SMALL WILLOW-HERB. 91 



features that enable it to command the situation a long 

 and very fibrous root, of which the smallest portions left in 

 the ground possess a wonderful vitality; and an apparently 

 unlimited supply of seeds, all duly provided, like those 

 of the dandelion, with the means of wafting themselves 

 away from the parent plant and scattering themselves far 

 and wide. 



The stem of the willow-herb is upright, and ascends 

 to a height of some two feet, or even a little more if 

 amongst other plants ; it is round in section,- very slightly 

 downy, often quite simple in character, but occasionally 

 branching a little near the summit. When it branches 

 at all, these branches are in pairs. When the plant grows 

 amongst others in the shelter of a garden, its stems and 

 leaves are alike green ; but in more exposed situations 

 the stems are often a deep crimson in tint, and the lower 

 leaves are various tints of brown, crimson, and yellow, 

 gradually passing into the bluish-green of the upper leaves. 

 The leaves are generally in pairs, but we may occasionally 

 find a plant in which they are arranged in threes or fours a 

 variation to which most of the species of willow-herb seem 

 subject. Most of the leaves are on short stalks, but some 

 of the upper ones will be found almost or entirely stalkless. 

 They are of the form botanically termed ovate, a good deal 

 pointed at their extremities, and having their margins 

 finely notched, like the teeth of a saw. The lines of the 

 veining are rather prominent, and the upper surface of the 

 leaf is often slightly hairy or downy. The calyx crown- 

 ing the long tapering ovary is deeply cut into four lobes. 

 The corolla is composed of four heai't-shaped petals, deeply 

 notched, of a pale purplish-pink tint, and, when fully 

 expanded, spreading widely outward. The stamens are 



