Wild flowers

WILD IIYACIXTH.

WILD FLOWEKS.

BY ANNE PRATT,

AUTHOR OF COMMON THINGS OF THE SEA-SIDE, ETC. ETC.

" By the breath of flowers
Thou callest us from city throngs and cares,
Back to the woods, the birds, the mountain strearos,
That sing of Thee I back to free childhood 'a heart.
Fresh with the dews of tenderness I Thou tndd'st
The lilies of the field with placid smile
Reprove man's feverish strivings, and infuse
Through his worn soul a more unworldly life.
With their soft holy breath. Thou hast not left
His purer nature, with its fine desires,
Uncared for in this universe of Thine."

PUBLISHED UNDER THE DIEECTIOI^ OF

THE COMMITTEE OF GEXEEAL LITERATURE AXD EDUCATION,

APPOINTED BY THE SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING

CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE.

VOL. I.

LONDON:

PRINTED FOR TBI

SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE;

SOLD AT THE DEPOSITORIES,

GREAT QUEEN STREET, LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS;

4, ROYAL EXCHANGE; 16, HANOVER STREET, HANOVER SQUARE;

AND BY ALL BOOKSELLER);.

1857.

LONDON :
PRINTER, BREAD STREET HI

stack
Annex

CONTENTS.

PAGE

Agrimony 77

BecOrchis^^.^^^^^^,^^. 81

Bird's-FootTrefoil 7

Biting Stonecrop 35

Black Bryony 99

Bladder Campion 157

Borage 89

Bramble, or Blackberry .... 171

Broad-leaved Garlic 113

Broom 3

Broom Rape 187

Bugle . . ^ ./r- • • w>f- 135

Celandine, or Pilewort .... 65

Centaury 93

Cistus, or Rock Rose . . . .143
Colt's-Foot j^^^/,^^^;?,^ . 59

Corn Blue-bottle 47

Feverfew . 51

Marigold 71

Crab Apple 31

Creeping Cinquefoil 133

Cuckoo Flower 155

Pint . . .123

PAGE

Daisy 181

Dead Nettle 75

Dog Rose 33

Dwarf Red Rattle 85

Dyer's Green-Weed 179

Enchanter's Nightshade .... 145

Everlasting Pea ...... 131

Eyebright ........ 149

Feverfew 51

Field Convolvulus 17

Fine-leaved Heath 97

Flea-Bane 55

Fly Orchis 97

Forget-me-Not 87

Fumitory 73

Furze 29

Germander Speedwell .... 5 '

Great Nettle 163

Ground Ivy 63

HarebelU^^^/^ ^3^^^,. 49
Hedge Woundwort . . .. .125

Herb Robert 13

Honeysuckle 11

Hound's Tongue Ill

Hyacinth 1

2091199

IV

CONTENTS.

PAGE

Ivy 117

Ivj'-leaved Toadflax 39

Knotted Fig Wort 173

Knot Grass 107

Ling, or Heather 83

Long Prickly-headed Poppy . . 41

Mallow 15

Meadow Saffron 119

Vetchling 127

Michaelmas Daisy 121

Milk Vetch 147

Milkwort 91

Mouse-Ear Hawkweed .... 169
Nettle-leaved Bell-Flo wer . . .137
Pellitory of the WaU . . . .189
PerfoHate Yellow Wort .... 175
Perforated St. John's Wort . . .109

Purple Trefoil 23

Red Bartsia 185

Red-Berried Bryony 69

Red Campion 151

Rest Harrow 37

Ribwort Plantain 103

PAGE

Saintfoin 115

Salad Burnet 165

Scarlet Pimpernel 9

Shepherd's Needle 167

SmaU Woodruff 191

Soapwort 141

Sorrel 153

Star-Thistle 45

Succory 101

Thrift 159

Thyme 177.

Traveller's Joy 105

Vervain 183

Violet 21

Viper's Bugloss 61

White Poppy 43

Wood Anemone 37

Loosestrife 139

Sorrel 53

Strawberry 25

Woody Nightshade 57 "

Yellow Iris 129

Hilir |l0feers,

WILD HYACINTH.— ir^acmfkus ?wn-
scrijjftis.

Class Hexandria. Order Monogynia. Nat. Ord. Liliace^.
Lily Tribe.

Every child who has wandered in the woods
in the sweet months of April and May knows
the Blue-Bell, or AVild Hyacinth. Scarcely
a copse can be found throughout our land
which is not then blue with its flowers, for it
is to the woodland and the green lane, in
Spring, what the buttercup is to the meadow.
Growing near it we often find the beautiful
pinkish-white blossoms of the wood-anemone,
and before it fades away the hedges are getting
white, and becoming fragrant with wreaths of
the blooming May ; but the primroses have
almost all departed, and the violets are daily
more rare. The root of the Wild Hyacinth is
round, and full of a poisonous, clammy juice ;
indeed every part of the plant gives out more
No. 1.

3 WILD IIYACINTIT.

or less of this juice if we bruise it. Though
the root is unfit for food, and is useless to us
now, yet in former times it was much prized.
In days when very stiff ruffs were worn, the
juice was made into starch, and employed
to stiffen linen. It served the bookbinder,
too, as glue, to fasten the covers of books.
The flower has a shght scent, but the chief
charms of the Blue-Bell are its beauty and
its early appearance. It is but lately that
we have looked upon bare trees, and ground
strewed with Avithered leaves, and when no
songs of joy were heard ; and now the early
flowers seem to say, in the language of Scrip-
ture, " The winter is past ; the rain is over
and gone ; the flowers appear on the earth ;
the time for the singing of birds is come ; and
the voice of the turtle is heard in the land."
Our Wild Hyacinth is sometimes found w^ith
white or flesh-coloured flowers, but the beauti-
ful garden hyacinths, with double blossoms,
are brought from different countries of the
East.

COMMON BUOOM.

COMMON BnOO^l.—C?/tissifS Scoparius.

Class DiADELPHiA. Ovdcr Decandria. Nat. Ord, Leguminos-e.
Pea and Bean Tribe.

As the wood has flowers peculiar to it, and
the meadow and the cornfield have each their
own blossoms, so there are some plants which
flourish especially on heaths and commons.
Far away, over many a heath-land, we may
see the bright golden blossoms of the '' bonnie
broom :" and if, on some sunny day in July,
we stray among them, we may see the large
dark-brown Broom-pods opening to let out
their ripe seeds. The blossoms seem to invite
the buttei'flies to Hnger about them, and the
bees keep a perpetual humming near them.
The Broom is useful also to man. Sometimes
when roads are cut down it is planted on
the sides of the banks, that its roots may hold
the crumblins^ earth toof ether. The bark is
steeped in water, that its fibres may be used in-
stead of flax, and the small twigs and branches
are serviceable in tanning leather. The young
bouo-hs are made into brooms, and the voun^
green buds are pickled in vinegar, and eaten as
capers. When the shrub attains a good size

4 COMMON BROOM.

its wood is hard, and is valuable to the cabinet-
maker for veneering. The plant varies much
in height, according to the soil and situation
on which it grows. When it is found on
exposed heaths, it is usually a low shrub ; but
when it springs up on some sunny hill-side, or
is sheltered by a neighbouring rock or thicket,
it is sometimes ten or twelve feet high. It
is always an ornamental plant, for when its
flowers have passed away, its dark green
leaves and twigs remain. Wordsworth well
describes it : —

" Am I not

In truth a favour'd plant 1
On me such bounty summer showers,
That I am cover'd o'er with flowers ;

And when the frost is in the sky,
My branches are so fresh and gay,
That you might look on me and say —

' This plant can never die.' "

o.

GERMAXDER P^PFFOWFLL,

GERMANDER SFE^DWl^LL.—Feronlca

Chamcedrys.

Class MONANDRiA. Order Monogynia. Nat. Ord. Scrophu-

LARINE^. — FiGWORT TrIBE.

This flower is often, by persons little
acquainted with plants, called the Forget-me-
not. In some places it is called Cat's Eye ;
but it is one of the numerous family of the
Speedwells. These plants, whether growing
in field or garden, may all be known from any
others by this peculiarity, that the blossom,
which is cleft into four segments, has always
the lower segment narrower than the rest.
We have no less than eighteen wild kinds.
They are all blue or flesh-coloured flowers ; but
the Germander is the largest of all the common
species. Among our spring flowers it is most
conspicuous, its brilUant blue blossoms lying
hke gems among the bright May grass. At
that time,

^' The goi-se is yellow on the heath,
The banks with Speedwell flowers are gay,
The oak is budding, and beneath,
The hawthorn soon will wear the wreath,
The silver wreath of May."

TlioLigh an early- blooming flower, yet some of

6 GERMANDER SPEEDWELL.

its tribe are earlier still. Thus the Ivy-leaved
Speedwell, with light blue blossoms, and leaves
shaped like those of the ivy, is very common
in cultivated lands, and among hedges ; and if
March is fine, it may be found then, while it is
sure to be abundant in April. Country people
call it Winter- weed; but the Procumbent
Speedwell, a plant with very small blue blos-
soms, and stems which lie along the ground,
is the first of all the Speedwells, and comes
amidst the winds and rains of early spring-
time. The Speedwells are not now considered
to possess medicinal properties ; but they were
once believed to yield valuable remedies, and
were called by the Dutch, Honour and Praise.
Several of the species grow in streams and
water-courses. That common flower of the
stream-side, the Brooklime Speedwell, with its
smooth fleshy leaves, and briUiant blue flowers,
was formerly eaten in salads. Its pungent
leaves are still mingled with water-cresses,
and sold in Scotland. This plant is called by
botanists Veronica Beccabunga, and appears
to have derived its name from the Flemish
Beck-pungen, Mouth-smart.

lrd'3-foot trefoil.

BIRD'S-FOOT TREFOIL.— Zoto

corniculatas.

Class DiADELPHiA, OvcUr Decandria, Nat. Ord. Legumino3-;k.
Pea and Bean Tribe.

The rich green verdure of the summer
meadow is everywhere brightened by this
pretty little blossom, which country children
call by the old familiar names of Lady's-
slipper, or Pattens-and-clogs. The ancient
Greek authors wTote much of the Lotus, but
it appears that they had three plants which
they called by that name. This, however, was
one. Several kinds of the Bird's-foot Trefoil
grow not only in the sunny meads of the
Greek Isles, but are abundant in most parts of
Southern Europe ; and the pods of one species,
which is much larger than our common plant,
are a useful article of diet among the poorer
inhabitants of Candia. The seeds of our native
species furnish food for birds only. This plant,
as well as another British kind, the Narrow-
leaved Bird's-foot Trefoil, is very useful for
making a permanent pasture for cattle, and is
sometimes sown with the white clover. The

8 BIRD S-FOOT TREFOIL.

narrow -leaved species is much like the common
kind, but is larger : it grows in moist, bushy
places, and by the sides of streams and rivers,
and its stems are more straggling. We have
altogether four wild species of the Bird's-foot
Trefoil. The rare plant, called the Narrow-
podded Bird's-foot Trefoil, which is found on
a few rocky places by the sea-coast, is, in one
variety, altogether much smaller than either
of the others, and somewhat different in its
general appearance. There is a very pretty
tiny flower on our sandy and gravelly soils,
called the Bird's-foot, with white, pea-shaped
blossoms, marked with red lines, which is often
mistaken for a Lotus : but this belongs to a
different genus of plants, and is not a Trefoil,
having about six or seven pairs of leaflets oh
its leaf- stalk. Flowers formed like these are
called papilionaceous, or butterfly-shaped, and
plants with these blossoms have their seeds
in pods.

SCARLET PIMPEKNEU

SCARLET ?niFEKNEL.—Jy?a^ams
arvensis.

Class Pentandria. Order Monogynia, Nat. Ch-d. Primulace^.
Primrose Tribe,

Every one knows the Scarlet Pimpernel,
oui' only wild flower of that colour, except
the scarlet poppy ; though there are one or
tw^o of a crimson tint, like the pheasant's-
eye of the cornfield. The Pimpernel grows
everywhere ; on the sandy heath among the
furze and broom, on the bank by the road,
and especially, among- the ripening corn, it
may be seen, on any sunny day, during July
and August. It has some pretty English
names, as the Shepherd's Barometer, or the
Shepherd's Warning, and the Poor-man's
AVeather-glass. These names are expressive
of the influence that a moist atmosphere has
upon the blossom, which is so sensitive, that
long before we can be aware of the approach
of rain, it closes up ; and it does not open at
all upon a wet or even cloudy day, a circum-
stance Avhich was early noticed by Sir Erancis
Bacon. It gives us no warning, however, after

10 SCARLET PIMPERNEL.

the middle of the day, for within two or three
minutes of two o'clock it closes its petals,
which remain folded until about seven the
next morning. The botanical name is taken
from a Greek word, signifying, to laugh ;
because the ancient Greek writers believed it
to be a useful medicine in liver complaints,
and thus favourable to good and cheerful
spirits. Though it is not found, in our times,
to deserve this praise, yet its pleasant aspect
and love of sunshine render its name a suit-
able one. A large number of seeds are in-
closed in little capsules, which, when ripe,
bm'st open all round transversely, and the
seeds afford a valuable supply of food to many
of our song birds. There is a blue variety of
this Pimpernel, which, though rare in many
places, is very abundant in others, especially
in Gloucestershire; and sometimes we may
find a Pimpernel quite white, with a distinct
purplish-pink eye in the centre of the blossom.
There is also another species, a beautiful rose-
coloured flower, which grows on moist mossy
places, and is caUed the Bog Pimpernel.

vC

IIONRVSaCKLE.

