The Sea Holly is quite as prickly as the Christmas Holly, and as it grows low down among the sands, bare-footed children must be careful not to stand on it.
1. GERMANDER SPEEDWELL. 2. BROOKLIME SPEEDWELL.
3. GREAT WATER FORGET-ME-NOT.
1. GERMANDER SPEEDWELL
This bright blue flower is to be found on banks, and in woods and pastures all over the country. It blooms in spring and early summer. Many people call this the Forget-me-not, but that is not correct, and you should notice carefully the difference between the two plants. They are not really alike.
The Germander Speedwell is a slender, wiry plant, whose stem sometimes creeps along the surface of the ground before it grows upward.
The flowers have four small petals of the brightest blue, and within the flower at the foot of the petals is a small white circle, like a little white eye looking up.
Two stamens with crimson heads rise from this white circle, and in the very centre of the flower there is a tiny green seed-vessel, with a spike coming out of the top.