102 FAMILIAR WILD FLOWERS. 



believe that he had seen two stages in the growth of the 

 self-same plant. In our illustration, the flowering state has 

 not long been entered on. Could we have represented that 

 same piece in another month, we should have found the 

 lateral branches thrown boldly out, almost horizontal in 

 direction, but curved upwards at their free extremities and 

 attaining a length of some nine or ten inches. The great 

 number of very thin and widely-spreading flowering stems 

 is a feature that will greatly assist those to whom the plant 

 is unknown in identifying it. The central stem is from 

 one to two feet high, very upright, round in general section, 

 but often more or less furrowed, and, like the lateral stems, 

 very rigid both in appearance and in fact. Any one en- 

 deavouring to gather a piece will realise far better for him- 

 self than any words of ours can describe how wiry and 

 tough the plant is. The leaves vary greatly according 

 to their position on the plant : the upper ones are long and 

 narrow, deeply cut into lateral segments, or in some cases 

 only notched. These leaves, as may be clearly seen in our 

 illustration, stand boldly out from the stems, and often 

 curve downwards towards the ground. The lower leaves 

 are very much larger and very prominently lobed, the 

 terminal lobe being often conspicuously larger than the 

 others, oblong in the leaves about midway up the stem, and 

 very rounded in the lowest of all. " Rough or hard 

 rugged leaves very much cut in or torne on the edges into 

 many parts, some bigger and some lesser, of a durtie 

 greene colour \" Parkinson's description of the colour of 

 the foliage is very happy, for partly from the dust of the 

 roadside, and partly from the dull greyish green of the 

 leaves themselves, the general aspect of the foliage as we 

 see the plant growing at the foot of some wall or paling, or 



