THE NIPPLEWOKT. 



Lapsana communis. 2fat. Orel., 

 Uompo:itte. 



HOUGH not so attractive as 

 many other plants, the nipple- 

 wort, the subject of our pre- 

 sent illustration, is so commonly 

 raet with that it could scarcely 

 be omitted from our series ; 

 and though it cannot compare 

 with the beautiful sprays of 

 wild roses that spread over our 

 hedges in the early summer, or 

 the pure white chalices of the 

 water-lilies as they are gently 

 borne on the surface of some 

 placid stream, it will, in the 

 eyes of the lover of plants, be judged 

 only for what it is, not for what it fails 

 to be. Judged by this standard, by those who 

 consider nothing in all the realm of nature to 

 be beneath their loving regard, the lowly nipplewort will 

 not be found without some beauty of its own, on which 

 the eye may rest with pleasure, either in the delicate 

 branching of its flowering stems, the rich contour of its 

 leaves, or the golden rays of its many blossoms ; and as 

 38 



