WAYSIDE WEEDS. 89 



from the ordinary leaves of the plant. This is more 

 especially the case with the lower bracts of a flower 

 series, for the upper ones become less leaf-like. 

 Nevertheless, whether in every respect like an 

 ordinary leaf, or whether not more :thah an insig- 

 nificant scale, the appendage at the base of a 

 peduncle or pedicel is always known as the bract. 



Fig. 61.— Twig of Lime-tree, a, bract; h, leaf; e, fruit. 



Refer back to the various figures with which the 

 present paper and those preceding are illustrated, 

 and you will find numerous instances of bracts. 



At times, however, bracts, or collections of 

 bracts, are called involucres, when they envelope 

 such collections of blossoms as the heads of the 

 composites, the umbels, etc. The bract of the 

 common lime-tree is such an excellent example of 

 bract formation (Fig. 61), that though the lime is 

 scarcely a " wayside weed,^^ we make no excuse for 

 bringing it forward. If you really do not as yet 



