12: 



XIII. 



LOOSESTRIFE AND PIMPERNEL. 



I HAVE picked this lor^^ 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 



