Flowers, Shown to the Children

by C. E. Smith

Seated among these bunches is a pear-shaped seed-vessel with three horns at the top.

At the back of the flower, lying flat open, are five thin green sepals, whose tips you can see appearing, as you look down into the flower, between the yellow petals.

The stalk is smooth and stiff, with two edges which look as if the sides had been joined together.

The green leaves grow in pairs opposite each other. They taper to a point and have edges that are smooth all round. If you look closely you will see that each leaf is covered with tiny black dots.

There is another St. John's Wort very like this, but its stalk is square, with four edges.

2. COMMON AVENS

The Common Avens grows abundantly all summer in woods and on shady hedge-banks, but it is not very attractive.

The flowers are small, with five separate yellow petals which lie flat open. As you look down into the flower, you can see the tips of the five green sepals appearing between the yellow petals.

Each flower grows at the end of a short stalk, but two or three of these stalks often spring from the main stem at the same place.