I2 5 



XIII. 



LOOSESTRIFE AND PIMPERNEL. 



I HAVE picked this long delicate spray of 

 woodland loosestrife a pretty, graceful, 

 small creeping flower in the deep thickets 

 of Netherden Spinney, where its slender 

 trailing stems grow abundantly under the 

 damp shade of the young alder bushes. It 

 does not in the least resemble the big erect 

 purple loosestrife, that handsome tall water- 

 side plant, whose great bunches of brilliant 

 flowers hang so heavily over the banks of 

 brooks and rivers a little later in the season ; 

 for, indeed, the two species have no connec- 

 tion with one another except etymologically, 

 and derive their common name from different 



