WAYSIDE WEEDS. 161. 



of May. We take one of its handsome spikes of 

 flowers and pluck off a blossom (Fig. 94). You 

 observe there is a bract at the base (Fig. 94, e), 

 and from the bract axil springs a twisted-looking 

 stem or pedicel (Fig, 94, 5), this twisted support 

 being the ovary or future seed-vessel of the plant, 

 with its stigma spot (Fig. 94, 3) at its apex, sur- 

 rounded by the six irregular pieces of the perianth, 

 These also inclose two little v pouches (Fig. 94, 2), 

 which contain, not stamens, but little masses of 

 waxy pollen (Fig. 94,7). If you understand the 

 above arrangement tolerably clearly, it will give 

 you a clue to the construction of the beautifdl and 

 often grotesque blossoms of the orchis tribe. 



AH the plants which we have now placed in your 

 hand belong to the petaloid division of the mono- 

 cotyledons — a division which clainis many of the 

 brightest ornaments of our gardens j but yet all 

 the petaloids, as we shall see in another Handful — ' 

 we must make another — are not quite so bright in 

 their clothing. 



The flower and its parts, leaves, stems and roots,, 

 have each in succession claimed our brief notice and 

 explanation ; there but remains to be appended to 

 our sixth and seventh Handfuls a few words upon 

 the internal structures, as well as upon the outer 

 covering or clothing of plants. As the point is one 

 which you cannot very weU verify for yourselves in 

 this present early stage of your botanical learning, 



