PURPLE LOOSESTRIFE. 69

they are lanceolate, or like the head of a lance,
with smooth edges. The upper leaves, which
are amongst the flowers, are smaller, and should
be called bracts. I should say that the larger
leaves are about three inches long. Now, I
think we may look to the flowers.”

“Don’t you think that the enflorescence—the
whole mass of flowers—should be called a spike ?”

“Yes, I think so.”

“There is one thing I cannot explain, and
that is the flowers making a circle round the
stem, and then another, and another, all the
way to the top. You see that they all grow in
rings.”

“Leaves are sometimes placed in that way,
at the same level round the stem, and so are
flowers. Such a circle of leaves or flowers is
called a whorl, and these flowers are said to be
in whorls.”

“Ts there any meaning in the word ?”

“Well, I should suppose it meant ‘whirl,
with a hint that the parts are placed like the

spokes in a wheel.”