HONEYSUCKLE.— Zo;?/cerr/ Periclymenuw.

Class Pentandria. Orde7- Monogtnia. Nat. Ord. Caprifoliace^.
Woodbine Tribe.

There is hardly a wild flower of our hedge-
rows which delights us more by its fragrance
than does the Honeysuckle. During May
and June its blossoms are waving about the
bushes, or creeping over the old ruin or rocky
crag, in all parts of our island, and we wonder
not that poets, both ancient and modern,
have sung of their sweetness. It had the old
name of Woodbine, but both Spenser and
Shakspeare call it by the older name of Capri-
fole, or Goat-leaf, which was given because,
like the goat, it climbs over craggy and almost
inaccessible places; or, as some writers say,
because these animals relish the leaves. It
has a similar name in other countries, for the
French term it Chevre-feuille, and the Italians
Caprifoglio. At the base of its long tubular
flower lies the honey, which though the bee
may not reach it, is extracted by the long
tongues of the sphynxes and hawk-moths, that
may often be seen hovering about it. After

12 HONEYSUCKLE.

the blossom has withered, in the months of
September and October, clusters of dark red
berries take their place. They are very insipid
in flavour, and are eaten only by children
and birds, but they add to the beauty of the
autumn woods and hedges. Plants which
climb around others, or on walls, always in
the same species take the same direction in
twining. Thus some plants, like the Honey-
suckle, and indeed the greater number of our
British climbers, follow the apparent course of
the sun, and turn from left to right ; while
others are invariable in their habit of tm'ning
in the contrary w^ay. There are two other
species of wild Honeysuckle, but, unlike this,
they are not common. One is the pale Per-
foliate Honeysuckle, which has been found in
woods in Oxfordshire and Cambridgeshire ;
and the other the still more rare upright Fly
Honeysuckle.

•;aB ROBERT, OR POOR ROBIN*

HERB ROBERT, or POOR ROBIN.

Geranium Robertianum.

Class MoNADELPHiA. Order Decandria. Nat Ord. Geraniace^.
Geranium Tribe.

There are very few flowers of our native
land which are more frequent than this pink
Cranesbill. A very beautiful little flower it
is, too ; growing in the summer months,
under the bushes, on the sunny bank, among
the cfrass of the crao; or cliff', and smiHnor on
the summit of the ruined wall, or beneath the
broad deep shadow of the woodland trees.
AVhen it grows on exposed situations, the
stems and leaves have a rich crimson colour ;
and often in autumn, when they linger on the
bank long after the blossoms have passed
away, they are almost as beautiful as the
flowers themselves. The whole of this plant
is very hairy, and its stems are brittle. Its
odour cannot be praised, and after the flower
has been long gathered, it becomes very
disagreeable. This scent is caused by a
peculiar resinous secretion, which exists in
this and several other species of Cranesbill.
In some of the species of other lands, the
resin is so powerful, that if a light be applied
to the stems, they will bm*n like torches, and
will yield, during the process of combustion,

14 HERB ROBERT, OR POOR ROBIN.

a very powerful and pleasant perfume The
Herb Robert is sometimes found with pure
white flowers. Not only are the small bright
stars of this species scattered by our path-
ways, but no less than twelve other wild
Cranesbills, almost all of them common plants,
delight the lovers of wild flowers : they have
all red or purplish blossoms. A very com-
mon kind, which appears early in April, and
blooms on till August, must be known to all
accustomed to notice wild plants, for it is
frequent on every bank or waste place, and in
every pasture. It has long spreading stems,
and broad roundish leaves, deeply cut into
segments. These leaves are of a pale grey-
green, and downy as velvet. The flowers are
very smah, and of a purphsh-red colour. We
call it Dove's-foot Cranesbill, and the French
term it also Pied de Pigeon. A great num-
ber of Cranesbills are cultivated in our gar-
dens. One of these, the large pm^ple-flowered
Cranesbill, is common in many woods and
thickets, and is not unfrequent in those in the
neighbourhood of London. It is a tall plant,
with handsome dark-blue flowers, as large as
a shilHng piece.

COMMON MkLLOW.—iMahYi sylvestris.

Class MoNADELPHiA. Or(hr Polyandria. Nat. Ord, Malvacejs.
Mallow Tribe.

This Mallow is very common throughout
England, though it is rare in Scotland. Chil-
dren call its young circular fruits cheeses ;
hence, in some country places, the plant is
called cheese-flower. The large handsome
blossoms adorn our lanes and fields, and
cluster in beauty on our waste places, from
June until August. The leaves are cut into
seven lobes, and are roundish in form ; but
not so much so as in the species called the
Dwarf or Round-leaved Mallow. Both our
wild and cultivated Mallows are useful in
medicine, on account of the mucilage which
they contain. The leaves are also boiled, and
used by country-people as an application to
wounds and bruises. Mallow tea is a medi-
cine nuich taken in Paris, not only for coughs
and colds, but for a variety of maladies.
Several species were used as food by the
Romans, though which particular kinds they
praise so highly w^e cannot now determine.

16 COMMON MALLOW.

This common species is cultivated in gardens
in Rosetta, and, boiled with meat, is one
of the most common dishes of Lower Egypt.
The patriarch Job speaks of the destitute
persons who cut up jMallows by the root ; and
though w^e know not exactly the plant in-
tended, yet we know that in Arabia, and other
Eastern lands. Mallows are much eaten by
the poor. Our common Mallow has a smaller
quantity of mucilage than the plant of our
sea-shores, called the Marsh Mallow. This,
however, belongs to the genus termed by the
botanist Althaea.

Besides the common, we have the Dwarf
and Musk ]\Iallows. The latter is a tall
flower, with large handsome rose-coloured
blossoms, which, as well as the foliage, are
fragrant in the evening. It is very abundant
on many pasture-lands of our country : but in
some places very rare. The Dwarf Mallow is
a more frequent kind, and may be easily
known by its roundish leaves, and small pale
lilac flowers. These plants bloom from June
to September.

FIELD CO^YOTjVUUJS.—Convolvulm
arvensis,

(7/as5 Pentaxdria. Orr/erMoNOGYNiA. Nat.Ord. Convolvulaceje.
Convolvulus Tribe.

One of the prettiest, though certainly one
of the most short -Uved of all our twining wild
flowers, is the Field Convolvulus, or, as it is
often called in country places, the Bear-bind,
Withy-wind, or Bindweed. Its botanic name
is taken from Convolvo, to entwine ; and
those who have noticed its elegant wreaths
of leaves and flowers, Avill acknowledge that
all these names are significant of its habit.
The pink delicate bells have a sweet scent,
much like that of almonds. Pretty as this
plant is, it is not welcomed by the farmer,
for it intrudes itself into all cultivated lands ;
winding its tough and curling stems around
the corn stalks, catching fast hold of peas or
beans, or any plant near it, and sending its
perennial and creeping root far into the soil.
There the roots grow very fast, throwing out
numerous shoots from all parts ; and no care
of the agriculturist can prevent their spreading
extensively over the field. When it covers a

Xo. 2.

18 FIELD CONVOLVULUS.

hedge-bank, however, as it often does, its pink
cups opening only to the sunshine, it is a
beautiful adornment to the summer landscape,
and bees hover and hum about it continually.
Its presence is considered as a certain indica-
tion of a light soil, and its time for blooming
is in the months of June and July. Besides
this pretty pink Convolvulus, there is a much
larger kind, equally common in our woods and
hedges. This is the greater Bindweed. We
often see it hanging its large snowy bells over
the trees and shrubs of the garden, and it is
an ornamental plant, though, like the smaller
species, a very troublesome weed to the agri-
culturist. It is not often a companion of the
pink flower, as it flourishes chiefly in the
neighbourhood of streams and other moist
places. It is called by country people, Old
Man's Nightcap. There is also a wild Con-
volvulus on our sea-shores, called the Sea
Bindweed, with large rose coloured flowers
and succulent leaves.

%

BVTTERCVI^.—Bammculus hulhosus.

Class PoLYANDRiA. Order Poltgyxia. Nat. Orel. Ranunculace^.
Crowfoot Tribe,

This gay meadow flower gives to the land-
scape a bright and cheerful aspect, when May
has scattered it by thousands over the grassy
meadow, where it contrasts with the multitude
of silver daisies. This flower has an acrid
bulbous root, which is emetic in its properties.
Rather later in the year, two other species of
crowfoot or buttercup glisten in the grass of
the meads, and by every way-side ; these are
the Creeping Crowfoot, and theUpright Meadow
Crowfoot. Both are very similar in their
appearance to this flower, but the small leaves
forming the flower cup are, in the bulbous
species, always turned back and drooping.
AH the Crowfoots contain much acridity, and
they are mostly disliked by cattle on this
account. The June or Creeping Buttercup is
a very noxious plant on pasture-lands, for it
has creeping roots which render it very difficult
of extermination, and if the cattle happen to
eat it, it will blister their mouths. There is a
little yellow Buttercup, growing on tall slender

20 BUTTERCUP.

stalks in the corn-field, during June, and known
as the Corn Crowfoot, which is eaten with
avidity by cattle, but which is a highly dan-
gerous plant for their food. Some sheep which
fed upon it, in meadows near Turin, were
killed by its poison ; and a French chemist
ascertained that three ounces of its juice proved
fatal to a dog in the course of four minutes
after swallowing it. It may be known by the
very large and prickly seed vessels which suc-
ceed the flower. There is another species, the
Celery -leaved Crowfoot, with stout juicy stems,
bright glossy leaves, and very small yellow
flowers, common at the sides of streams and
ditches. If this flower is laid on the skin, it
will quickly raise a blister ; nor is it even safe
to carry a handful of the plant to any distance,
as the hand is hkely to become much inflamed
in consequence. We have fifteen species of
wild Crowfoot. The old writers called them
King-cups, Gold-cups, Cuckoo-buds, and Mary-
buds. The juice of the bulbous Crowfoot, if
applied to the nostrils, causes sneezing.

SWEET VIOLET.

SWEET \10LET.—Fwla odorata.

Class Pentandria. Orclei^ Moxogtnia. Nat. Orel. Yiolacej:.
Violet Tribe.

The sweet blue and white Violets are among
the first favourites of our childhood. We find
them in March ; hence our old writers called
them the ^larch Violet ; but they are still more
abundant in April than in the earlier month.
They grow on way-sides, and many a copse-
wood in Eno'land mio'ht remind us of the
poet's description : —

" There purple violets lurk,
With all the lovely children of the shade."

But it is not poets only wdio have praised
the Violet. ^lahomet said of it that it excelled
all other flowers ; and in Eastern lands it is
continually referred to as an image of sweetness.
The modern Arabians compare the eyelids to
a Violet dropping dew ; and the odour of its
half-hidden flower makes it a fit emblem of
modesty. The sweet Violet is a native of
every part of Europe. Lane, in his "Arabian
Nights," says sherbet is made of the Violet
by pounding the flowers and boiling them

22 SWEET VIOLET.

with susfar. In Palestine it blooms with the
Narcissus as early as the twentieth of January;
and it is in full flower during winter in the
palm groves of Barbary, and in Japan and
China. This flower was formerly cultivated,
for medicinal uses, in great quantities at
Stratford-upon-Avon, and the syrup of Violets
is still used by chemists to detect the presence
of an acid or alkali. The scentless species
called the Dog Violet has a much larger and
brighter flower, which grows on longer stalks,
so that, instead of hiding itself among the
leaves, it often renders the bank of a lilac tint
by its blossoms. It begins to bloom in March
or April, and remains in flower long after the
sweet species has disappeared. There are six
other kinds of Avild Violet, including the little
Pansy or Heartsease of our fields ; and so
numerous are Violets in other lands, that more
than a hundred species have been recorded.
Not one of them, however, has a sweeter scent
than the fragrant flower of our woodlands.
Besides the white variety of this Violet, we see
it of pale blue, lilac, or even red.

COMMON PURPLE TREFOIL.

COMMON PURPLE TREFOIL.

Trifolium pratense.

Class DiADELPHiA. Order Decandkia. Nat. Orel. LiGUMiNOSiE.
Pea and Bean Tribe,

The sweet purple Clover, how pleasant it
makes our summer walk by its perfume ! and
it is so attractive to the bees that one always
sees these insects gathering about the pastures
where it abounds. This is the Clover so much
cultivated for hay, the plant which the Anglo-
Saxons called doeferioort, because of its cleft
leaves ; from which also it has the name of
Trefoil. The triple leaf was, in former days,
in much repute as a charm against magic, and
our Clover was said by old writers to be not
only •' good for cattle, but noisome to witches.''
Happily, we of later generations are no be-
hevers in such superstitions ; but there was a
day when not only the simple villager, but
the knight, wore the leaf on his arm, under
the notion that it rendered him safe from
charms an(f spells. The poet alludes to this
old practice : —

*' Woe, woe to the wight who meets the green knight,
Except, on his faulchion arm.
Spell-proof he bear, like the brave St. Clair,
The holy Trefoil's charm."

24 COMMON PURPLE TREFOIL.

We have seventeen species of wild Trefoil.
Several of them are pnrple, and some are
bright yellow, or of a pale larimstone colour, or
w^hite. The little yelloAv Trefoil is so common
that every one knows it. It is shaped like the
Clover, but the heads of the flowers are not
larger than a currant. The Common White,
or Dutch Clover, is to be found in every
pasture land, and is also cultivated for its
useful herbage. Indeed, this White Clover
and our common purple species are two of
the most valuable herbage plants used in
European agriculture, and they will grow on
any soils, though thriving best on dry chalky
lands. The white head of flowers in the
Dutch Clover is upright, but the partial flower-
stalks bend down when the blossom withers,
so that the little pods which hold the seeds
hang covered with the petals of the dead
flowers. This plant is, by many writers, con-
sidered to be the ancient shamrog, the badge
of Ireland ; but others believe the original
plant to have been the Wood-sorrel.

