126) THE STORY ,OF PLANT LIFE 
flowers render it conspicuous. The stamens and 
pistil mature together as in Moschatel, and self- 
pollination occurs more frequently than cross-pollina- 
tion. Flies and beetles are the chief insects that 
frequent the Elder. 
As the fruit is edible the seeds are principally 
dispersed by the agency of birds as in the case of most 
fruit-trees. 
Aete, Alderne, Arntree, Bawtree, Boon Tree, Boor 
Tree, Bootry, Bore, Borral, Bothery Tree, Bull Tree, 
Dog Tree are only a few of the local names by which 
Elder is known. 
THE TEASEL GROUP. 
The teasel habit is a well-marked one, the stem * 
being erect, with the opposite, half-erect, connate 
leaves, which are so interesting a feature of this plant, 
giving it a distinctive character. 
Teasels generally grow in close association in 
clumps on the banks of a hedge or roadside, 
frequently by streams. As they are regarded by 
farmers as a nuisance they are thus driven to such 
resorts where they are considered less harmful than 
in the open fields, where if they grow they are pro- 
tected from being browsed down by animals by the 
hooks on the stem and foliage, and the bristles of 
the flowerhead. | 
Formerly, before mechanical methods of carding 
wool were invented, a teasel called Fuller’s teasel — 
