WAYSIDE WEEDS; 171 



not remember it ? — copying the nurse-maid or elder 

 sister as she wove rush caps, baskets, and all the 

 varieties of rush handicraft. Every one knows 

 rushes, so get a few j but j remember, in blossom, 

 that is, with the loose bunch of flowers protruding 

 from the side of the straight round stem. There 

 are many different species of the rush proper, but 

 we fear to confuse by trying to distinguish between 

 them, so simply gather the rush in flower. The 

 wood-rush, especially the field species, is a Wayside 

 Weed too, but it is a chance whether its reddish 

 brown heads of blossoms, and bright yellow sta- 

 mens, which show abundantly in spring, have at- 

 tracted the attention of learners ; nevertheless, look 

 out for the plant, or for the greater hairy wood- 

 rush (Fig. 102), which grows in woods. These 

 wood-rushes, with their ■ flat hairy leaves, are very 

 different from the common rush, as you may see. 

 If you are in a moor country you should put beside 

 them the bog-asphodel, really a pretty flower, 

 which from its abundance may well be called a 

 weed. It, too, belongs to the rush tribe. The 

 water plantain you must often have seen, its broad, 

 long-stalked leaves, and diffuse panicles of small 

 pale rpse-coloured blossoms standing up from some 

 pool in summer, or from ditches by the side of 

 railway embankments, which are favourite sites for 

 it. It, too, is a wayside petaloid, and so likewise, in 

 some places, is the arrow-head, with its beautifully 



