THE SILYEEWEED. 15 



pairs of leaflets as they succeed each other, as in the case 

 of the ash and many other plants, but the longer leaflets 

 are, as will be seen in our drawing-, separated from each 

 other by others very much smaller. This form of leaf may 

 also be very well seen in the avens, the agrimony, and 

 several other species, and is at all times a beautiful form, 

 the little alternating leaflets giving- great richness and 

 a certain piquancy that is very pleasing. The leaves vary 

 a good deal in the silky greyness that is so characteristic 

 a feature, and the under side is generally greyer in effect 

 than the upper. When growing under adverse circum- 

 stances, the plant is greatly dwarfed, and the leaves will 

 then be often but from two to three inches long ; they 

 are, however, as rich in form as those grown under more 

 favourable conditions, and are generally more character- 

 istically grey than those which, from having grown in the 

 midst of other foliage in the hedge-bank have become 

 attenuated, and have in other ways lost some of their in- 

 dividuality, and are less typical of the plant than when 

 developed in a more open situation. The very marked and 

 deep serration of the outlines of the leaflets is another 

 noticeable feature. The flowers are thrown up on long 

 stalks, each stem bearing but one blossom, and it will be 

 perceived that while the parts of the corolla are five in 

 number, the calyx is cleft into ten divisions. 



The silverweed is abundant in poor pasturages, par- 

 ticularly where the ground is naturally damp and low, 

 but it may also be very freely found by the dusty roadside : 

 in such a locality the plant is but poorly developed, and 

 never attains to any great size, spreading laterally, but 

 scarcely rising at all from the surface of the road, and having 

 the flower-stems but an inch or two in length. On open 



