132 WAYSIDE WEEDS. 



the essence of simplicity ; so mucli so^ indeed, that 

 you will find it almost as difficult to realize its 

 flower, as you may have done in tlie singularity of 

 the spurge blossom. If you examine with your 

 magnifier the axils of the starwort leaves, which 

 partly embrace the stem, yoU will soon discover, 

 but not together, either the single stamen or the 

 little ovary, with the two wee white bracts at the 

 base, which is all this little bright plant has 'to 

 "boast of in the way of floral appendage ; little 

 enough, but yet the flower is a reaj flower, having 

 , its essential organs of reproduction, if not the 

 organs calyx and corolla, which, as we have already 

 explained in a former lesson, constitute* a perfect 

 flower. 



We might say much more of these insignificant 

 flowers which go to make up our Handful : of the 

 nettle, which, common and despised as it is, has 

 flowers which repay examination, and of the wall 

 peUitory, too, a first cousin of the nettle, which 

 finds root at the base of old dry walls : the situa- 

 tion, the general reddish tinge about it, its incon* 

 spicuous flowers, and its loosely hung leaves, will 

 tell you the plant, and it is worth a few minutes' 

 examination with the lens to make out the beautiful 

 structure of the jointed filaments of its stamens 

 (Fig. 84). 



But we have kept these tall trees of the green- 

 wood, mentioned before time, waiting so long. 



