These flowers have five glossy white petals, and each petal has a yellow patch at the foot. Behind these beautiful white petals there are five green sepals which fold back close round the flower-stalk.

Within the flower there are stamens with thick yellow heads, growing in a circle round a small green knot which holds the seed-vessels.

This Water Crowfoot has two kinds of leaves. Some grow underneath the water, and these leaves are divided into fine hairs, which are each forked at the end. The water runs very easily through these hairs.

But those leaves which are above the water are solid. They are dark green and glossy, and are nearly round. Each leaf is divided into three parts, and sometimes the edges are cut up, and often they are quite smooth.

You may sometimes find a leaf with one-half made up of hairy threads while the other half is solid.

PLATE XVI: 1. SHEPHERD'S PURSE 2. COMMON SCURVY GRa.s.s 3. HAIRY ROCK CRESS

1. SHEPHERD'S PURSE

The Shepherd's Purse is a very common plant, and it is not at all attractive. It is found all summer by the roadside and in waste places.

The flowers grow close together on short stalks near the top of a spike.

They are very small, with tiny white petals, and those flowers which grow lowest on the spike always come out first. The buds are in a cl.u.s.ter at the very tip of the spike.

After the flower is withered, the seed-vessel, which still clings to the end of the short stalk, begins to swell. It looks like a small green heart, with a hard knot in the centre. You will easily recognise the Shepherd's Purse by these seed-vessels, which are far more noticeable than the tiny white flowers.

This plant has two kinds of leaves. Those that grow close to the ground have short stalks, and they spring from the root in the form of a rosette. Each leaf is long and narrow, and the edges are deeply cut up, nearly to the centre vein of the leaf.

But the Shepherd's Purse has other leaves which grow further up the flower-stem. These are shaped like the head of an arrow, and at the bottom they clasp the stem closely.

Both kinds of leaves are usually hairy all over, and so are the stalks, but sometimes you find plants where they are quite smooth.

2. COMMON SCURVY GRa.s.s

The Common Scurvy Gra.s.s likes to grow on muddy sh.o.r.es and on rocks by the seaside, where you will find its ma.s.ses of white flowers all summer.

The flowers grow close together in a cl.u.s.ter on short stalks. Each flower has four white petals, which are sometimes tinged with purple.

The four tiny sepals are tinged with purple too. And the buds which are crowded together at the end of the cl.u.s.ter are nearly all purple.

After the flowers are withered, the seed-vessels still cling to the end of the flower-stalks. In this plant the seed-vessels are round, like small berries, and they are greenish-brown in colour. You usually find eight or ten of these berries halfway up the stem; then there will be several white flowers still in full bloom, and at the top of the stem comes a cl.u.s.ter of purple buds.

The Common Scurvy Gra.s.s has two kinds of leaves. Those that spring directly from the root have long stalks. They are broad, with smooth edges, which are slightly waved, and they are thick and fleshy. The second kind of leaves has no stalks; they grow clasping the stem closely, and they are shaped like arrow-heads.

The stem of the plant is hollow, and four-sided.

3. HAIRY ROCK CRESS

This dusty-looking plant grows on dry places such as rocks, or on the top of old walls or on hedge-banks.

The flowers of the Hairy Rock Cress are white and very tiny. They have four petals, which are not at all attractive, and they grow on each side of a tall spike. After the flowers are withered, the seed-vessel, which is in the middle of each flower, grows into a long thin pod like a needle. The green needle remains at the end of the flower-stalk, and you will see ever so many of these slender green pods standing straight up round the flower-spike.

You will easily recognise this plant by these green needle pods.

The leaves of the Hairy Rock Cress are very rough, and have coa.r.s.e hairs all over them. Some are long and narrow, and cling closely to the stem.

Others are broader, and they have short stalks and wavy edges. Those leaves which have stalks usually grow close to the ground at the foot of the main stem.

PLATE XVII: 1. COMMON CHICKWEED 2. MOUSE-EARED CHICKWEED 3. GREATER St.i.tCHWORT

1. COMMON CHICKWEED

The Common Chickweed is found all over the country. It grows in fields, in waste ground, and on hedge-banks, and it is in flower from spring till autumn.

The Chickweed is a feeble, straggling plant, and it grows in an untidy ma.s.s near the ground. It is one of those plants that look very different in different places. It does not thrive well in dry, stony ground, where it looks small and dried up. But in untidy gardens where there is good soil you will find it in large bunches, with many white flowers and good-sized leaves. The canary birds like it best when there are many white flowers and seeds.

The white flowers are small, with tiny strap-shaped petals, and there are five small, green sepals with sharp points which show like the rays of a green star behind these tiny white petals.

Each flower grows at the end of a stalk which rises between the leaf and the main stem. The Chickweed leaves are oval, with smooth edges, and they grow in pairs up the stem. If you look closely at this stem you will see a line of fine hairs running down one side, and if you break this stem in two you will find that there is a green thread inside, which is more difficult to break than its soft green covering.

2. MOUSE-EARED CHICKWEED

The Mouse-eared Chickweed is very common all over the country. It grows in dry places, on old walls or on sandy ground, and it is in flower all summer.

It is a much smaller plant than the Common Chickweed. The white flowers are very tiny, and most of them grow in cl.u.s.ters at the end of short stalks which branch from the main stem. But you will also find a single flower appearing between the green leaves which grow in pairs at intervals up the main stem.

These leaves are very hairy. Sometimes they are sticky, and the whole plant is usually covered with dust, and is not at all attractive.

The Mouse-eared Chickweed is not such a feeble, straggling plant as the Common Chickweed. Its stems are stronger, and they rise straight from the ground without requiring support.

3. GREATER St.i.tCHWORT

You will find the Greater St.i.tchwort in many places. It grows in gra.s.sy meadows, in woods and in thickets, and also on rocks among the mountains; and it blooms in spring or early summer.

The St.i.tchwort is a tall, slender plant, and the flowers are large and very pretty. They grow singly at the end of short stalks, which usually branch in pairs again and again from the main stem, oftenest where two leaves join. These flowers have five snowy white petals, each of which has a deep notch cut in the outer edge, and there are delicate green veins all over the petals. Within the flower there are ten yellow-headed stamens. Some of these stamens are long, and some are quite short; and in the middle there is a fat green seed-vessel.

Behind these beautiful white petals grow five narrow pointed sepals, which have very little colour. These sepals are like tiny scales, slightly tinged with green, and they lie flat behind the white flower.

The stem of the Greater St.i.tchwort is not very strong, and it has always a line of hard, short bristles, running up each side. The leaves are like blades of gra.s.s, narrow and pointed, but they are harder than gra.s.s, and the edges curl backwards. On these edges are hard bristles, the same as those on the stems.

PLATE XVIII: 1. GOUTWEED. 2. WILD ANGELICA 3. YELLOW BEDSTRAW. 4. HEMLOCK WATER DROPWORT.

1. GOUTWEED

This plant grows in all parts of Britain. You find it among old ruins, and by the roadside on damp hedge-banks. It blooms in summer.

The flowers are white and very small. They grow in cl.u.s.ters at the end of long green spokes, like the ribs of an umbrella, and you will notice that there are no little green pointed leaves either at the back of the separate flower cl.u.s.ters, or at the top of the stem where all the green spokes join.

The seed-vessels are almond-shaped, with little hollows running from top to bottom, and they have two long green hairs hanging out at the top.