This bud grows bigger and bigger until it bursts the sheath. Then the flowers unfold, leaving the green covering still growing from the stem, with a curious green leaf coming out of the end. 2. WILD CHERVIL This is a slender plant which is very common on hedge-banks and in open woods. It blooms all spring and summer. The flowers are white, and they grow in clusters at the end of green spokes which look like the ribs of an umbrella. Notice that there is no ring of feathery green leaves where these spokes join the main stem. Before the flowers open, these green spokes bend downward. There is a ring of tiny pointed leaves at the back of each cluster of flowers. These tiny leaves are tinged with pink, and when the flowers are fully opened, they fold back close to the main stem. In the centre of each flower there is a long, thin seed-vessel. After all the white petals have fallen off, these seed-vessels grow into fat green beaks, each on a short stalk, and with two green points at the end. The Wild Chervil is easily recognised by these clusters of green beak-like seed-vessels. The leaves of the Wild Chervil are pale green, with fern-like divisions. Wherever they join the main stem there is a broad sheath. The Wild Chervil has a stem which is deeply grooved. This stem is not spotted, but you will find another Chervil, the Rough Chervil, which is very like this one. In it the stem is covered with purple blotches, and the leaves are blunter and less fern-like. 3. SEA CARROT The Sea Carrot is common in many parts of Britain, where it blooms on the seashore all summer and autumn. It belongs to the large family of plants that carry their flowers on green spokes like the ribs of an umbrella, and as these flowers are very confusing, you must notice the differences carefully. The flowers of the Sea Carrot are usually small and white, though sometimes they have a pinky tinge. They grow in masses at the end of the green spokes. Before the flowers are fully out, these spokes stand straight up in the air, very close together, with the clusters of flower-buds all turned inwards. But when the buds begin to open, these green spokes fold down so as to give the flowers room to look up towards the sun. You will always know the Sea Carrot by the curious way the spokes stand close together until the flowers open. At the top of the main stem, where all the spokes join, there is a circle of feathery green leaves. These feathery leaves each end in three points, and they have a special name which you will learn some day. The leaves of the Sea Carrot are like fine soft ferns. They are so pretty that people use them for decoration among flowers. 4. COMMON HEMLOCK The Hemlock is a common plant which is found all summer in waste places by the roadside and in open woods. It is poisonous, and you should look at it carefully, so as to know and avoid it.