Our first example is the Barberry (_Berberis vulgaris_)--the only British representative of its order (_Berberaceæ_)--a smooth, pale-green shrub, from four to seven feet high, often seen in woods, thickets, and hedgerows, flowering in May and June. Its branches generally droop at the tips, and have triple spines at the base of each leaf or cluster of leaves. The latter are obovate, sharply toothed or even prickly, and often reduced to a cluster of spines. The flowers are pale yellow, in hanging racemes. Each has several yellow sepals, the outer of which are very small; six petals, in two whorls, with nectaries at their bases; and six stamens. The stamens at first lie on the petals; but they are very sensitive, and when the filaments are touched by an insect as it seeks the nectar at their bases, the stamens immediately spring upward, throwing off their pollen, and often depositing some on the insect's back. It is thus possible that the cross-pollination of the flowers is greatly aided by the insect, especially as it will often happen that the same part of its back which has been touched by the elastic stamen will come in contact with the stigma of another flower. [Illustration: THE BARBERRY.] The Sycamore, also called the Great Maple and the False Plane (_Acer pseudo-platanus_--order _Aceraceæ_), although not really a British tree, has probably found a home here for nearly five centuries. It has been named the False Plane on account of its having been mistaken for, and called, the Plane, which tree it somewhat resembles in the form of the leaf, as well as in the character of the smooth, thin bark that peels off, giving the tree a patchy appearance. It should be noted, however, that the leaves of the Plane are arranged alternately, while those of the Sycamore are in opposite pairs; also that the fruits of the former are in pendulous balls while those of the latter are winged, and generally in two parts. [Illustration: THE SPINDLE TREE.] The Sycamore grows to a height of from forty to fifty feet and flowers in May or early June, some time after the appearance of the leaves. The leaves are simple and cut into five lobes, with a palmate venation and irregularly toothed margins. The flowers are small, yellowish green, and produced in graceful, pendulous racemes. Each one is about a quarter of an inch in diameter, with five narrow sepals, five narrower petals, eight stamens, and a two-lobed, flattened, hairy ovary which develops into a pair of 'keys' or samaras, with wings about an inch and a half long.