Wild Flowers as They Grow 



carry a mass of graceful foliage. Each leaf is deeply 

 divided into a number of pointed segments, the 

 margins of all being slightly " nicked," and while 

 the face of the leaf is a deep green the back is almost 

 white, and covered with a soft down. Every breeze 

 that sets the delicate leaves quivering reveals this 

 silvery backing, and calls attention to the daintiness 

 of the plant. It is from the fashioning of the leaves 

 that its second botanical name — ulmaria — comes. 

 Three hundred years ago it was explained to us 

 that the leaves are " slightly snipt about the edges, 

 white on the inner side, and on the upper side 

 crumpled and wrinkled like unto those of the Elme 

 Tree ; whereof it took the name Ulmaria, of the 

 similitude or likeness to Elm leaves" {ulmus, an 

 elm). Down by the stem each leaf has a broad 

 leafy appendage known as its stipule. 



The flowers, carried on furrowed stalks three or 

 four feet high, gain their general attractiveness from 

 being massed together in light and feathery clusters, 

 but though individually small they are particularly 



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