This clinging plant is common everywhere. It grows abundantly on every
hedge-bank, and it is in bloom all summer and autumn.
The flowers are so small that you scarcely notice them. Each flower has
four tiny white petals, and four yellow-headed stamens. Behind the
flower there is a ring of narrow pointed pale green leaves.
When the white petals fall off, you see two pale olive or dull purple
seeds, shaped like little balls. These balls always grow in pairs, and
they are covered with sharp, prickly hooks, which cling to everything
they touch. You find them clinging to your clothes, and they get caught
in the hair of a dog's back, and you see them sticking to the wool of
the sheep who nibble at the hedge-banks.
The square stem of the Goosegrass is rather weak. It, too, has hooks on
its four sides, and these hooks catch hold of stronger plants in the
hedge-bank, and so help the Goosegrass to rise well above the ground.
The leaves are long and narrow, and they have little hooks along the
edge. They grow in a circle of eight round the square stem, with a short
space between each circle. You will notice that the stalks which bear
the tiny white flowers spring from the same part of the main stem as the
leaf circles.