3*5 THE HEDGE-BANK. 



their flowers and seeds collected into heads, called 

 " burs" which are furnished with numerous hooks, 

 serving to attach them so 

 closely to the hair and 

 fleece of animals touch- 

 ing them, that they are 

 carried sometimes for 

 miles away from their 

 native spot. The large 

 seeds of the Hound's- 

 tongue,* which grows in 

 waste places by the sea, 

 are covered with num- 

 berless barbed spikes, 

 THE BURDOCK. answering the same pur- 



pose. It is impossible 



to walk through places where they grow in abun- 

 dance without having the lower part of your dress 

 covered with them. 



Among our hedge-plants, I shall mention every 

 one's favourite, the " Sweet-scented Violet,"-)- one 

 of the most fragrant of our British flowers. This 

 you know so well, that I scarcely need say any- 

 thing about it. You may, however, possibly find 

 a difficulty sometimes (especially if the weather be 

 cold, when such flowers lose their fragrance,) in 

 deciding whether your flowers be really Sweet 

 Violets or not. To save you the mortification of 

 gathering a bunch and then throwing them away, 

 I will give you a few hints. Outside the coloured 

 leaves or petals, as they are called, of most flowers, 

 you will find a row of small green leaves, or a sin- 

 gle leaf shaped like a cup, called the calyx. When 



* Cynoglossum vulgare. t Viola odorata. 



