248 LETTER XXI. 



inconspicuous plant, which does not grow above 

 eight or nine inches high, and, both its leaves and 

 stems being remarkable slender, is easily overlooked. 

 Its curious structure will, however, amply repay 

 the trouble of finding and examining it. It is 

 common enough in wet meadows, or in other moist 

 places, where the ground is covered with a sward of 

 grass, from which you will never distinguish it, with- 

 out employing all your power of observation. It is 

 said to send out scaly runners, which end in little 

 knobs, shaped like a scorpion's tail. Its very narrow 

 succulent leaves are of just the length and colour of 

 those of many grasses, but they are taper, and not 

 flat. When about to flower, it throws up from the 

 midst of its leaves a little slender undivided stem 

 {jig. I.)? which bears at its upper end a good many 

 green flowers, loosely arranged at some distance 

 from each other. Each of these flowers is constructed 

 thus : On the outside are three concave blunt scales 

 {fiff. 1. a. a. a.), which constitute the calyx ; in the 

 cavity of each of these there lies a roundish anther 

 {Jig. 4-. Z>.), the face of which is next the scale, 

 and consequently in the most unfavourable position 

 possible for discharging its pollen upon the stigma. 

 Within the calyx are three other scales, which are 

 pressed close to the ovary, and which in like manner 

 contain three anthers in their hollows ; these scales 

 are the petals ; so that an Arrow-gj^ass has three 

 sepals, three petals, and six stamens. Its ovary is a 

 long three-cornered body, having no style, and for 

 a stigma nothing but a tuft of little hairs ( fig. 2- 



