The flowers are scarcely seen. They are made up of small rose-coloured and purple tubes, which are crowded close together at the end of stout round stalks. But these small flowers are completely surrounded by a ball of green bristles, so that you require to pull the bristles apart and look into the top of the green ball if you wish to find the flowers. Each of the bristles on this green ball ends in a tiny hook, and with these hooks they cling to whatever they touch. You often see these prickly balls sticking to the wool on a sheep's back. If you throw one at a companion it will hang to his clothes by its sharp little hooks. PLATE XXIX: 1. MOUSE TAIL. 2. RIBWORT PLANTAIN. 3. KNOTTY FIGWORT. 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.' The flowers are closely crowded together in brown, cone-shaped heads. Each flower consists of a narrow white tube, with four graceful yellow points folded back at the mouth. The large yellow heads of the stamens stand up beyond the mouth of this tube, but you can scarcely see the tip of the seed-vessel which is hidden inside. When the flowers are fully out, you do not notice the white tubes; all you see is a big cluster of fuzzy yellow-headed stamens. There are four small green sepals at the bottom of the flower-tube, and these sepals are often stained with brown blotches. The stems are ribbed all the way up and are covered with short hairs. They are juicy and very easily broken. 3. KNOTTY FIGWORT This uninteresting plant is abundant everywhere. It is found in damp, shady places by the side of ditches, and it is at its best in summer and autumn.