In the middle of these green sepals there is a yellow ring, and in the centre of this ring sits the tiny seed-vessel, sunk almost out of sight. There are four stamens, each of which stands out separately from this yellow ring.
The root-leaves of the Lady's Mantle are rounded, and they are covered with a fine network of veins. Each leaf looks as if it had been folded into five or seven folds, and each fold is divided round the edge into scollops. The edge of these scollops is cut into sharp teeth. Sometimes you find a big diamond dew-drop lying in the folds of the Lady's Mantle leaf.
You will also notice a frill of tiny pointed green leaves clasping the main stem wherever it forks.
2. DOG'S MERCURY
The Dog's Mercury grows abundantly in England and Scotland but is rare in Ireland. You find it during early spring in woods and shady places and thickets.
This is one of our green flowers. It has no beautiful coloured petals to attract the bees or insects.
The Dog's Mercury is a bushy, upright plant, with a stout, four-sided green stem, closely covered with pretty leaves.
These leaves grow in pairs, on alternate sides of the stem: they are oval, and slightly hairy, and the edges are cut all round into sharp teeth.
Where each leaf joins the stem a flower-stalk rises, and in the Dog's Mercury there are two kinds of flowers. On one stalk you find groups of small flowers clustered at close intervals round the stalk. Each of these flowers has three broadly pointed green sepals, which curl slightly at the tips. In the centre of these sepals rises a large bunch of eight to sixteen yellow-headed stamens. In these flowers there are no petals, and no seed-vessel.