WOOD STltAUBfclUHV.

WOOD STRAWBERRY.— i^my^/vV^ vesca.

Class IcosANDRiA. Oi'dcr Polygynia. Nat. Ord. Rosacea.
Rose Tribe.

The Strawberry is to be found in most of
the woods and thickets of our island, and its
white blossom is among the flowers of May
and the two following months. As early as
March, however, we may gather a plant so
similar to it, both in flower and leaf, that only
a botanist would mark the difiference between
them. This is the Barren Straw^berry {Pofeji-
iilla Fra^ariasirum), Avhicli grows on woods,
banks, and dry pastures. Unlike our Avild
Strawberry flower, however, it is succeeded by
no rich fruit. Our native fruits are few, and
the Strawberry is the best and sweetest of
them all, and indeed is unrivalled, for its
wholesome qualities, by any fruit either wild
or cultivated. Country children well know
its worth, but the larger Strawberries reared
in gardens are so much more in use for
desserts, that the wild species is rarely sold in
towns. In France, Strawberries are used not
only, as with us, as a fruit for the table and
for preserves, but for making an agreeable

26 WOOD STRAWBERRY".

drink, called Bavaroise a la Grecque, which
consists of the juice mingled with lemon,
sngar, and water. The sweet odour of the
Strawberry well deserves the allusion made to
it in its botanical name, which is taken from
fragrans; while our familiar one of Strawberry-
was probably given to it from the old practice
of threading the fruits on a straw, and thus
offering them for sale, a practice still followed
in some villages. If we remove our wild
Strawberry from the shade of the woodland
boughs, and plant it in a garden where the
sun can reach it, its flavour becomes sweeter.
It was probably the first species cultivated in
this country, and the Strawberry was reared
in the English garden at an early period.
Lidgate's song, composed at a date previous
to the year 1483, shows that it was sold in
London about that time.

" Then unto London I did me hye,

Of all the lands it beareth the prjse ;
Gode pescode owne began to cry,

Strabery rype, and cherrys in the ryse."

The Hautboy is sometimes found in our
woods, but is probably not truly wild.

'^ I n

VOOD ANEMONE.

WOOD x\NEMONE. — Anemone nemorosa.

CYasaPoLYANDRiA. Or(?f /• PoLTGYNiA. Nat.Onl. Raxunculacea:.
Crowfoot Tribe.

How pleasant are the woodlands during
April and May, with the gentle Avaving of the
young leaves, the song of joyous birds, and
the sweet odours of violets, primroses, and
other spring flowers ! Then the Blue-bell waves
to every breath of wind, and the Celandine
glistens like gold, and the delicate Stitchwort
bends so low as the wdnd passes over it, that
we can hardly believe it will be left unharmed
by the breeze.

But not one of these blossoms is more
beautiful than that of our Wood Anemone,
the Wind-flower of the older writers, and
which is still called by this poetical name in
some parts of oiu* country. Whether it was
named thus because it grows in the moun-
tainous woods where the wildest winds blow,
as well as in the sheltered valley ; or whether
because its petals are so light and delicate
that the wind soon ruffles them, we know not.
In many woods it is very plentiful, its light
seed being wafted by the spring winds, and

28 WOOD ANEMOI^E.

its tough roots creeping extensively underneath
the surface of the soil.

AVe have, besides this, three wild species of
Anemone, all of them beautiful to look upon,
but all possessing very acrimonious, and several
of them highly poisonous properties. Some of
the species which grow on American pastui'es
are well known to prove fatal to cattle. All
our wild Anemones are in bloom dming April
and May, but no species is so common as that
represented by the engraving. The beautiful
Pasque-flower Anemone {Anemone Pulsatilla)
is not, however, a rare flower in some counties,
where chalky soils abound; the blossom, which
is much larger than that of theAVood Anemone,
is of a delicate lilac colour. It is very silky,
and its tint is so elegant that it is a favourite
garden flower also.

The light blue Mountain Anemone {Anemone
Apennind) is so rare a wild flower, that perhaps
it ought rather to be regarded as having escaped
from some garden near the spot where it may
be found \ and the yellow Wood Anemone
{Anemone ranunculoides) is almost equally rare.
It has a bright yellow blossom.

FURZE. — TJlex Euroimus.

Class DiADELPHiA. Order Decandria. Nat. Ord. Leguminos.r.
Pea and Bean Tribe.

We are accustomed to look upon our common
Gorse or Whin as one of the hardiest of plants ;
and, growing upon our bleakest commons, and
bearing well the sea-breeze, so unfavourable to
plants in general, it might really seem to be so.
Yet great heat or cold is alike unfavourable to
this plant, and it will not thrive further to the
south of Europe than Provence, while in the
regions of the north it is unknown as a wild
flower. In Russia it is sometimes reared in the
greenhouse, and it is also regarded in Sweden
as a tender plant. What wonder, then, that
w^hen the great Swedish naturalist saw our
heaths covered with it, it filled him v^dth joy ;

" For Linnaeus
Knelt before it on the sod,
For its beauty thanking God."

The common Eurze is to be seen on almost
every heath, and gladdens many a sunny bank.
Goldsmith calls it '' the blossomed Eurze, un-
profitably gay;" yet it is useful to birds, and

30 FURZE.

bees, and butterflies, and many another living
creature. But besides this, tiie young shoots
afford a good pasture for cattle ; and Knapp
observes, that on several downs in Wales,
Devon, and Cornwall, the Purze-bushes assume
commonly the appearance of large green dense
balls ; every tender leaf being constantly shorn
'down by sheep and rabbits. The roots of the
Furze are useful, too, in binding loose soil,
and the plant is often grown on hill-sides for
this purpose.

Several of our poets refer to the golden
blossoms of the Furze, which are to be seen
gleaming in beauty, even when cold winds and
snow have withered almost all other flowers.
These remain,

"A token to the wintry earth that beauty Hveth still."

The common Gorse begins to bloom in May,
and is beautiful even late in autumn ; while the
dwarf species, ( UkcV naniis^ which is very like
this, but smaller, blossoms in autumn : but the
flow^ers of both species may sometimes be
gathered throughout the winter.

CRAB AVFLK—F^rus Malus.

Class IcosANDRiA. Ordei' Pentagynia. Nat. Ord. Rosacea.
Rose Tribe.

Few, indeed, are the wild fruit-trees of our

laud, aud fewer still are those which can claim

to be true natives of our soil, for some of those

now growing wild were introduced by the

Romans. The Crab Apple, however, is a truly

British plant, and its richly tinted blossoms

grace our spring woodlands, and the fruit is

ornamental at a later season of the year. Our

wild apple is of little use, save that its juice

forms the verjuice of commerce ; yet the harsh

austere crab of the wild tree is the origin of

all the valuable apples, the blossoms of which

render the orchard grounds of some counties

so beautiful.

Besides the many uses which Ave, in modern
days, make of the Apple, it was employed for
many others by our ancestors. Thus, a cosmetic
was formerly made from the juice, and in some
diseases physicians prescribed, as a remedy,
that the patient should hold, both sleeping and

32 CRAB APPLE.

waking, a sweet apple in liis hand, as its odour
was considered healthful. The old herbalist,
Gerarde, also tells us of a valuable ointment
made in his time of the pulp of apples, lard,
and rose water, which was called pomatum,
from ponmm, an apple, and was used to beau-
tify the skin. Before the introduction of the
hop into this country, cider was in much more
general use than it is now ; and old writers
complain that the use of that plant had " trans-
muted our wholesome baverage into beer."
Cider appears to have been a drink of very old
use in this country, and is probably the Sieder
of the ancient Britons. There is no doubt
that the Apple was cultivated in this land by
the Anglo-Saxons ; and it is now planted
throughout Europe as far as the sixtieth degree
of latitude, and in the temperate parts of Asia,
and North and South America. It has been
observed that the Apple will flourish in the
open air in every land in which oaks thrive.
The fruit mentioned in Scripture as the Apple
is probably the citron.

m'

DOG ROSE. — Rosa canina.

Class ICOSANDRIA. OnUv POLTGYNIA. Nat. Ord. ROSACEJi.

Rose Teibe.

In the rich hedges, which in many parts of
our island form so beautiful an enclosure to
fields, or meadows, there is not, in summer
time, a lovelier flow^er than the Rose. Though
smaller in size, and inferior in fragrance, to
Roses of sunnier climates, yet are we able, even
here, to recognise it as the Queen of small
flow^ers. We have eighteen species of small wdld
Rose; some of them are rare, but several of
them are common flowers, and none more so
than the Dog Rose. We wonder, when look-
ing on its beauty, that it should bear a name
which seems to imply some inferiority; yet the
old poets called it by the still less merited name
of Canker. The hips w^bich succeed the flowers
form a valuable store of food for birds, — the
fleld-fare, chaffinch, and redwing, especially,
feeding chiefly on these and on the berries of
the Whitethorn-tree.

Among the other summer Roses, which are
not only frequent, but may be easily recognised
even by those who are not botanists, are the
Sweet Brier Rose, {Rosa ruhiginosa^ the

No. 3.

34 DOG HOSE.

Eglantine of tlie older writers, which may at
once be known from all the others by its sweetly-
scented leaves ; and that pretty wild flower, the
Bnr net-leaved Rose, {Eosa spijiosissima,) which
is so frequent on heathy lands, and on chalky
or sandy soils. The flower is of a delicate
cream-colour, sometimes tinged with red, and
the shrub seldom more than three feet high,
and crowded with small dark green leaves and
sharp prickles. The blossoms are very nu-
merous, and the hips, which grow in autumn,
are very large, and purple or dark red in colour.
Children call them Cat-hips. The Rose is the
favourite flower of all lands. In former days,
when garlands were hung in churches, in order,
as an old writer says, to "■ attemper the aire,
coole and make freshe the place, to the delight
and comfort of such as are therein," the Rose
was a flow^er very generally chosen for the pur-
pose ; and one of the old books of the church
of St. Mary's at Hill, London, contains the
foll«wdng record, made by the churchwardens
during the reign of Edward IV. : —

" For Rose garlandis, and woodrowe gar-
landis, on St. Barnebes day, x j <://'

BiriXG STONECROP.

BITING STONECROP.— ^^^/^^;;^ acre,

t7rt.s5 Dlcandria. O/'tZe/- Pentagtnia. Nat. OrcZ. Crassui ace^.
Stonecrop Tribe.

Any one who should leather this vellow floAver
from the old wall, or the rock or sandy
ground on which it flourishes, would acknow-
ledge, upon tasting it, the justice of its com-
mon name. It is also, besides, called Wall
Pepper, on account of its pungent flavour ; and
so acrid is its juice, that it will raise a blister
on the skin if applied to it.

This Stonecrop, as well as some others of
our native species, is very ornamental to the
stone or brick wall, where it often accompanies
the snapdragon, the wallflower, and other plants
which require but a small portion of soil for
their nutriment. The power of adapting them-
selves to barren places is partaken by all the
genus, of which w^e have eleven British species.
Some of them are handsome plants, with white
or purplish flowers, though the greater number
have yellow blossoms. All have very fleshy
juicy stems and foliage; hence they are enabled
to retain a quantity of moisture during drought,

36 BITING STONECROP.

and in places so diy that little is yielded to
their roots by the soil. Plants of this kind im-
bibe moisture readily through their leaves, and
part with it slowly, and are thus fitted for
sandy deserts, or walls, or rocky places. The
Rev. R. W. Evans has drawn a good lesson
from our pretty Avild flower : — •

" There from his rocky pulpit, I heard cry

The Stonecrop : See how loose to earth I grow,
And draw my juicy nurture from the sky :

So di'aw not thou, fond man, thy root too low,
But loosely clingiug here,
From God's supernal sphere
Draw life's unearthly food — catch Heaven's undying
glow."

None of the Stonecrops are of great service
to man, though some have been used in medi-
cine ; but they have no little value in the eyes
of those who reflect that they clothe the most
barren soils with a gay mantle, and convert
the most dreary spot into a cheerful garden.
]\Iost of the species bloom during the months
of June and July. The Pm^ple Orpine {Sedain
Tclephium) flowers two months later.

ni'lST-HAUU J-.

REST-HARROW.— Ononis arvcnsis.

CJoss DiADELPHiA. Order Decandria. Nat. Ord. LEGUMiNOSiP,
Pea and Bean Tribe.

During tlie months of June, July, and
August, this plant is profusely covered with
butterfly-shaped flowers. It grows on barren
and waste soils, and is often very plentiful on
the green patches which occur on chalky cliffs
near the sea, as well as on the borders of culti-
vated lands. When it intrudes itself on corn-
fields, it becomes a very troublesome plant,
for its long and tough roots retard the progress
of the plough, while its numerous and thorny
branches are so great an impediment to the
action of the harrow, as to have obtained
for the plant its old English name. Equally
old and significant is that by which it is
known in Erance, where it is commonly called
Arrete-boeuf. Yet this plant has its uses, for
although when in its most thorny state no
animal but the donkey feeds upon it, yet on
])etter soils it mingles with the pasture, and
is relished by cows, sheep, and goats. The
roots are very sweet, and when young have

38 REST-HAKROW.

the flavour of liquorice. The writer was in-
formed by some workmen engaged in making
excavations, that they and their fellow-labourers
were accustomed to suck the juice from these
roots, in order to assuage the thirst induced by
hard toil under a summer sun. The young
shoots are also sweet and succulent, and in
some country places they are boiled and eaten.
An old Greek writer mentions, that when
pickled, they form an agreeable dish ; and in
our country they were, during the reign of
Queen Elizabeth, sometimes thus prepared for
the table. They were also formerly used me-
dicinally, and were believed to cure delirium.
The Rest-Harrow is very variable in regard
to the number of its thorns. In the most
barren soils, where it is even more abundant
than on richer lands, the thorns are very nu-
merous, and become woody and strong. This
is the case with some other plants, as the Pear-
tree and Sloe, which in a uild state bear
numerous thorns, but when cultivated are un-
armed. The blossoms of this plant are usually
rose-coloured, but are sometimes so pale as to
be almost white.

