The Common Avens grows abundantly all summer in woods and on shady
hedge-banks, but it is not very attractive.
The flowers are small, with five separate yellow petals which lie flat
open. As you look down into the flower, you can see the tips of the five
green sepals appearing between the yellow petals.
Each flower grows at the end of a short stalk, but two or three of these
stalks often spring from the main stem at the same place.
Half way up this stem you will find a pair of tiny green leaves with
very small buds appearing between them and the stalk. These buds will
come out later, when their stalks have time to lengthen.
In the centre of the ring of stamens there is a small green bunch of
seed-vessels. Each seed-vessel has a thin stiff hair at the top, and
after the yellow petals fall off you will see this bristly bunch of
spikes still at the end of the flower-stalk, with the tiny green sepals
standing out like a frill behind.
Each leaf is divided into three or more parts. Those close to the ground
are large and coarse, with the edges cut like the teeth of a saw.
But there are leaves further up the stem, and these are frequently
divided quite differently from the root leaves.