186 FIRST STEPS IN GENERAL KNOWLEDGE. 



that the purple LOOSE-STRIFE,* a handsome plant 

 which adorns the banks of rivers with its tall 

 spikes of blossom in July and August, stands in 

 a neighbouring tribe to the humble saxifrage: 

 which also contains the Egyptian henne plant, 

 used by women to stain their hands and feet of an 

 orange colour. 



Near Henry's garden stood a large elm ; and 

 his father now plucked from it a little blossoming 

 spray, as a specimen of the ELM TRIBE, which con- 

 tains trees and shrubs of the northern hemisphere. 

 " Our common elm,"t he said, " is a handsome and 

 lofty tree, whose masses of foliage give a rich effect 

 to many an English landscape. The timber is less 

 valuable than that of the oak or beech, being 

 coarse-grained and comparatively soft; but it is 

 highly useful for many common purposes, and re- 

 sists moisture so well that it is especially fitted for 

 water-pipes under ground, or for any similar pur- 

 poses. These little flowers will soon be followed by 

 clusters of seed contained in winged seed-vessels, 

 not quite so large and conspicuous as those of the 

 sycamore, but so numerous as to rustle on the 

 branches like leaves, until the wind scatters them 



* Lythrum salicaria. t Ulmus campestris. 