IVVr-LEAVED TOADFLAX.

IVY-LEAVED TO ADYL AX.— Linaria

Cijinhalaria.

Class DiDYNAMiA, Order Angiospermia. N'at. Orel. Scrophu-

LARINE^. FiGWORT TrIBE.

Among the many species of Toadflax which
continually meet the eye hi the country walk
of summer, not one is prettier than this.
Creeping over the grey v/all of the old ruin,
hanging down its thread-hke branches from
the ancient church-tower, where it fixes its
roots in the smallest crevices, its rich, thick
green leaves and numerous blossoms form a
handsome tapestry Avith which to hide the de-
cay of the buihling. The profusion of its pale
lilac flowers doubtless suggested the name of
Mother of Thousands, by which the plant is
known in villages. It is not an uncommon
tlhng to see it traihng downwards from a
garden-pot, suspended to the cottage ceiling,
or planted in gardens among stonecrops and
saxifrages, to cover ornamental rock-work.
The leaves are generally more or less tinged,
on their under surface, with reddish purple,
and the plant has a warm caper-like flavour,
and is considered to possess anti-scorbutic
properties.

40 IVY-LEAVED TOADFLAX.

There are six wild, besides many culti-
vated species of Toadflax. Some of them
have flowers no larger than those of our en-
graving, and one kind, the Least Toadflax,
{Linaria miiior) a rare plant, but found occa-
sionally on sandy fields, during June and July,
has much smaller flowers, of a purplish colour
tinged with yellow. But the plant of this genus
best known to those who notice wild flowers,
is the common yellow Toadflax {Linaria vul-
garis). It has blossoms shaped like those of
the ivy -leaved species, but much larger, and
forming a handsome and conspicuous cluster
on the upper part of the stem. They are of
a brimstone colour, marked at one part with
a deeper yellow tint; and the slender, sea-
green leaves are so like those of flax, that
that plant might easily, in an early stage of
its growth, be mistaken for it. It is abundant
in sandy corn-fields, and on hedge-banks,
where it attains a height of one or two feet,
and though beautiful, is one of the most
troublesome weeds to the agriculturist. Some
of the garden species of Toadflax are very
ornamental border flowers.

LONG PRICKLT-HBADBD POrfT.

LONG PRICKLY-HEADED POPPY.

Tapavcr Argemone,

Class POLYANDRIA. OrcZf /' MoNOGYNIA. Nut. Ovd. Pap AVERAGES.

Poppy Tribe.

This scarlet Poppy, though not an nnfrequent
flower in the cornfield durins^ the month of
June, is not the most common of onr native
species. It may be distinguished from the
other kinds by its narrower petals. It is, how-
ever, like the large common Scarlet Poppy,
Popaver Phceas,) slightly narcotic in its pro-
perties, and the fohage of both species has
been used as a culinary vegetable. In England
the scarlet flowers of our wild poppies are col-
lected and made into a syrup, ^vhicli is used as
an ingredient in soups, gruels, and porridge.
The blossoms of all the poppies are very fragile,
and on this account the largest of our wild
kinds received the specific name of Rhaeas,
from the Greek word " to flow," or " fall."
The whole genus is termed Papaver, from the
Celtic word " papa," which signifies the pap
or soft food given to infants, among which it

42 LONG PRICKLY-HEADED POPPY.

was formerly customary to boil poppy seeds,
in order to induce sleep.

We have six wild species of poppy, all grow-
ing chiefly in the cornfield, though found too
on hedge-banks and road-sides. The common
Red Poppy is twice as large as that in the
engraving. In some country places it is
called Corn Rose. Clare also alludes to it
under another familiar country name : —

•'* Corn Poppies, that in crimson dwell,
Called Head-aches, from their sickly smell."

The Long Smooth-headed Poppy {Papaver
dabium) is not a rare flower among the corn.
It has a large blossom, but its colour is of a
paler scarlet than that of the common poppy.
A much rarer species is the Round Rough-
headed Poppy, {Palaver hj/briditm,) which is
found in some of the chalky and sandy fields of
Enoiand.

Besides these, we have a yellow poppy,
{Meconopsis Camhrica^ which grows on rocky
places in Devonshire, Wales, and Ireland, and
a white poppy, {Fapaver somnifcriim,) which
grows in some of our cornfields.

WHITE POPPT.

AYHITE VQ^^VX.'—Papaver somnifcrum.

Class PoLYANDRiA. OnUv MoNOGYNiA. Nat. Ord. Papaverace.e.
Poppy Tribe.

This elegant Poppy, though less common
than the scarlet species, is yet not unfrequent
in the fields of Norfolk, Cambridgeshire,
Kent, and other counties. Some botanists
have thou2:ht that it s^rows only on or near
lands where it was formerly cultivated ; but its
abundance in some fields at Sidmouth, as wtII
as in some other places where this was not the
case, seem to entitle it to a place among our
wild flowers. Although it is now generally
to be met Avith, growing among the weeds of
the fields of Southern Europe, it is not impro-
bable that in past ages it was introduced into
this quarter of the world from Asia. It was
very early cultivated in Greece, probably for
the sake of its seeds, which w^ere used as food.

This poppy is very extensively planted in
the present day in most European countries,
not alone for the opiiun which is made from
its juices, but also for its large round seed-
vessel, and for the seeds, from which oil is ex-

44 WHITE POPPY.

traded. All parts of the plant, except the seeds,
contain a narcotic juice, which exists in the
greatest quantity in the seed-vessel, and the
fields of white poppies that we see on some
parts of our landscape are sot\ti for the sake
of the capsules, which are used in fomentations
to allay pain. They are gathered as they ripen,
and as some are matured much later than
others, there are often three or four times of
gathering during one season.

The White Poppy is grown in Turkey,
Persia, and India, for the opium, which though
so valuable a remedy for disease, is a most
pernicious drug, when taken habitually, or in
large quantities. It is the thickened milky
juice of the poppy, which in warmer climates
is more highly narcotic than when grown in
ours. The drug is obtained by making in-
cisions in the capsule at sunset, and in the
morning the juice, which has hardened into a
kind of gum, is scraped off by women and
children, and made into cakes for the purposes
of commerce.

STATl^TRlSTLl^.—Centaurea Calcifrajja.

I'fass Syngenesia. Order Frustranea. Nat. Ord. Composit.«
Compound Flowers.

Although tliis flower bears the name of
a tliistle, and has somewhat the appearance of
one, yet it does not belong to the thistle tribe.
The true thistles have their leaves more or less
edged with spines, often with spines so sharp
that we fear to touch them ; but in this plant
they are on the floAver-cup only. In their early
stage of growth they are green and tender ;
but as they advance to maturity they become
hard and woody, and might inflict a deep
wound on the hand which rashly seized them.

The name by which this flower is distin-
guished from the other species of Centaurea,
has an allusion to the spiny calyx. Calcitrapa
is the Latin word for the Caltrop, or iron ball
covered witli thick spines, which was used of
old times in the wars, in order to check the
advance of cavalry. Another Star-Thistle,
which is brought from the fields of the Levant^
to adorn our gardens, has still more singular
spines about its purple blossoms, and it has

46 STAR-THISTLE.

received the specific name of Crocodylium,
because these are thought to resemble the
jaws of a crocodile ; ^yllile others of the species
bear in their names some reference to various
ancient weapons of warfare.

Our Star-Tliistle, tliough a common flower
in many places, is not so in England. It
blooms during the months of July and August,
on gravelly, sandy, and chalky soils, and may
often be found among the wild flowers of the
cliff, by the sea, or on the green patches which
lie on the upper part of the beach. It is very
rare in Scotland, and more fre(|uent in the
middle and southern counties of England than
elsewhere.

The Yellow Star-Thistle, called also St.
Barnaby's Thistle, {Centaurea sohfitialis,) is a
more rare kind, but grows on some fields and
waste places in the east and south of Eng-
land; and the Jersey Star-Thistle {Centaurea
Isnardi) is an ornamental flower on the pas-
tures of the island whence it takes its name.

CORN BLUE-BOTTLE.

CORN BLVE-BOTTLE.—Cenfa^nea Cyanus.

C/fisa Stngexesia. Ordrr Frustranea. Nat. Orel. Composit.t^.
Compound Flowers.

Tins flower, the Bluet of the French, and
the Korn-blume of the Germans, is of so bril-
liant a blue that it is commonly admitted to a
place among the border flowers of the garden.
It grows wild in corn-fields throughout Europe,
and we often see its beautiful tint contrasting
Avell with the rich brown hue of the ears of
corn, during the months of July and August.
It is sometimes three feet high, and both stems
and leaves, especially the under surface of the
latter, are covered with a thick cottony down.
The expressed juice of the ]jlant furnishes a
beautiful bhie dye ; but the tint fades so
rapidly, that it is not used by the dyers.

Every one who is accustomed to ramble
among the fields and lanes of our land, has
seen a flower shaped like that figured in our
engraving, but of a brilliant purple hue. It
blossoms during August and September, but
is so hardy, that it will sometimes, in a mild

4S CORN BLUE-BOTTLE.

season, linger on until November. It is a
plant of the same genus as the Blue-Bottle,
and is called the Brown Radiant Knapweed
{Centaurea jacea). The plants of the whole
genus were formerly in high repute for their
supposed healing properties ; and ancient tra-
dition records that some one of these flowers
was that with which the Centaur Chiron cured
the wound in his foot, which had been inflicted
by the arrow of Hercules. Hence the name
Centaurea was applied to the whole genus.

One species, which like our Star-Thistle has
spines on its flower-cup, was called the Blessed
Thistle, {Centaurea benedicta,) from the healing
properties which it was believed to possess.
It was said to cure not only fevers and wounds
of all kinds, but to be of great eflicacy in that
direst of diseases, the plague. In modern
times, however, not one of the species is found
to possess any medicinal virtue.

HAREBELL. — Campanula rofimdifolia.

C^aAs P£XTA>^DRiA. 0/-(7f ?' MoNOGTNiA. Nat. Ovd. Campanulace.1:.
Bell-Flower Tkibe.

There are few of our wild flo^vers more
admired, or which have won more praises from
the poets, than the Harebell. Bowing down
to every wind which sweeps across the open
and bleak })laces which are its native hannts,
and having its azure cup sprinkled with the
morning dews, as with pearls, it surpasses most
flowers in gracefulness of form, and many in
beauty of colour. It is, too, as common as it
is lovely, for every heath and sunny bank and
hilly pasture has its little knots of harebells,
and it often waves on the very summit of some
tall cliff or old wall, being ever most plentiful

" On the swelling downs, where sweet air stirs
The blue-bells lightly, and where prickly furze
Buds lavish gold."

The leaves on its stem are slender, hke those
of grass, but at its base there are a number of
roundish notched leaves, which serve to dis-

Ko. 4.

50 HAREBELL.

tinguish this species from one somewhat
similar. When the plant is young, the leaves
are easily detected ; but as it increases in size,
they are often quite dried up.

We have no less than ten wild species of
bell-flowers, some of them having stout stems
and large leaves, from among which hang con-
spicuous purple bells. In the summer months
many species are very common on our hedge-
banks and in woods. There is one wild kind,
which is very small and delicate, and of extreme
beauty. It is the Ivy-leaved Bell-flower, {Cam-
panula hederacea,) with light-blue bells, which
have scarcely any tendency to droop. Tliis
most graceful little plant grows in tufts, and
has a great number of ivy-shaped leaves ; its
stems are weak, and so slender, that they are
seldom much larger than a pack-thread. It
grows in moist shady woods, and is plentiful
in Devonshire, Cornwall, and Sussex, as well
as in some other parts of our island, though in
most districts it is a rare flower.

^-^

cony PRVERPEw.

CORN ^^N'^^YWN .—Pt/rethrmn inodorum.

Class Syngenesia. Order Superflua, Nat. Ord. Composite.
Compound Flowers.

There are so many flowers scattered by
waysides, fields, and meadows, which are similar
in their general appearance to that represented
1)y our engraving, that they often perplex the
young botanist. Some species of chamomile
resemble it; the Tall Ox-eye Daisy, though
having very different leaves, has a blossom like
it, and the other two wild species of Feverfew
are very similar. This flower has little claim
to its familiar name of Mayweed, for it blossoms
from August until October, on fields and waste
places, and is among the few flowers which we
may perchance find even in the very depth of
winter. Its stem is about a foot high, and it
has a sHghtly aromatic odour.

The other two kinds of Feverfew are also
frequent flowers. The Common Feverfew
{Fyrethrum Pariheniuin) may be known by its
very strong and unpleasant odour, and it has a
very bitter flavour. It is used in medicine,
and lotions for external applications are also
made from it. It is one of the plants which
among country people are held in high estima-

52 CORN FEVERFEW.

tion as a remedy for fever; and, doubtless,
wlien rightly applied, it is a valuable one, for
medical practitioners acknowledge its tonic
properties, and, like those who gave it its old
English name, consider it of efficacy in reducing
fever.

