226 Wild Lifein a Southern County. 
length. As the shoots grow into a bush the leaves 
diminish in size and become like those of the tree. 
In the ditch the tall teazle lifts its prickly head. 
The large leaves of this plant grow in pairs, one on 
each side of the stem, and while the plant is young 
are connected in a curious manner by a green 
membrane, or continuation of the lower part of the 
leaf round the stem, so as to form acup. The stalk 
rises in the centre of the cup, and of these vessels 
there are three or four above each other in storeys, 
When it rains, the drops, instead of falling off as from 
other leaves, run down these and are collected in the 
cups, which thus form so many natural rain-gauges. 
If it is a large plant, the cup nearest the ground—the 
biggest—will hold as much as two or three wine- 
glasses. This water remains there for a considerable 
time, for several days after a shower, and is fatal to 
numbers of insects which climb up the stalk or alight 
on the leaves and fall in. While the grass and the 
earth of the bank are quite dry, therefore, the teazle 
often has a supply of water ; and when it dries up, 
the drowned insects remain at the bottom like the 
dregs of a draught the plant has drained. Round 
the prickly dome-shaped head, as the summer 
advances, two circles of violet-hued flowers push out 
from cells defended by the spines, so that, seen 
protruding above the hedge, it resembles a tiara—a 
green circle at the bottom of the dome, and two circles 
of gems above. . 
