PLANTS GROWING IN WASTE SOIL. 305 



dren nod to her as they pass by. She is one of the best be- 

 loved of our waste-ground flora. 



The double variety, Plate CLVI, suggests the bloom of a cul- 

 tivated flower ; and this is not to be wondered at, as it was at 

 one time much planted in gardens. It is rather more common 

 than the single variety. Throughout the eastern states the 

 plants are spreading very rapidly. Their juice, when mixed 

 with water, forms a lather. This fact is well known. 



YELLOW WOOD SORREL. LADY'S SORREL. 



dxalis strlcta. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Geranium. Golden yellow. Scentless. General. All summer. 



Flowers : terminal ; solitary. Ca/yx : of five lanceolate sepals. Corolla : of 

 five petals. Stamens: ten. Pistil: one; styles, five. Leaves: divided into 

 three obcordate, smooth leaflets. Ste7n : slender ; erect. 



An odd thing about this pretty sorrel that greets us along 

 the roadsides, is the difficulty it seems to have about deciding 

 the matter of fertilization. The cleistogamous blossoms that it 

 bears are naturally self-fertilized : while the showy flowers most 

 cautiously prevent such a thing by being either dimorphous or 

 trimorphous, — that is, they have stamens and pistils of two 

 different lengths. The short pistils must receive the pollen 

 from the short stamens in another blossom ; and the long pistils, 

 the pollen from the long stamens. 



At night the plant folds together its leaves and sleeps. O. 

 acetosella, Plate CV. 



ENCHANTER'S NIGHTSHADE. 



Circc^a Ltitetidna, 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Evening primrose. White. Scentless. General. Summer. 



Flowers: small; growing in long, loose, terminal and lateral racemes ; 

 pedicels reflexed in fruit. Calyx : two-lobed. Corolla : of two petals. Stamens : 

 two. Fistil: one. Z^az/^'j ; opposite ; ovate ; smooth; thin ; serrated. Stem: 

 erect; branching. 



A name is a great deal to the enchanter's nightshade. One 



