82 FAMILIAR WILD FLOWERS. 



the other three species are more especially plants of the 

 spring the Henbit may be found in flower throughout the 

 whole season. We find in our rough floral notes, made 

 from time to time, the following entry respecting our 

 present plant: " Found well in flower on Oct. 15th, in a 

 field of swedes, together with the charlock and Shepherd's- 

 needle, the three all well out, and abundant all over the 

 field." 



Our remarks as to the spring character of the red 

 and white dead-nettles must be taken with a certain 

 limitation ; as a matter of fact, there is perhaps scarcely a 

 month in the year when examples of each could not be 

 met with, but it is in an especial degree in the spring that 

 we find the hedge-banks whitened over or suffused with a 

 dull purple glow from the abundance of their flowers. The 

 Henbit, though a common-enough plant, is never so 

 abundant, never found in such aggregated masses, as the 

 others ; nor does it seem to have so distinctly a time when 

 it is at its best, but at any time from April to October it 

 may be ordinarily met with on waste land, amidst field- 

 crops, and in gardens. It is an annual. 



The Henbit attains to a height of from nine inches 

 to a foot, nearly upright in general direction, yet branch- 

 ing freely. These branches are thrown out in pairs, 

 and spring from near the ground; they are square in 

 section, as in the other dead-nettles. All the leaves spring 

 in pairs from the stems, the lower ones being on stems and 

 of a rounded heart-shaped figure, and deeply cut in outline ; 

 the upper leaves are of very similar character, but stalkless, 

 and closely surrounding the stem a fact that is brought 

 out in the specific name amplexicaule, a Latin word derived 

 f i om two others and signifying stem-embracing. The flowers 



