30 FAMILIAR WILD FLOWERS. 



again. The central form or spadix is very curious in 

 construction and quaint in form, and will well repay 

 attentive investigation. On stripping off the outer 

 envelope it will be seen that the purple club-like form 

 is but the termination of a very unusual form of in- 

 florescence. At the base of this central succulent axis we 

 find a ring of fertile pistilliferous flowers, and above these 

 another ring, some two or three rows, of aborted or rudi- 

 mentary organs of like nature. Surmounting these, after 

 a brief intervening space, we find a group or cluster of 

 well-developed stameniferous forms, and above these, as in 

 the case of the female flowers, another ring or cluster com- 

 posed of stamens in a rudimentary and imperfect state. 

 Though the various parts are arranged normally in the 

 manner that we have just pointed out, the barren and 

 fertile rings may at times be found intermingled to some 

 extent, and if some twenty or so of these plants be 

 examined during their period of inflorescence several 

 departures, more or less marked, from the typical arrange- 

 ment will be encountered. Our illustration represents the 

 appearance of the plant as its leaves and flowers nestle 

 amongst the thick undergrowth of the copse or hedgerow 

 in the earlier part of the year. It will ordinarily be 

 found in blossom by about the middle of April, and may 

 be met with until almost the end of May. The autumnal 

 aspect of the plant is very different. We look in vain 

 for any signs of blossom, in vain even for its foliage; 

 these have all withered and passed away, and in their 

 place we see a little green stem, some three or four 

 inches high, surmounted by a cluster of large succulent- 

 looking berries of a brilliant scarlet colour, a dozen or more 

 of them, each as large as a ripe black currant, and forming 