The white-rayed flowers of the Sea-side
Feverfew {P^re thrum maritimuni) are very often
to be seen growing not only on the green
patches which lie among the cliffs, but also on
the beach, beyond the reach of the waves.
They appear in July, and though smaller in
size than those of the Corn Feverfew, are so
like them, that many botanists think it to be
the same plant, and that its dwarf condition is
to be ascribed to its situation ; as the bleak
winds and saline atmosphere of the sea-coast
are well known to be unfavourable to the
growth of almost all plants, save those which
will grow there only.

Many species of Feverfew are reared in
gardens, and some of the double-flowered kinds
are very pretty. They have almost all, like our
wild flower, white rays around a yellow disk,
but the Siberian Feverfew, and some others,
are bright yellow both in the ray and disk.

WOODSOUREL.

WOOD-SORREL.— Oxalis acefosella.

Class Decandria. Order Pentagyxia. Nat. Orel. Oxalide.2.
Wood-Sorrel Tribe.

No native plant has leaves so acid as those
of the Wood-sorrel. The acid resembles that
of the lemon ; hence the leaf is very pleasant in
flavour, and is not only relished by the rambler
in the woods, but is used in salads. A useful
medicinal drink is also made of its juice ; and
a poisonous salt procured from it removes
stains from linen. The plant blooms in May,
and is abundant in woods and shady places.
When growing on high mountains it continues
in flower until August. Curtis has observed
a very singular cu'cumstance respecthig its
seed-vessel. He says that it continues, during
the greater part of the summer, to produce
seed-vessels and seeds, without any appearance
of expanded blossoms, which are observable at
one season only of the year. When the blossom
is over, the flower-stalk bends down, but be-
comes upright again as soon as the seed has
ripened. When the seed-vessel is touched,
the seeds are thrown to a great distance, not,

54 WOOD-SORREL.

as in some plants, by the elasticity of the seed-
vessel, but by the bursting of the covering
which invests the seed itself. The roots are
like coral beads strung together, and the leaves
are more sensitive than those of any other of
our wild flowers, closhig during darkness or at
the approach of a storm. They are said, by
some, to show some irritability on being struck,
but this statement the author has not found to
be true.

The triple leaf had, in former days, some
superstitious veneration attached to it, and the
plant was consequently called AUelujah. Some
of the early religious painters of Italy in-
troduced it into their pictures ; and the author
of the work called " Modern Painters," refers
to this use. He remarks : '' Fra AngeHco's
use of the Oxalis acetosella is as faithful in
representation as touching in feeling. The
triple leaf of this plant and white flower,
stained purple, probably gave it strange typical
interest among the Christian painters." Some
persons believe that this w^as the Shamrock,
the plant chosen by St. Patrick to illustrate
the doctrine of the Trinity.

COMMON TLBA'BANK—Ftilicaria

dysenterica.

C7as5STNGENESiA. OrcZe;' SuPERFLUA. A'af. Orf?. Composite.
CoMPOU^'D Flowers.

Whenever we see this yellow star with its
pale green woolly leaves springing up in pro-
fusion among the grass or green herbage, we
may feel assured that water is near. The
stream may be wandering on silently, or the
stagnant pool be hidden among the trees
and bushes ; but this plant is the undoubted
indication of moist land, and by its side we
shall find the blue blossoms of the Brooklime,
or the waving flower of the Yellow Iris, or the
beautifully fringed bloom of the Buck-bean, or
some of the many flowers peculiar to the well-
watered soil. This plant received its name
from the belief that its smoke, while burning,
drives away fleas, gnats, and other insects. Its
juice, too, is considered by country people to
possess some medicinal virtues. It is saltish,
and somewhat pungent in flavour, and a de-
coction made from the plant is acid in the
throat, and astringent in its property, turning
green with vitriol of iron ; while the infusion
becomes black, by an admixture with this
vitriol.

56 COMMON FLEA-BANE.

The common Elea-bane flowers in August,
and is usually about a foot, or a foot and a half
in height; but in the month of September,
another species, very similar to this in appear-
ance, is found in moist sandy places in England,
especially where water has stood. It is the
Small Flea-bane {FiiUcaria vulgaris), and has
narrower leaves than those represented in the
enoTavino-. This latter kind is unknown in
Scotland or Ireland, and the Common Flea-
bane, frequent as it is on the English land-
scape, is a rare flower in Scotland. Both
kinds are believed to be noxious to insects,
and they were formerly very generally burnt,
or hung up in country cottages to exterminate
these intruders. The French peasantry com-
monly use for a similar purpose another plant
called Herbe aux puces, which we call Plough-
man's Spikenard {Coni/za squarrosa), and which
is frequent in autumn on our chalky or clayey
soils ; while a plant called by us the Canada
Flea-bane {Erigeron Ccmadense) has, both on
the Continent and in England, a repute for the
same services.

WOODY NIGHTSHADE, OR BITTER SWEET.

WOODY NIGHTSHADE, oe BITTER
SWEET. — Solanum dulcamara.

Class PENTA^•DRIA. Ovdci' MOXOGYNIA. Ncit. Ofd. SOLANE^B.

Nightshade Tribe. ^^^^J^^^ M^.t^T'-y^

The lurid purple blossoms of tliis plant would
lead the botanist to infer, at the first glance, that
poison lurked there. The scarlet berries which in
the latter paii: of summer deck the branches, and
wliich in winter hang in glistening clusters among
withered boughs and leaves, are vvxll known to be
noxious, and children are tempted by their beauty to
taste these fruits. In cases where this occurs, warm
water should be given in great quantities, until
medical aid arrives. The roots of this Nightshade
are in scent like the potato, and its familiar name
originates in their flavour, which is at first bitter
in the mouth, and afterwards sweet. The simi-
larity in their blossoms also points out the affinity
between this plant and the potato. This valu-
able root belongs to another species of the same
genus [Solanum fuherosum), audits connexion with
the poisonous family of the Nightshades made Lin-
naeus long mistnistful of its wholesome qualities.
The berries, the leaves, and even the uncooked
tubers of the potato, possess indeed, in a milder

58 WOODY NIGHTSHADE.

form, the narcotic properties of this tribe; but
the heat Avhich prepares the vegetable for our
table, wholly removes any unwholesome principle.

The twigs and stalks of the Bitter Sweet are
used by the Swedish peasants to bind around
their wooden cans, and the inhabitants of West-
phalia make a decoction of the whole plant, and
use it as a remedy for rheumatism. This species
is common throughout Europe, and also in many
parts of x\sia and North America. Most cattle
refuse its foliage, but the goat relishes it.

There is a kind of Nightshade very frequent as
a weed in our gardens, on sea-beaches, and in
other waste places, with white flowers shaped like
those of the engraving, which are succeeded by
black berries. This is the garden Nightshade
[Solanum nigrum). The berries are, by us, con-
sidered a virulent poison ; but Backhouse mentions
that the people of Norfolk Island eat them,
though he observes that the climate probably
alters their properties. The Deadly Nightshade
is a dififerently formed flower from either of these,
and is a purple bell. It is the Atropa Belladonna
of the botanist. It bears black berries.

rS-FOOT.

COLTS-YOOT. —Timila^o Farfara,

Class Syngenesia. Oi-der Superflua. Nat. Ord. CoMrosiT.E.
Compound Flowers.

Those who are in the habit of observing
the plants of our moist and clayey soils, will
recognise this as very abundant there. Next
to the tassel-like blossoms of the hazel and the
silver ray of the daisy, this is the earliest of the
spring Howers, often blooming in March, before
the Violet has yet put forth a bud. As the
yelloAv blossom appears long before the foliage,
the plant is less ornamental than it would be,
were it accompanied by the large and hand-
some leaves which spread, all the summer-
time, over many a bank by our wayside walk.
The leaves have long been used medicinally as
an infusion for cough, and the practice of
smoking them like tobacco is still very general
in viUages. This custom is of very ancient
date, for Phny directs that the foliage sliould
be burned, and that the smoke arising from it
should be drawn into the mouth through a
reed and swallowed. The scientific name of
the genus is derived from tussis, a cough.

The under surface of the leaf of the Colt's-
foot is covered with a thick cottony down.

60 colt's-foot.

which was often used for tmcler, when that
substance was more in request than it now is.
The Tartars are much infested by gnats, and
they frequently burn touchwood in order to
suffocate these insects, and use the roots of
this Coh's-foot for the purpose. It grows on
barren steppes and plains where few other
plants are found, and it blooms from the
beginning of ]\Iarch till the end of April, often
giving quite a yellow hue to the lands where
it abounds.

Curtis notices one peculiarity in this blossom.
As soon as the flower is oat of bloom, and the
seeds, with the pappus or down as yet moist,
are enclosed in the flower-cup, the heads hang
down ; but as the moisture of the seeds and
down evaporates in withering, they become
lighter, and the ball of feathery seeds expands,
and assumes the appearance of a Dandelion
puff.

The creeping character of the roots, the
great abundance of the seeds, and the facility
with which they are dispersed, render this
plant a very troublesome weed on some cul-
tivated lands.

^ 'r

VTPKUS BUG LOSS.

VIPER'S BVGLOSS, —Fc/iium vulgare.

Class Pentandria. Order Moxogtxia. Nat. Ord. Boragine^e.
Borage Tribe.

AmOxXg the flowers which beautify our waste
places, this plant is not only one of the most
striking from its height, but one of the most
beautiful in shape and hue. We never find it
on the rich grassy meadow-land, or among the
lovely wild flowers which border our streams,
or rise beneath the shadow of the trees. But on
the heap of chalk, or sand, or gravel, accumu-
lated by the way-side ; on the sandy soil of the
neglected field; on the beach, where, among
the stones, a little earth can find room to
gather ; on the old wall, or the majestic cliff,
there it raises its rich spire of blossoms. Its
proper season of flowering is in June and
July; but the author has often gathered it
even in December, not rising to its usual
height, but with the rich purple of its
blossoms, and the bright red tint of their long
stamens, as beautiful as ever. The plant is
usually about two feet high; but in places
where it flourishes best, as in the sandy fields
of Cambridgeshire, and on the chalky cliffs of
Dover, it is sometimes more than three feet in

62 VIPER S BUGLOSS.

height, and the blossoms extend half way down
the stem. The colour of the fully-expanded
flowers is of a deep blue, but the young buds
are of a full rose colour, and occasionally the
blossoms are found, as at Cobham, in Kent,
of a pure white. The whole plant is very
rough to the touch. Its scientific and English
names are significant of the long-cherished
notion, that it was an effectual remedy for the
bite of a viper, — a notion derived from its
spotted stem, and its seed, which somewhat
resembles the head of that animal, and was
thus deemed to have some mysterious con-
nexion with it.

Though our Viper's Bugloss is an herbaceous
plant, many of the species are much larger,
and several found at the Cape of Good Hope
are shrubs. The various kinds grow abundantly
throughout Europe, from the cold Siberia,
where they enliven the dreary lands, to the
warm latitudes of the south, where flowers are
bright and numerous. They are, however,
less frequent in the equinoctial parts of the
world. Some very handsome species are
commonly cultivated in om* gardens.

GROUND lyX.—GIechoina hederacea.

Class Did YN AMI A. Order Gymnospermia. Nat, Orel. LABiATiE,
Labiate Tribe.

This plant lias a strong aromatic odour,
especially if the leaves are bruised, and both
its flower and foliage are very pretty. Bishop
Mant well describes the former : —

" And there upon the sod below,
Ground Ivy's purple blossoms show,
Like helmet of Crusader knight,
Its anther's cross-like form of white."

These flowers grow in threes, between the
stalk and leaf; they are sometimes of a pale
lilac, and, though more rarely, quite white.
They appear in April and May; but long
before the spring has put forth a single blos-
som, the leaves may be found clustering on the
hedge-bank, though the odour which charac-
terises them at a later season, is then scarcely
perceptible. Ornamental as this plant is, yet
it is very injurious to pasture lands, its long
trailing stems occupying much room, and
gradually exterminating the sweet grasses and

64 GROUND IVY.

other plants which form the food of cattle.
Few animals will touch the Ground Ivy unless
compelled by hunger to do so, and it is even
said to be injurious to horses. The leaves are
much used in villages to make an infusion for
coughs, and the plant was formerly called Ale-
hoof and Tun-hoof, because their bitter pro-
perties rendered them of use in the beer made
in the old English households, before hops had
become the common growth of our country.
Even in recent times a quantity of this plant
has been thrown into a vat of ale in order to
clarify it, and the ale thus prepared has been
taken as a remedy for some maladies of the
skin.

We may often see, during autumn, a num-
ber of small hairy tumours on the leaves of
the Ground Ivy, which are occasioned by the
puncture of the insect called Cynips Glechomse.
These galls are sometimes eaten by the pea-
santry of France; but Reaumur, who tasted
them, remarks that it is doubtful if tliey will
rank with good fruits. They have, as might
be expected, a strong flavour of the plant on
which they are formed.

LESSER CELANDINE, or PILEWORT.

Hanu/iculus ficaria.

Class PoLYANDRiA. Order Monogyxia. Nat. Orel. Ra>-uncu-
LACE.E. Crowfoot Tribe.

Who that loves summer sniishine and open-
ing flowers does not welcome this " herald of
the gentlest gales ? " Little children rmi into
the meadows to find the daisy, and before the
buttercup has yet glittered among the grass
they may see

" The vernal Pilewort's globe unfold
Its star-like disk of burnish'd gold;
Starlike in seeming form, from far
It shines too like a glistening star."

