50 



YELLOW GOAT'S-BEARD. 



REEMINENT among such flowers 

 as open at certain hours of the day 

 j is the yellow goat's-beard, which 

 spreads abroad its gaudy petals early in the 

 morning w^hen the first rays of the bright 

 warm sun are reflected on the drops of dew. 

 There it stands in company with others of 

 its kind : a very common flower, a weed. 

 And yet witliin the root, and stem, and 

 leaves, what a beautiful and elaborate ma- 

 chinery, is everywhere discoverable ! Look 

 at the firm and rigid stem rising like a 

 column, slightly tinged with purple, up the 

 shaft of which run a number of longitudinal 

 tubes for the conveyance of sap, by means 

 of which, the whole plant is nourished. 



