48 MINUTE MARVELS OF NATURE 



is not uncommon. Those of the red and white 

 dead-nettle must be familiar to every one who 

 notices wild plants at all. The stem of the date- 



Fig. 31. A section through the stem of a water-platit, 

 showing air cavities 



palm presents another curious form in section and 

 is illustrated at Fig. 30. This again shows the 

 scattered vascular bundles of the monocotyledons. 

 In Fig. 31 is shown the section of the creeping 

 stem of a tiny water-plant, which grows on the 

 edges of moorlands ponds, and is called the "pill- 



