Rising from the centre of the flower are what look like other three pale yellow petals, with fringed ends which curl upward. These are really three branches of the slender column which rises from the seed-vessel, and they bend backwards over each sepal. Half hidden under each of these fringed petals, you can see the dark purple head of a stamen, closely pressed against the broad yellow sepal. The yellow flower-tube stands above the seed-vessel. This seed-vessel becomes very large in autumn, and it bursts lengthways into three parts, showing rows of dark brown seeds tightly packed together inside. Before the flower opens, the Iris is enclosed in a green sheath. The leaves are sword-shaped, with long lines running from base to tip. They are smooth, and in colour they are a dim green. 3. DAFFODIL The Daffodil is one of our loveliest spring flowers. It is found abundantly in woods, and in meadows and pastures in England, but in Scotland it does not grow wild, and it is doubtful whether it really does so in Ireland. The flowers grow singly on tall stalks. Each Daffodil is enclosed in a light brown sheath, which stands erect. But when the growing flowers have burst this covering, they droop their heads. Each flower has a short yellow tube, divided about half way down into six deep points. These points do not fold back, they enclose a long yellow trumpet, which is beautifully scolloped round the mouth. Inside this trumpet are six stamens with large yellow heads, and the slender stalks of these stamens cling to the sides of the yellow trumpet. There is also a short pillar rising from the fat green seed-vessel, which you can see outside the coloured petals, below the yellow tube. In the Daffodil, the sepals and petals are the same colour. The stalk of the Daffodil is slightly twisted, and has fine lines running up it. It rises straight from the centre of the bulb which forms the root. The leaves are long, narrow straps with blunt points, and they are thick and juicy. PLATE XIV: 1. SNEEZEWORT YARROW. 2. MOUNTAIN EVERLASTING 3. COMMON COMFREY. 3. COMMON COMFREY This tall, harsh-leaved plant is to be found all over the country in moist places, by the sides of streams and ditches, and by the roadside. It blooms in spring and autumn. The flowers of the Common Comfrey are not always the same colour. Sometimes you find them pale yellow, and in other places they are a rich purple, and the buds are pink. These flowers grow in drooping clusters on short little stalks which curve in a curious serpent manner before the buds open.