WAYSIDE WEEDSi 141 



if we want an erect stem, tMs upright ineadow 

 ranunculus or buttercup gives us an excellent ex- 

 ample, but for tliat matter we need be under no diffi^ 

 cu% in finding many a wayside Weed, wliicli stands 

 as erect as any volunteer rifleman. The reverse of 

 upright we find in many another wee plant* The 

 ground ivy, which shows its bright blue blossoms 

 imder every hedgerow in early spring, rests its 

 procumbent or flat-lying stems on the ground j and 

 almost 'similarly placed we find those of the ivy- 



^A 



Fzct. 88, — Section of Stems : a, round, as iutlie majority of planta : b, furrowed, 

 as iu many um'bel-bearers ; c, compressed,' as in flat-stemmed meadow- 

 grass ; df square, as in labiate plants ; e, angular, as in common wallfiower ; 

 ft triangled, as in sedges. 



leaved speedwell, in which, however, the decum- 

 bent stems gradually merge into ascending ones. 

 The decumbent stem does not rest so completely 

 ion the ground as the procumbent one. The pros- 

 trate, or trailing, or creeping stems, such as we 

 find in the common yellow moneywort, root at 

 'various points as they go on, in a diflerent way, 

 however, from the long weak runners or branches 

 of such plants as the strawberry, the common 

 ^creeping buttercup, or the creeping cinquefoil. 



