowers grow in short cl.u.s.ters, and each little woolly head is made up of a number of separate flowers shaped like tubes. These yellow or red tubes are grouped together as in the Daisy.

The stem of the Mugwort is pale green, and has red ridges running from end to end. The leaves are very handsome. They are large and broad and feather-shaped, with big leaflets in pairs opposite each other on the stem, and there is always a single long leaflet at the end. Each of these leaflets is deeply cut round the edges into large teeth.

The back of the Mugwort leaves is covered with silvery white down, and often the green edges are curled back on to this white underside.

PLATE XI: 1. WILD MIGNONETTE 2. COMMON DANDELION 3. TANSY

1. WILD MIGNONETTE

The Wild Mignonette does not grow close to the ground like the sweet-scented Mignonette we have in our gardens. It is a tall, spiked plant, which you find in summer-time on waste ground and among stone heaps, and it is not at all noticeable.

The flowers grow on short, thin stalks. Those flowers at the bottom open first, and the little buds are always at the top of the tall spike.

These flowers are little yellow b.a.l.l.s, which seem to be entirely made up of stamens. But if you gently pick one of these yellow b.a.l.l.s to pieces, you will find that there are six greenish-yellow petals.