THE LAST OF THE FLOWERS 



September still nurses the white blossoms of the grass of 

 Parnassus, as delicate as any flower of the lowland spring. 

 Its green-veined petals, happiest when holding a bead of dew, 

 have a freshness that is gone at this season from the stream- 

 sides where it would mingle so well with the April cuckoo- 

 flowers. Often not far away, 

 the white tufts of the cotton- 

 grass waver in the moorland 

 or mountain wind. 



In cultivated lowland dis- 

 tricts one of the chief in- 

 terests in the plant life of 

 September is the discovery 

 of the numerous cornfield 

 weeds which the tall corn has 

 hitherto concealed. Among 

 thick crops their growth is 

 often delayed for want of 

 light and sunshine, so that 

 when the corn is carried 

 there is a tardy flower-time 

 among many pleasant weeds. 

 Venus's comb, or shepherd's 

 needle, ripens its pointed 

 seed-vessels, or still opens 

 its small white umbels of 



blossoms like dwarf cow parsley. Fluellen trails among 

 the stubble its angular leaves and mouthlike blossoms, 

 with one lip dark purple-brown and the other yellow ; 

 and here and there round-leaved toad flax creeps with 

 the same curious blossoms, but with leaves not sharp 

 at the base. The narrow-leaved hemp nettle is an 

 abundant weed in autumn in cornfields on a chalk soil ; 



TOAD FLAX 



