74 WILD FLOWERS 



in fields. Its blossoms are yellow, often 

 tinged with red or orange, and are pea- 

 shaped with such a fanciful resemblance 

 to a tiny shoe, that it has gained for the 

 plant the common name of Lady's Slipper. 

 The leaves are smooth, not unlike those 

 of clover, and the seed-pods take the shape 

 of a bird's foot. It is one of the plants which 

 the Greeks named ' Lotus.' 



The Wild Strawberry (Fragaria vesca), 

 Plate V., Fig. 2, frequently spreads along 

 the grassy banks at roadsides, although it 

 is more abundant in woods, or at the sides 

 of fields. It has a pretty, white flower, but 

 the fruit, unless in specially favourable cir- 

 cumstances, has little sweetness or flavour. 

 The name ' strawberry ' may be derived from 

 the old fashion of threading the fruit on a 

 straw for sale. 



Two very beautiful yellow flowers have 

 a creeping habit of growth. The first of 

 these is the Creeping Cinquefoil (Potentilla 

 reptans), Plate V., Fig. 8, which has soft 

 velvety flowers of five petals, and leaves 

 arranged in groups of five. The other is 

 the Silver Weed (Potentilla anserina), less 



