This is a very common little plant, but it is not at all attractive. You
find it by the roadside and in waste places in early summer, and it
always looks very dusty.
The flowers are quite small. They grow in little clusters at the end of
a long spike, and there are usually four or five flowers out at the same
time. These flowers have each four tiny petals of a pale yellow colour,
and unless you look very closely, and pull these petals gently apart,
you will not see either the stamens or the seed-vessel, which are almost
hidden from sight.
The little green sepals at the back of each flower stand straight up
from the stalk and form a cup. This cup has slits down the sides and it
holds the flower.
The stalk is almost covered with thin, hairy, green pods pressed closely
against it. These pods hold the seeds, and they look like green
caterpillars creeping up each side of the stem.
The leaves of the Hedge Mustard are a dull grey-green colour and are
very rough and hairy. Those nearest the ground have no stalks, they grow
like a rosette, with one leaf close above another.
But the leaves further up the stem are each separate. They are very much
cut up, and their edges are toothed like a saw.
PLATE III: 1. YELLOW HORNED POPPY 2. ROCK ROSE
3. OPPOSITE-LEAVED GOLDEN SAXIFRAGE