AVith the exception of the dandelion it is the
gayest and brightest of our early flowers, and
when the lark and the thrush are welcoming
the spring, and summer birds have come across
the ocean to sino- their son^fs in our woodland
trees, then every hedge-bank is studded with
the Celandine as with golden stars, and from
March till the end of May it gleams among the
grass of the meadow, flora's garland is then
Xo. 5. . . ^ ^

66 LESSER CELANDINE, OR PILEWORT.

" Wreath'd of the sunny Celandine — the brief
Courageous Wind-flower, loveliest of the fi-ail —
The Hazel's crimson star — the Woodbine's leaf —
The Daisy with its half-closed eye of grief;
Prophets of fragrance, beauty, joy and song."

This flower is a true lover of the sunshine,
opening only on bright days. A large number
of the blossoms grow from one root, and are
surrounded by shining green leaves spotted
with pale green. It is not a useful plant,
and though the lover of wild flowers greets it
with pleasure, yet the farmer Avould gladly
eradicate it from his pasture lands. It belongs
to the Ranunculus tribe, like the Buttercups,
and like them possesses very acrimonious pro-
perties. Its flowers are left untouched by the
cattle, and its roots are very bitter and acrid,
yet they are used for medicinal purposes. It
is also said to injure the plants growing
around it.

The Celandine closes its flowers from five
o'clock in the eveninsr till nine on the fol-
lowino; morninof. Professor Martvn observes,
that the young leaves may be eaten in spring,
but they are rather acrid.

YKi.LOW TOAUFI.AX.

YELLOW TO\T>¥LAX.—Zinaria vulgaris.

Class DiDYNAMiA. Order Angiospermia. Xat. Ord. ScRoruu-

LARINE.E. — FiGWORT TrIBE.

This showy flower is a very frequent one
on the rural landscape. The large sulphur-
coloured blossoms, raised on a stem one or
two feet in height, are very conspicuous in
hedo;es and on the borders of corn-fields. On
corn lands, as well as on pastures wdiere the
soil is sandy, it is often very troublesome to
the cultivator, its two-celled capsules being
very numerous, and containing many seeds,
which, during the later months of autumn,
are scattered far and wide by wind and rain.
Though paler in hue than many of the golden
flowers of August and September, yet it is
bright enough to give a yellow^ tint to the field
at that season.

The blossoms are shaped like those of the
snapdragon of our old walh and ruins, except
that they are spurred at the base. Country
people call the Toadflax Butter and Eggs,
because of the deep yellow and pale sulphur
colour with which they are tingetl.

68 YELLOW TOADFLAX.

The foliage of this plant has upon it that
sea-green bloom which the botanist calls the
glaucous tint, and, like some others of the
genus, it has a resemblance to the leaves of the
Flax ; hence the name from Linimi, Flax. Both
this and the wild species called the sharp-
pointed Fluellin, or Toadflax, which is frequent
on gravelly or chalky corn-fields in England,
were formerly used as a lotion to improve the
beauty of the skin, and a decoction is still
made for this purpose from the blossoms, and
has been recommended by some good authori-
ties. The juice mingled with milk is used to
poison flies, but probably, like many other
liquids used with this design, it attracts to the
spot a much larger number than it destroys.

" And thou, Linaria, mingle in my wreath
Thy golden dragons, for though perfumed breath
Escapes not from thy yellow petals, yet
Glad thoughts bringest thou of hedge-row foliage, wet
With tears and dew ; lark warblings, and green ferns
O'erspanning crystal runnels, where there tui'ns
And twines the glossy Ivy."

^^%v

HED-D-BHRIED p-iT^rY

RED-BERRIED BRYONY.— 5ryo«e« dioica.

Class MoN(EciA. Order Pentandria. Nat, Orel. Cucurbitace^.
Gourd Tribe.

In the latter part of April, when young leaves
and shoots seem daily to increase in number
and luxuriance, many of them are almost as
beautiful as flowers. But no gradually ex-
panding shoot is at this season more elegant
than that of the White Bryony. In later
months, the foliage is thickly beset, both on
the upper and under surfaces, with stiff hairs
almost like prickles ; but in the spring these
form merely a beautiful down on the tender
green of the stem and leaves, and this covering
is so full, and the hairs so clear and glittering,
that the young plant looks as if covered with
the bright hoar frost of winter. By the middle
of May, however, the graceful shoot has be-
come a long trailing stem, and, reaching a
distance of many feet among the hedges and
thickets, its deep green, vine-like leaves, curling
tendrils, and greenish-white flowers, render
it one of our most beautiful wild climbers.
Its botanical name is taken from a Greek word

70 RED 'BERRIED BRYONY.

significant of its rapid growth ; and we have
scarcely any wild plant which increases so fast
as this. In the autumn its branches are
covered with clusters of deep red berries.

The root of this is very large, white, and
branched. Gerarde says of one in his time,
" The queen's chief chkurgeon. Master William
Goodorous, showed me a root hereof, that waied
halfe an hundred waighte, and of the bignesse
of a childe of a yeere old." It is very acrid
in its properties, and is often scraped and
applied to the limb affected with rheumatism,
when it causes a stinging sensation in the
skin, similar to that produced by the nettle.
The whole plant abounds with an acrid foetid
juice. Frequent as it is in England, it is not
a common plant in Scotland ; and it seems
doubtful whether it is indigenous to that
country. It is said that the goat is the only
quadruped which will eat this plant. It is the
only British plant belonging to the Gourd
Tribe.

^■- m-

CORN UAmGOLD. —r7rr?/.sm^i/iemm?i
segetum.

Class Syngenesia. Order Superflua. Nat. Ord. Composite.
Compound Flowers.

The bright Corn Marigold is one of the largest
and gayest of the starry golden blossoms which
are so nnmerous durmg July and August.
It is often called Yellow Ox-eye, Golden Corn-
flower, and Yellow Corn, and is the Gold or
Goides of the early English poets. It is about
a foot high, and is frequent enough in the
corn-fields of our native land to prove, in
some districts, a very troublesome weed to the
agi'iculturist, sometimes almost exterminating
the whole crop, on which much labour and cost
have been bestowed. In many countries of
Europe, as in France and Germany, it is, how-
ever, far more abundant than in ours. It is
a very handsome plant, and would doubtless
have become a favourite garden-flower, but
that cultivation never renders it double.

We have but one other wild species of the
Chrysanthemum genus, and that is the common
flower of almost every dry pasture, the Ox-eye

7.2 CORN MARIGOLD.

daisy {Chrysanthemum leiicanthemum) . Tliis is
also called, by country people, Mooiivvort, Bull-
daisy, and a variety of familiar names. It has
white rays around a yellow disk, and, growing
often to the height of a foot and a half, it
gives quite a Avhite tint to the meadows during
June and July.

The name of the genus is derived from two
Greek words, signifying gold and flower ; and
the Germans term these plants Gold-hlume,
Avhile the Prencli call them Clirysantheme, and
the Italians Crisantero. The species so orna-
mental to our gardens in autumn is the
Chinese Chrysanthemum. These plants are,
in the esteem of the Chinese, second only
to their dwarf trees. "So high," says For-
tune, " do they stand in favour with the
Chinese gardener, that he will cultivate them
extensively, even against the wishes of his
employer. I was told that the late Mr. Beale
used to say, that he grew Chrysanthemums in
his garden for no other purpose than to please
his gardener, not having any taste for them
himself."

COMMON FUMITORY.

COMMON 'FmilTORY.—Fumaria

officinalis.

Class DiADELpniA. Order Hexandria. Nat. Ord. Fumariace^.
Fumitory Tribe.

This plant is the Fume-de-terre of the French
rustic, and the Earth-smoke of the people of
our northern counties. Both its English name,
and the Latin, derived from fimius, smoke,
refer to the same idea. The name is said to
be taken from the odour of the plant ; yet this,
though somewhat unpleasant, is not very
similar to that of smoke. The author has
known Kentish children call the plant wax
dolls, and the rose-coloured flowers, with their
httle dark purple heads, are not unlike the
small w^axen toys made to please the taste of
childhood. The plant w^as formerly a valuable
medicine in cutaneous disorders ; its young
tops are still prepared as a tonic ; and Thun-
berg says, that the people of Japan make much
medicinal use of it. Clare, one of our most
original poets, and one well acquainted with
rural practices, alludes to its use as a cosmetic,
when describing the flowers which the weeders
eradicate.

" And Fumitory too, a name
Which Superstition holds to Fame,

74 COMMON FUMITORY.

"Whose red and purple mottled flowers
Are cropp'd by maids in weeding hours,
To boil in water, milk, and whey.
For w^ashes on a holiday,
To make their beauty fair and sleek,
And scare the tan from summer's cheek;
And oft the dame will feel inclined,
As childhood's memory comes to mind,
To turn her hook away, and spare
The blooms it loved to gather there."

This plant is common by road-sides and in
cultivated fields and gardens, and is sometimes
so abundant in the corn-field of spring, as to
give a red hue to the land. It flowers during
the whole summer.

We have, besides, two wild species of the
genus, the Ramping ^iimitov j {Fa?n aria capreo-
lata), which blooms from May to August, and
is frequent in gardens and corn-fields. It
is much like the common species^ but the
flowers are larger and the stems generally more
clunbing. The small-flowered Fumitory {¥u-
maria joarviflora) is a rare species, occasionally
found in fields during August and September.
The flowers are rose-coloured, and the leaves
have, instead of the pale green tint of the
other kinds, a bright verdant hue.

,^,^ ^^^ ^y^ v* ^- M.^7^^^ ' -

WHITE DEAD i\£XrLl£

WHITE DEAD NETTLE.— Zf/««V«« all

Class DiDYNAMiA. Order Gymnospermia. Kat. Ord. Labiat^e,
Labiate Tribe.

The foliage of this plant bears a strong
resemblance to that of the nettle. For this
reason, and because it is destitute of stinging
properties, it is named Dead or Blind Nettle.
There arc four other species, but these are not
much like nettles. The AMiite Dead Nettle is
among the earliest of spring flowers, and may
be gathered at almost any time during the
summer, though most abundant in June and
Jidy. The number of its flowers varies from
ten to twenty in a whorl ; and it abounds on
field borders, hedges and waste places, its
blossoms being occasionally tinged with pink.
At the base of th^ flower lies a store of honey
for bee, or butterfly, or other insect. The odour
of this plant, as well as of the other species,
is rather unpleasant. Bishop Mant has de-
scrilxjd them : —

" And there, with whorls encircHng graced,
Of white, and purple-tinted red, .
The harmless Nettle's helmed head ;
Less apt with fragrance to delight
The smell, than please the curious sight."

76

WHITE DEAD NETTLE.

The white species is the Ortie blanche of the
French, and the Ortlca morta of the Italians
It is refused bj cattle, but in Sweden both
this and the Red Dead iXettle are boiled for
the table.

The other species are aU of a reddish purple
hue. One kind, the Red Dead Nettle, {Lamiim
p/o-pia-e/wi,) is very often in flower as early as
February and is always plentiful m March
It must be well known to every person who
notices wild flowers, for there is not a hed^e
or held where it does not grow. The blossoms
ai-e in shape like those of the engraving but
much smaller. A similar, but taOer species
grows a so in cultivated lauds, in May and
June, called the Cut-leaved Dead Nettle (Za-
mium wcisum) ; and the Henbit Nettle (Zamimu
amjjlewtcaide), with flowers of a much brighter
red IS common in March and April in sandy
fields and gardens The only remaining species,
the Spotted Dead Nettle, {Lamium mamLum,)
IS a rare flower.

!).MMON AGHIM(;NV,

COMMON AGnniO^Y.—Jpi7noma
eupatoria.

Class DoDECANDRiA. Order Digyxia. Nat. Orel. Rosacea.
Rose Tribe.

There are few of our wild plants which are
in more esteem with the village herbalist than
the Agrimony. Every gatherer of " simples ''
knows it well, and the author has often seen
the dried bundles of the plant hung up not only
by the cottage fireplace, but in shops, in several
of the towns of France, where it is exposed for
sale. It is still retained in the London Materia
Medica ; but though once esteemed an im-
portant medicine, it is seldom or never pre-
scribed by our modern physicians. The leaves
are slightly bitter and aromatic, and the flowers
have, while growing, an odour commonly said
to resemble that of the apricot, but Avhich might
rather be described as like that of the lemon.
They are of a yellow colour, growing in a long
spike, about a third part down the stem, which
is usually one or two feet high. The leaflets
are deeply notched at the edges, and have
intermediate small ones, cleft into three, four,
or five segments. The plant imparts a greenish
yellow colour to water, and a deep green tint

78 COMMON AGRIMONY.

to spirituous liquors. It has also been used
for dressing leather, and when just coming
into flower, it will dye wool of a fine nankeen
hue, but if gathered in the month of September,
it yields a deeper yellow. Most cattle refuse
it, but the sheep and goat will eat its foliage.
It grows on the borders of fields, on waste
places, and road-sides, flowering during June
and July.

The Common Agrimony is our only British
species, but we have a few kinds in the garden,
w^hich have been introduced from other coun-
tries. The tall Hemp Agrimony, which is so
conspicuous a plant on moist lands, with large
clusters of flesh-coloured flowers, belongs to
another family of plants. The name of this
genus is a corruption of Argemone, which
was given by the Greeks to a plant supposed
to be eflicacious in curing cataract in the eye,
which they termed Argema.

^. >'

. 'ii> :

COMMON TARRIW, OR MFLFOir,

COMxAION YARROW, or MILFOIL.

AcJtillcra millefolium.

Ciass Synqenesia. Order Superflua. Nat, Ord. Composite.
Compound Flowers.

