1. MOUSE-TAIL
This little plant grows plentifully in the East of England, but it is not found all over Britain. It flowers in summer.
You will easily recognise it by the curious way the seed-vessels grow. You remember in the Buttercup ([Plate I].) there was a little hard knot of seed-vessels like a green raspberry in the centre of the ring of stamens?
The Mouse-Tail is a cousin of the Buttercup, but the seed-vessels grow on a long pointed spike which shoots up in the middle of the flower, and is just like a mouse's tail.
Each flower has five yellowish-green petals, shaped like pale yellow tubes, with a lip at the top. There are five long, narrow, yellow-green sepals, with little spurs at the bottom. And there is also a ring of stamens with yellow heads which stand straight up round the foot of the Mouse's Tail.
The leaves are long and narrow, with a line down the centre. They are rather thick leaves, and they all grow in a tuft from the root.
2. RIBWORT PLANTAIN
Is there any child that has not played at 'Soldiers' or at 'Lords and Ladies,' with the flower-heads of the Ribwort Plantain? It is common everywhere, and flowers from spring to autumn.
The narrow pointed leaves grow in a circle straight from the root. They are dark green on one side, and silvery green on the other, and have long 'ribs' running from the bottom to the top. From these 'ribs' the plant gets its name of 'Ribwort.'