This plant grows in all parts of Britain. You find it among old ruins,
and by the roadside on damp hedge-banks. It blooms in summer.
The flowers are white and very small. They grow in clusters at the end
of long green spokes, like the ribs of an umbrella, and you will notice
that there are no little green pointed leaves either at the back of the
separate flower clusters, or at the top of the stem where all the green
spokes join.
The seed-vessels are almond-shaped, with little hollows running from top
to bottom, and they have two long green hairs hanging out at the top.
The stalk of the Goutweed is hollow. It is very glossy and smooth, and
has many ridges.
The leaves are shaped rather like rose leaves. They are pale green and
are softer than rose leaves, and there is only one other plant with
umbrella spokes whose leaves are at all similar. They are quite
different from the fern-like leaves of so many other umbrella plants.
Notice the broad sheath where each leaf joins the main stem.