All the summer long this plant is to be
found by every wayside, and on almost every
pasture of our land, witli its clusters of white
or pinkish flowers, and its pretty leaf cut into
many segments. Its foliage is slightly pun-
gent, and hence its familiar name of Old
Man's Pepper. The Icelandic appellation of
this plant, Fall himall, Field hop, seems to
imply that it has been used instead of hops
in that island, as it still is in some parts of
Sweden. In these days, however, the Ice-
landers only use it as the Highlanders do, for
an ingredient in an ointment which they apply
to wounds ; and its old English name of
Nose-bleed marks its ancient use in oiu-
countr}' as a vulnerary. Professor Burnett
observes, that the good women of the Orkney
Islands hold iMilfoil tea in high repute for its
power of dispelling melancholy. It is a
favourite flower in the gardens of the Isle of
Madeira, while the hills and vales of that
beautiful land are bright with flowers which
om* gardeners prize highly.

80 COMMON YARROW, OR MILFOIL.

We have three wild species of Yarrow. The
Woolly Milfoil {AcMIlcea tomentosa) is a small
plant, with bright yellow flowers ; it grows on
dry hilly pastures in Scotland. This, how-
ever, is not a common plant ; but the Sneeze-
wort YarroAv {AcJiillcsa Ptarmicd) is very fre-
quent on moist meadows and pastures, especi-
ally in mountain districts. It flowers during
July and August, and is about two or three
feet high, with much larger blossoms than
those of the species figured here. They have
a white disk as well as wdiite rays. This plant
when dried and pulverised excites sneezing.
The Laplanders call it Goose-tongue, and its
young spring shoots are sometimes eaten as
salad. The mountaineers of the Alps make
vinegar of a dwarf species of Yarrow, common
there, and its flavour is so good, that it is said
to be equal to that made of the Tarragon,
which is a species of wormwood.

BEE ORCHI?

BEE OV.CRl^. — 02jhri/sa2Afera.

class Gynandria. Order Mona>tiria. Xat. Ord. Orchid E^.
Orchis Tribe.

This flower belongs to a tribe in wliich blos-
soms are produced that seem rather to bear a
resemblance to the animal, than to the vege-
table world. Among our native orchidaceous
plants, we have the Fly, the Bee, the Lizard,
the Man, the Butterfly, and the Spider orchises,
but with the exception of the first two, there
does not exist in these plants a very great simi-
larity to the objects whence they are named.
But it is not so in tropical lands, where
orchidaceous plants wave among the highest
bouo^hs of the loftv trees, and as the wind
sweeps in among them, display the glittering

lom-s of the most beautiful butterflies, which
-rem perched upon the bough. There too the
Froo- Oncidium reminds the traveller of the
rneiTy creatm'e which leaps among the grass of
the Enghsh meadows ; or another beautiful
flower recals the swan of the streams ; while
one orchis so wefl represents a descending dove,

Xo. 6.

82 BEE ORCHIS.

that tlie people of Panama call it Spirito Santo,
or Holy Ghost plant.

Our Bee Orchis blossoms in July. It is
about a foot high, and has large and rather
distant floAvers. Its brown velvety lip, varie-
gated with yellow, is much like the body of
a large bee ; and the pm'plish petals look like
the expanded wings of the insect, which had
just settled on the flower-stem. It is the
handsomest of our native orchis plants, and
grows on chalky soils in many parts of
England, but will not long survive transplant-
ing to a garden. Langhorne has some very
descriptive lines on this flower.

" See on tlie floweret's velvet breast,
How close the busy vagi-aut lies !
His thin-wrought j^lume, his downy breast,
The ambrosial gold that swells his thighs.

" Perhaps his fragrant load may bind

His limbs ; — we'll set the captive free.
I sought the living Bee to find,
And found the picture of a Bee."

i-%T»«1k»(i-W T T'vn C\n TT !

COMMON LING; or, HEATH. A^ /^$.

Calluna vidgaris.

Class OcTANDRiA. Order Monogynia. Nat. Ord. Erice^.
Heath Tkibe.

The name of tliis genus is taken from a
Greek word signifying to cleanse, on account
of tlie common use of its twigs in making
brooms.

No one avIio lias looked upon heath lands
during summer, will deny that they are indeed
rendered attractive by this plant. The gathered
flowers will long retain their brightness, and
when placed in the herbarium, look, after a
lapse of years, almost as fresh and gay as when
blooming among the Purze and Broom of the
wide tract whence they were taken. Clare
alludes to the permanent beauty both of flower
and foliage.

" How oft, tbougli grass and moss are seen
Taim'd bright for want of flowers,
Still keeps the Ling its darksome green,
Thick set with little flowers." ^

There is but one specif, which is to be

found, from^ June to August, in flower on

1 almost every heath, forming a low tufted shrub,

84 COMMON LING; OR, HEATH.

with small leaves close to the stems and
branches. Many of the feathered tribe, par-
ticularly of tlie Grouse kind, find shelter
among its boughs, and food in its seeds;
and intended as it is to afford a large supply
to our wild birds, the seed-vessel is so formed
and protected that t^^^seed^a^l ^^uring a
whole year. Many injects -^re nourished by
it, and its foliage supports the caterpillar of
the Egger moth {PhcdcBna qiiermis), and of
several other beautiful winged creatures. This
plant abounds on barren wastes in every part
of Europe, especially in the northern countries.
The French call it La Bruyere ; and in the
bleak and barren Highlands of Scotland, it is
applied to a variety of economical purposes.
It serves the cottager for a thatch to his roof,
or it is burned for the winter fuel. The wall
which encloses the humble farm buildings, is
often made of alternate layers oLhe^atJ^ and of
a kind of cement formed of bmcii oartj^ and
straw. Sheep and goats will sometimes eat
the young and tender shoots, but cattle in
general are not fond of this shrub.

DWARF BED RAlTLi

DWARF RED RATTLE.— Fedicularis

Sylvatica. ^^'^(^'f^tfyyar-/-
Class DiDYNAMiA. Order Angiospermta. Nat. Ord. Scrophula-

RINE^. — FiGWORT TRIBE.

This flower is called also by the unpleasing
name of Lousewort, and both that and its
scientific appellation are significant of its sup-
posed influence in causing disease to the
animals which feed upon it. But the plant
grows most abundantly on moist heaths, or on
wet hilly grounds, and such pastures are not
favourable to the health of cattle. Just as
the wild thyme has an old repute for its bene-
ficial effects on the flock, because the dry hilly
plain which is fragrant with its flowers is a
spot which suits them weU ; so the ills of the
moist soil are attributed entirely to the plants
which grow upon it. This flower is found
sometimes on heaths, and its large rose-coloured
blooms and prettily shaped foliage, render it
very ornamental to such places during the
month of July. It is found almost throughout
Europe, and is as plentiful on the moist lands
of Siberia, as on those of our own country.
The expressed juice of the herb was formerly
used medicinally.

86 DWARF RED RATTLt!.

We have another wild species, the Tall Red
Rattle, or Marsh Lousewort, {Pedicidaris
pahistris,) which blooms during June, on wet
pastures and marshy grounds. It has a soli-
tary erect stem, about a foot high ; the flower
is large, and of a purphsh-crimson, and is a
handsomer species than the more common one.
It is found most abundantly in the counties
at the North of England, and is said to be
disagreeable and injurious to cattle.

To this genus belongs that singular and
rare flower, which, though not common any-
where, yet graces with its golden blossoms
many a plain of dreary Lapland. The Sceptred
Lousewort {Pedicularis Seep tr urn Carolimim)
was so admired by Rudbeck, that he named
it in honour of Charles XII. Dr. Edward
Clarke, who saw it growing to the height of
four or five feet from the pebbled beds of the
water's edge, at Tornea, describes it in glowing
language, and sent seeds to the Cambridge
Botanical Gardens, but they produced no
plants there. Even when found in Norway
and Sweden growing wild, it is never so luxu-
riant as in its native Lapland.

FORGF.T-MENOT.

^SH VORGlLTME-^OT.—3//yosotis palifstris.

Cla^s Pentanduia. Ordrr Monooynia. Nat. Ord. BoRAcjiNKit:.
Borage Tribe.

The various traditions which gave rise to the
popidar iiaiiic of this Ijriglit flower throughout
Europe, are tohl by poets and historians.
Agnes Strickland says, that Henry of Lan-
caster, when in exile, gave it to the Duchess of
Bretagne, and by placing it on his collar of
S. S. with the initial letter of his mot or
watchword, " Souveigne vous de moy," ren-
dered it the symbol of remendjrance. Bishop
Mant gives us the traditionary creed more
generally received, though certainly less en-
titled to belief. A lady and a knight were
sitting by the river side, when the former
wished for the bright blue l)loissoms to braid
among her hair. The knight dashed into the
water to gratify her wishes, and gathered
the flowers, but was overborne by the strength
of the current.

" Tlica the lilossoms blue to the bank he tlirew
Ere lie sank in the eddying tide ;
And ' Lady, I'm gone, thine own knight true,
Forget me not,' he cried.

" The farewell pledge the lady caught.
And hence, as legends say,
The flower is a sign to awaken thought
Of friends wlio are far away."

88 FORGET-ME-NOT.

Tims say the poets, but the philosophers
believe them not; and so one of our great
botanists suggests, that after all the flower
owes its name to its beautiful blue petals and
yellow eye, which once looked upon are not
likely to be forgotten.

This plant is called also Great Scorpion grass,
and Mouse ear, and is, during the summer
months, very common in our humid meadows,
bogs, banks of rivers, rivulets, and ditches. It
grows in similar places throughout Europe,
and also in many parts of Asia and North
America. A variety has been found with
white flowers.

There are eight native species of the genus,
and all have blue blossoms. The little brifliant
blue flower found in fields from June to August,
and often called Forget-me-not, is the field
Scorpion grass {Myosotis arvensis). It is very
abundant on cultivated lands, on hedge banks,
and in groves, &c. The name of the genus is
derived from two Greek words, signifying
mouse and ear, from the shape of the leaves.

COMMO^T BORAGE.

COMMON BOH AGE. —Boraj^o officinalis.

Class Pentandria . Order Monogtnia. Nat. Qrd. Boragine^.
Borage Tribe.

This bri2:lit azure blossom rears itself from
the Leap of rubbish on the waste places of
our land, but is not a very common plant
there. It is far more often one of the orna-
ments of the cottage garden ; and rightly is it
planted, for it is one of the flowers in which
bees especially delight, and they are said to
derive more nourishment from it than from
any flower which blows. The brilhant blue
petals with their prominent stamens, open to
the sun in June and July. The whole plant
is covered with rough stifi' hairs, and the young
buds are enclosed in cups of a reddish tinge.
The Borage has rather an unpleasant odour.
The Erencli call it Borrago, and both their
name and ours are corruptions of the old word
Corago, which was taken from cor, the heart,
because of its cordial qualities. In days when
old proverbs Avere in daily use, one of the
common adages recorded the supposed virtues
of this plant: "I Borage bring courage;"

90 COMMON BORAGE.

and the old naturalists, from Pliny downwards,
affirm very confidently that it is efficacious in
dispelling sadness. Thus Burton says : —

" Borage and Hellebore fill two scenes,
Sovereign j^lants to purge the veins
Of melancholy, and clear the heart
Of those black fumes which make it smart."

The youno- leaves were either boiled, or used
as salads for this purpose, though their flavour
is anything but agreeable ; and the flowers
steeped in wine were found to be very in-
vigorating. The tissues of the plant contain
gum, and it may therefore be used as a de-
mulcent. It also possesses nitrate of potash,
and when burnt, will emit sparks with a slight
explosive sound. It is thought to be a native
of Aleppo, but it has become naturalized now
in most European countries. The garden
species are very easy of culture, and we have
one kind from Persia, another from Numidia,
and a third from Corsica. The Persian species
has pink flowers, but the others have brilliant
blue blossoms. Borag^e still forms an ino;re-
dient in the drink called '' cool tankard."

MILKWORT.

MILKWORT.— Po%f//r^ vulgaris.

Class DiADELPHiA. Order Octaxdrta. Nat. Orel. Polygalkb,
Milkwort Trebe.

This pretty plant is one which is very fre-
quent on dry hilly pastures, where, in ^lay,
June, and July, its crested blossoms form
patches of a deep blue, purple, pink or white
tint. Some of its old names record usages of
days long past, for it is the Rogation flower
of the older ^Titers, and is still called Gang
flower in the rural districts of the northern
counties of England. In the early periods of
our country's history, the Rogation week was
called also Gang week, from the old Saxon
verb gajfg, signifying to go, a word with which
many an old Scottish ballad makes us familiar.
It was an ancient custom in country parishes
for the clergyman, accompanied by his church-
wardens and parishioners, to walk around the
boundaries of the parish at this season, when
the children of the charity schools carried a
long pole decked with a profusion of flowers,
among which, as we must infer from its old
names, our ^lilkwort was one especially in

92 MILKWORT.

favour. The practice continued in use even
as late as the commencement of the last cen-
tury, at Wolverhampton, in Staffordshire ; and
records of these Rogation processions occur as
early as a.d. 550.

The !Milk^yort is also in some places called
Hedge Hyssop, and has been thought to possess
some of the valuable remedial virtues of the
plant termed the American Rattlesnake root,
which is a species of the same genus. Sir
J. E. Smith was advised by a physician at
Montpelier to take an infusion of the Milkwort
for a cough, and did so with great success.
Foreign writers celebrate the plant as a grateful
and nutritious food for cattle. It is certainly
very ornamental to the spots on which it growls,
w^here it blooms beside the Evebrio-ht, the
Wild Thyme, the beautiful Rock Rose, and the
other wild flowers of the chalky cliff or hill-side.
We have some very pretty species of Polygala
in our gardens, brought chiefly from North
America and the Cape of Good Hope.

