The Silver Weed prefers to grow in damp meadows and on the banks of
ditches. You find it in abundance all summer.
The flowers are not unlike those of the Cinquefoil. They have five
golden yellow petals which are not cup-shaped, but lie flat open. These
petals are larger than those of the Cinquefoil, and you can only see the
smallest tip of the green sepals appearing in between each.
There are really ten sepals in the calyx. Five of these are narrow
little pointed leaves, but the others are each divided at the tip. If
you remove all the yellow petals, this green calyx, with its ten green
points, is just like a beautiful star.
The Silver Weed sends out long creepers. These are thicker than in the
Cinquefoil, and are often tinged with pink.
When the leaves are half-open they look almost entirely white, because
they are covered with a fine silvery down. But when they are fully out
they become dark green above, and it is only the underside which remains
white and silvery.
Notice that the leaves grow in pairs, with big leaflets and very little
leaflets alternately on each side of the leaf-stalk, and that their
edges are deeply toothed all round.