126 FIRST STEPS IN GENERAL KNOWLEDGE. 



were not yet in blossom. Robert also brought 

 a small plant of shepherd's purse, which he had 

 pulled up in haste, root and all, because he saw 

 that its tiny white flowers were cross-shaped, and 

 Henry had dug out from the 

 garden wall an entire specimen 

 of Whitlow grass, which is 

 one of our smallest flowering 

 plants, and a very pretty one 

 too, when closely examined. 



" If you want another mark 

 of this tribe besides that of the 

 cross-shaped blossoms," said 

 their father, "take notice of 

 the seed-vessel, which is either 

 a long pod, as in the carda- 

 mine, or a short pod, as in 

 shepherd's purse. If you open one of the pods, 

 you will see that it has a partition of thin mem- 

 brane down the middle." 



"In this cardamine," said Mary, "there are 

 pods with the two sides curled up, and the parti- 

 tion standing alone." 



" That is the way in which the seeds are dis- 

 persed, when they are fully ripe; the elastic 



COMMON WHITLOW GRASS. 



(Draba verna) . 



