Inside the pink hood are hidden the yellow heads of the stamens. The other half of the flower is divided at the edge into three pink scollops, which fold back so that you can look inside the tube of the flower. After the pink flowers are withered the calyx-cup swells into a small bladder, and on windy days you can hear the seeds rattling inside this bladder. The stem of the Lousewort is hairy, and the leaves grow very close to it. These leaves are made up of small fingers with deeply toothed edges, which grow in pairs on each side of the centre leaf-stalk. There are frequently six pairs of these fingers on one stalk, and there is always a single finger at the end of the stalk. PLATE XLI: 1. GREAT WILD VALERIAN 2. SMALL BINDWEED 3. FOXGLOVE 1. GREAT WILD VALERIAN You find the Great Wild Valerian in most parts of Britain. It grows in marshy meadows and in damp woods, and is in flower all summer. The Wild Valerian is a tall, handsome plant. It has small pale pink flowers, which grow in thick clusters on long, stiff green stalks rising from the main stem. If you pull off a single flower you find that its five pink petals are joined together at the bottom into a tube. This tube folds back at its mouth into five pink scallops, and you can see three yellow-headed stamens coming out of the mouth of the pink tube. If you gently split the tube open you will discover that these stamens are clinging to its sides. The green sepals of the Wild Valerian are also joined into a tube which has five teeth at the top, and after the pink petals are withered, this green tube sends up a tuft of beautiful feathery down. The stem is dark and glossy. It is ribbed all over and is hollow inside. In the Wild Valerian each leaf is divided into fingers, which grow in pairs on each side of a slender stalk. Sometimes there will be ten pairs of these little fingers, and you will notice that each finger is not placed exactly opposite its neighbour, but that they grow alternately. 2. SMALL BINDWEED The Small Bindweed or Convolvulus is common everywhere. You find it in the hedge-banks, on waste places and in fields, and it blooms all summer. This pretty plant is very well known by its pale pink or pure white flowers. These flowers have a narrow tube which fits into the small green sepal-cup. But round the mouth this tube widens out into a beautiful bell, and the edges of the bell are gracefully waved all round. Inside the flower there are curious markings like large cream-coloured rays, and you must notice how wonderfully the flower of the Bindweed is folded when it is in bud. The stem of the Bindweed is very curious. It is twisted like a piece of rope. This stem clings to any stronger plant within reach, and it will twist itself round and round that plant till it nearly chokes it. The leaves are dark and shiny with smooth edges, and they are shaped like the head of an arrow. Each leaf has a short stalk of its own. 3. FOXGLOVE