EBCEEATIVE SCIENCE. 



123 



WAYSIDE WEEDS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. 



IN SIX HANDFULS. — HANDFUL II. 



" The tribes of early flow'rets, 



Like holy thoughts enshrined, 

 An altar to the unseen God, 

 They raise in every mind. 

 The hills and everlasting skies 

 In grandeur have their birth, 

 But the early flow'rets only 

 His image bring to earth." 



Banks. 



stamens : d, 



What have we got P Bright yeUow blossoms 

 of broom (Eig. 23), the bonny golden broom, 

 which every one 

 knows, or ought to 

 know ; and equally 

 bright and golden 

 are those of the 

 gorse or furze, or, 

 as it is called in 

 Scotland, the whin, 

 which will make 

 themselves seen on 

 every common and 

 roadside. Take 

 these, and add to 

 them the first of the 

 pea or vetch tribe 

 (Fig. 24) you meet with, throwing in a few 

 heads of clover to make up a family party, of 

 which the members, you quickly discover, all 

 carry the same family face. Go on with your 

 collecting; gather hawthorn in its season, 

 and a crab- apple blossom or two ; wild 

 roses (Figs. 25, 26, 27) and meadow-sweet 

 in theirs; with the flowers of the straw- 

 berry (Fig. 28) and bramble (Fig. 29). You 

 have in your hand another family as distinct 

 as the first. Go and secure some of those 

 plants which you have been in the habit of 

 calling hemlock, though ten to one if they 

 are real hemlock; but let that pass 9,t 

 present — we want the kind of plant for 

 our present purpose (Fig. 30), and, if 



Fig. 23. — Blossom of Com- 

 mon Broom, aa, petals ; 

 6, calyx ; 

 pistil. 



you have no other chance, go into the 

 kitchen-garden, and pluck a flowering sprig 

 of celery, parsley, or carrot, or fennel, calling 

 in, if necessary, the aid of the gardener or 

 cook. You have now got a type of family 

 No. 3. Lastly, the white meadow saxifrage 

 and the willow herbs are so common that 

 many of our readers may be able to add them 

 to the company. 



FiGf. 24.— Blossoms of Common Yellow Vetchling. 

 a a, petals ; bb, calyx ; c c, pedicels ; d, peduncle. The 

 flowers are papilionaceous, or butterfly-like. 



The vetch tribes, represented by the 

 broom, gorse, vetch, and clover (Figs. 28, 

 29), are very distinct from the rose family, 

 to which the hawthorn, apple, strawberry 

 (Fig. 28), and rose itself (Fig. 25) belong. 

 Equally diverse are our hemlock friends 

 (Fig. 30), and not less so the saxifrage and 



