A BUNCH OF HERBS 



eyed daisy," has a pleasing effect when in 

 vast numbers they invade a meadow (if it 

 is not your meadow), their dark brown 

 centres or disks and their golden rays show- 

 ing conspicuously. 



Bidens, two-teeth, or " pitchforks," as the 

 boys call them, are welcomed by the eye 

 when in late summer they make the swamps 

 and wet waste places yellow with their 

 blossoms. 



Vervain is a beautiful weed, especially 

 the blue or purple variety. Its drooping 

 knotted threads also make a pretty etching 

 upon the winter snow. 



Iron - weed, which looks like an over- 

 grown aster, has the same intense purple- 

 blue color, and a royal profusion of flowers. 

 There are giants among the weeds, as well 

 as dwarfs and pigmies. One of the giants 

 is purple eupatorium, which sometimes car- 

 ries its corymbs of flesh-colored flowers ten 

 and twelve feet high. A pretty and curious 

 little weed, sometimes found growing in the 

 edge of the garden, is the clasping specu- 

 laria, a relative of the harebell and of the 

 European Venus' s looking-glass. Its leaves 

 are shell-shaped, and clasp the stalk so as 

 to form little shallow cups. In the bottom 

 155 



