WASTES AND WAYSIDES IN SUMMER 



173 



or pointing more or less forward. They are arranged in whorls, 

 usually of eight, but sometimes six. The little white flowers, 

 which bloom during July and August, are arranged in panicles 

 with spreading branches, the lower of which are either horizontal 

 or bent downward. The fruit is smooth. 



The Goose Grass is so named because it is eaten by geese ; 

 and it is also know^n as the Cleavers because its fruits, which are 

 covered with hooked 

 bristles, cling tenaciously 

 to our clothing and to 

 the covering of animals. 

 Its straggling stem 

 often reaches a length of 

 four or five feet, and 

 forms tangled masses 

 with the stems and 

 leaves of other hedge- 

 row plants. The leaves 

 are narrow and keeled ; 

 and the small, white 

 flowers are arranged in 

 small axillary clusters of 

 two or three. The whole 

 plant is rough with 

 hooked bristles. 



We conclude this 

 chapter with a descrip- 

 tion of the common 

 Teasel {Dipsacus sylves- 

 tris) of the order 



Dipsacere. This is really a very graceful plant, rarely less than three 

 or four feet high, and sometimes reaching six feet or more. Its stem 

 is very stout and prickly; and its large bright green leaves are simple, 

 sessile, and arranged in opposite pairs. They are prickly beneath, 

 and the two leaves of each pair are united at their bases in such a 

 manner that they form hollows in which the rain-water collects. 

 The reservoirs so formed often contain drow^ned insects which have 

 flown or fallen into the water, or which have been washed down 

 the stem by the rain. Their dead bodies decompose, giving rise 

 to nitrogenous and other products of decay which generally discolour 

 the water. These products are valuable as plant food, and it has 



THE TEASEL. 



