60 FAMILIAR WILD FLOWERS. 



will at once be seen, is based on the same idea. The 

 flower-stalks spring- from the axils of the leaves, and 

 are therefore, like the leaves themselves, in pairs : each 

 bears one flower. The corolla is cup-shaped, and deeply 

 divided into five somewhat pointed segments, or lobes. 

 The calyx is cut down almost to its base into five broadly 

 egg-shaped but pointed portions : this may be very well 

 seen in the upper flower and in the bud in our illustration. 

 The stamens, five in number, stand boldly up in the centre 

 of the flower, the anthers being somewhat arrow-headed in 

 shape. The seed-vessel rarely comes to perfection ; it 

 frequently happens that plants which increase much in 

 other ways, as by underground stems, suckers, or runners, 

 seldom produce ripe seeds. One may examine a great 

 number of specimens of the moneywort without finding 

 anything approaching to a ripening seed-vessel. 



