large. The Pimpernel trails on the ground and has tiny flowers. The
blossoms of the Poppy have four petals, those of the Pimpernel have
five. These are a beautiful scarlet, but not _quite_ so bright a scarlet
as those of the Poppy.

The leaves grow in pairs, and the small bare stalks which carry a flower
at their ends spring from the stem beside the leaves. The leaves are
sessile on the stem. Turning a leaf over we find that on its under side
are black or dark purple spots.

[Illustration: PIMPERNEL.]

The blossoms of the Pimpernel close up when rain is near, and it is
often called the Poor Man's Weatherglass. Sometimes, but very rarely, a
plant is found which has pink, or even pure white blossoms. There is
also a blue Pimpernel. Another Pimpernel is the Bog Pimpernel; but we
shall not find it in this dry field of corn, as you may guess by the
name.

One more flower we will look at, and then it will be time to leave our
corn-field and to search elsewhere. Growing on the hedgebank at the side
of the field is a pretty lilac-blue flower on a long bare stalk. It is
the Field Scabious.

The blossoms are in shape like a round ball very much flattened--like a
round pincushion. There are no large petals here, as with the Poppy, but
a great number of small florets. Those on the outer edge of the blossom
are larger than those inside. Each floret is a tiny tube or pipe.

The leaves are on separate stalks from those which bear the flowers, and