The soft juicy stem is twisted near the top and is four-sided. It grows straight from the root.
The dark glossy leaves of the Wintergreen are spoon-shaped, with wavy edges. They spring from the ground with very short stalks, and they remain on the plant all winter.
1. GRASS OF PARNASSUS. 2. COMMON BLADDER CAMPION.
3. SEA CAMPION.
1. GRASS OF PARNASSUS
This slender plant grows in bogs and damp places all over Britain and blooms in autumn.
It has large white flowers, which grow singly at the end of tall green stalks. These stalks are square and slightly twisted.
Each flower has five creamy-white petals, covered with delicate veins. Inside this ring of petals, lying at the bottom, are five curious scales, like tiny hands. The hands have each ten fingers, tipped with yellow dots, so you may count fifty dots altogether. On the scales are glands which hold honey. This, you may be sure, the bees very soon find out.