COMMON CENTAUUr.

COMMON CENTAURY.— ^ry//^;-^^

CentaunvM.

Class Pentaxdria. Ordei^ Monogtxia. Nat. Orel Gentiane^.
Gentian Teibe.

Those who have ever tasted the fohao^e of
this plant, will not be surprised to find that
it was formerly classed with the Gentians, and
called the Gentian Centaury. The Gentians
possess the most powerful bitter principle of
any of our native plants, nor is the Centaury
scarcely less characterised by its bitterness,
and its flavour is more disagreeable than that
of the Gentian. Baron Haller tells us that
the ancients called our pretty red flower, the
Gall of the earth. The name of the genus is
taken from the Greek w^ord Red, which is the
colour of the flowers of most of the species.
The common kind is very frequent on dry
pastures, in woods, and on rocks or chalk chff's,
flowerhig during July and August, and growing
to eight or ten inches, or sometimes a foot in
height. The leaves around the root are much
broader than those of the stem, and the clus-
ters open only in fine weather, and before
twelve o'clock, after which time they gradually

94 COMMON CENTAURY.

close ; and one who was previously unac-
quainted with the plant, would suppose that it
as yet had but its unexpanded buds. It is so
difficult of cultivation, that it seems almost
impossible to rear it in a garden, or it would
make a pretty border flower. This is the case
with all the species.

It is commonly said by botanists, that we
have fom- Avikl species of Centaury ; but they
differ so little from each other, that some have
thought they should all be included in one,
and that the slight differences may all be ac-
counted for by variety of soil and situation.
In all are found the same rose-coloured clus-
ters of flowers, and the same light green, bitter
stems and leaves. The Dwarf Centaury {Ery-
thrcea pulchella) rarely exceeds six inches in
height, and grows on sandy shores ; and the
Dwarf tufted Centaury {Eri/ thrcea littoralis)
is found in similar places. The Broad-leaved
tufted Centaury [ErythrcBa latifolid) is more
unlike the common species than either of the
others, having its cluster of blossoms in a
dense tuft.

FLY O'RCIUS.— Ojjhys musci/era.

Class Gynandria. Order Monandria. Nat. Ord. Okchide^.
Orchis Tribe,

We have five British species of the genus
Ophrys. The petals of the Fly Orchis are very
narrow, and of a purplish-brown hue, having
a spot in the centre, of a bluish tinge. It is
a slender plant, usually about a foot high, and
it flowers rather earlier in the season than the
Bee orchis. It is not, however, like that plant,
most frequent on hilly places and chalky downs,
for though sometimes found on the pasture
of chalk or clay soil, yet it seems more luxuri-
ant in our moist calcareous thickets than else-
where. In many parts of Kent, Surrey, Suffolk,
and Hampshire, it is very frequent, and no
one who looked on it would fail to identify the
species with its familiar name.

The Bee orchis has been already named.
Then we have a Spider orchis {Ojj/nys arani-
fera), and a late Spider orchis {Oj)hri/s arach-
nites), the former flowering on pasture lands
of chalky or clayey soil, and in pits, during
April and May. The shape of its lip is much

96 FLY ORCHIS.

like the body of a spicier, and it has pale
lines marked on it, ^Yhicll would remind one
of a Greek character. The later Spider orchis
flowers about May or Jane, and is a rare
plant : while still more rare is the Drone
orchis {Oj^hri/s fucifera), Avhicli has been
found near Folkestone in Kent.

The genus Ophrys received its name from
the Greek word for an eyebrow, which Pliny
says these plants were used to blacken. Like
most of the Orchis tribe, the roots contain a
wholesome farinaceous substance, of which is
made the Salep of commerce. The warm basin
of salep is not now, as it was some years since,
a favourite article of diet, and is taken by few
save invalids. It was chiefly imported from
Southern Europe, but may be made equally
well from our native orchises. Salep, prepared
from different species of orchis, is much used
in Eastern countries, and in Tui'kev not a meal
is taken mthout it.

FINE-LEAVED UEATU.

FINE-LEAVED HEATH.— ^nm cinerea. j^y.

Class OcTANDRiA. Order Monogynia. Nat. Ord. ERiCEiE.
Heath Tribe.

There are five species of Heath, which, .
with the common Ling of our heathy and
moory lands, are inchided in the general name
of Heather. The species figured on our page
is, with the exception of the Ling, the most
common of them all, though the delicate rose-
coloured flowers of the cross-leaved Heath
{Erica tdralix) are, on many wide-spread
lands, as abundant as this. The last-named
flower is the badge of the Macdonalds, while
the species here represented is that of the Clan
Macalister. Then there is a heath which is
rare, but which has been found on the boggy
lands of Cunnemara in Ireland, covering a
space of at least two acres of land, and has
been called Mediterranean Heath. The two
remaining native kinds are found in some places
in Cornwall.

The Heaths, whether found on the sandy
wilds of Africa, whence we have most of our
hothouse species, or on the black hills of the
'' Land of brown heath," alwavs indicate a
barren soil. Linnaeus observes, in his Flora

No. 7.

98 FINE-LEAVED HEATH.

Lapponica, that in some of the districts through
which he passed, scarcely any plant could be
seen but heath, which covered the ground so
that it could not be extirpated. He remarks,
that the country people had an idea that there
were two plants which would finally overspread
and destroy the whole earth, these were Heath
and Tobacco.

The Heather is valuable, not to the bee
only, which gathers stores of honey from its
bells, but to many a bright winged or darker
tinted insect, which finds food and shelter
among its flowers and foliage. No cattle
seem fond of it, but the fibres of the stalks
are twisted into ropes, cottages are thatched
with its branches, and the people of Jura and
Isla brew very good beer by mixing the young
heath-tops with their malt. Large quantities
are gathered by the peasants for their winter
fuel, and this plant and the " Bonnie Broom"
are often strewed for an humble coach. In
Rum, Skye, and Long Island, leather is tanned
with a preparation of its branches, and in
most of the Western Isles it is used for dyeing
yarn of a yellow colour.

BLACK BRYONY.

BLACK BRYOl^ Y.—lhMtw communis.

Class DicECiA. Order Hexandria. Nat. Ord. Dioscoreacejb.
Yam Tribe.

During the mouths of May and June, the
old trunks of many of our woodhuid trees are
made green and beautiful by the long stems
and glossy leaves of this graceful climber.
Investing the trunks and boughs of the tree
with a brighter mass of foliage than even the
Ivy, and extending its long stems in a twining
rather than a creeping habit, to the topmost
twigs, or almost weighing down the more
slender branches of the underwood, it is yet
far less injurious to the plant within its grasp,
for its green stems are but slight, and have not
the strength and lirmness of the Ivy-band.
Yet this,

" Now climbing high with random maze,
O'er elm, and ash, and alder strays j
And round each trunk a network weaves
Fantastic."

The flowers are too small and not showy
enough in colour to be ])articularly ornamental,
but Nature does not offer to the wanderer in
the woods a more graceful wreath than that of
the Wild Bryony. During sununer, the large
green berries look like clusters of wild grapes;

100 BLACK BRYONY.

and when autumn has matured them into red-
ness, they are among the most beautiful of all
our woodland berries, but are very poisonous
in their nature.

The roots of this plant are large, and it is to
their black coloiu' that it owes its distinctive
Enghsh name. The root is a black-coated
tuber, which has so acrid a pulp that it is
sometimes used as a stimulating plaister. The
large roots themselves are white internally, and
full of starch. This, however, is mixed with a
bitter acrimonious substance, not only unplea-
sant in flavour, but doubtless unwholesome in
its nature. Their bitterness and acridity may
be destroyed by repeated washings, and by
heat, and if the black tumours on them are
previously removed, they may be safely eaten.
The young spring shoots are so mild, as to
possess, when dressed, a very agreeable flavour,
and are said to form a good substitute for
asparagus ; though the experiment is a dan-
gerous one. Many of the trees of Morocco
are hung, like ours, with festoons of this plant,
and the young shoots are commonly boiled by
the Moors, and eaten with oil and salt.

BT.UE PT7r"COR7.

BLUE SUCCORY.— Cic/iorimi Intyh

us.

Class Syngenesia. Order ^qualis. Nat. Ord. Composite,
Compound Flowers.

How brilliant is the blue tint of this hand-
some flower, which grows so plentifully on the
borders of fields where the soil is of chalk or
gravel ! Yet attractive as it is to the lover of
nature, the farmer denounces it as a noxious
weed, for its large roots are not easily extir-
pated from his corn and other lands. A
variety of this plant affords the Chicory root
so extensively cultivated in France, and called
Chicoree a cafe, and Avhich is now so gene-
rally used in England with coffee as to be
well known to us. The roots are taken up in
the winter season, cut into squares, and roasted.
The ancient Egyptians are known to have used
Chicory in great quantities, and Pliny remarks
on its importance in the diet of that people.
Among the modern Egyptians this and similar
plants compose half the food of the poorer
classes. There seems no doubt that the specific
terms of two kinds, Endivia and Intybus, are
both derived from the Arabic name of Hendi-
beh. The Cichorium Endivia is the plant of
our gardens, the blanched leaves of wliich serve

102 BLUE SUCCORY.

for a salad ; and the Prench blanch the leaves
of our common Blue Succory for a winter
salad, and term it Barbe du Capucine. Horace
celebrates some kind of Chicory as among the
herbs of his frugal fare, but it is doubtful to
which of the species he alludes. 0\u' Blue
Succory blossoms during July and August, and
its stem is often three feet high. The flowers
are occasionally white; and Curtis remarks,
that the fine blue colour of the petals is con-
vertible into a brilliant red by the acid secretion
emitted by the ant. He says, " Mr. Miller,
the engraver, assured me, that in Germany the
boys often amuse themselves in producing this
change of colour, by placing tlie blossoms on
an ant-hill.'* This secretion, which is ejected
by the wood ant when irritated, and called
formic acid, is very powerful. The Blue Suc-
cory is a common flower of many European
countries, and most plentiful in France and
Germany, though it is there, as in our lands,
rare upon the sandy soils.

KJBWOKT PLANTAIN,

RIBAVORT PLANTAIN.— P/r/;;/'^-7o

lanceolala.

Class Tetrandria. (h'der Monogynia. Nat. Orel. Planta-
GiNE^.— Plantain Tribe.

Although this has been employed in agri-
culture as a pasture plant, and was once very
generally believed to be a favourite food of
cattle, yet the opinion of modern scientific
agricultiu'ists is so much against it, that it is
now seldom sown. Tt is, how^evcr, frequent on
our meadows and pastures, flowering during
June and July, and where it abounds naturally
is a certain indication of a dry soil. When it
grows among grass, its leaves rise to a con-
siderable height, but on barren soils they are
shorter, broader, more spread over the ground,
and sometimes assume a silvery hue. Baron
Haller attributed the richness of the milk in
the Ali)ine dairies to the frequency of the Rib-
wort and the Lady's Mantle on the pasture
lands ; but Linnaeus ascertained that cows
refuse it, and later observations have confirmed
the fact. Another species of plantain which is
common on our sea-coasts, {FUmtofjo marltima^
has also an old repute as a plant nuich relished
by cattle, and the Welsh call it the Sheep's-
favourite-morsel, and the Suet-producing.

104 RIBWORT PLANTAIN.

We have five wild species of plantain, and
one of the most common of them all is that
broad-leaved kind, the Greater Plantain, {Plan-
tago majo7\) the seeds of which are so often
gathered foi; birds. The leaves of this species
are astringent, and frequently applied to
womids. The Highlanders ascribe to it such
great virtues, that they call it by the name of
Slan-lus, or the healing plant. Kalm says
that in America they term it the Englishman's
Foot, for they say that wherever a European
has come, this plant has grown in his footsteps.
It is sometimes called Way-bred ; but this is
probably a corruption of its old Saxon name
of Wabret, by which it is yet commonly
known in Teviotdale. This name occurs in
our early poets, and one of them, humorously
describing a Bee's pilgrimage, says —

" And -with a wabret leaf he made a wallet,
With scrip to beg his crumbs and pick his sallet."

Another species, the Buck's-horn Plantain,
[Plantafjo coronojms,) is common on gravelly
and sterile soils, and often grows on sea-
beaches.

TRAVELLEU'S JOY.

TRAVELLER'S ^OX.— Clematis vitalha.

Class PoLTANDRiA. OrJc)- PoLYGYNiA. Nat. Order Ranuncu-
LAC^iE. — Crowfoot Tribe.

During May and June the hedges of our
chalky pastures, especially in the southern
counties of England, are decorated with white
clusters of this flower. Nor, when its blos-
soms are over, does it cease to ornament the
wayside ; for long after green leaves in general
have withered into brownness, the Clematis
bough presents some verdant spray C)n which
the eye may love to rest. So too on barren
soils, and in spots far from refreshing streams,
it often delights us with its greenness amidst
the withered aspects of the vegetation around
it ; and wdien winter, with its frosts and keen
blasts, has swept away both leaves and flowers,
this climber is still beautiful with its large
tufts of feathery seeds. It must, however,
be acknowledged, that our graceful plant is
often injurious to the hedges, by strangling
the trees and bushes which it entwines. It
is, too, very acrimonious in its properties, and
will, if applied to the skin, raise a blister upon
it ; the green stalks are used by farmers to
bind their gates and hurdles together, and

106 traveller's joy.

country boys smoke portions of them in imita-
tion of tobacco pipes.

The Clematis is sometimes called Virgin's
Bower, and Withywind, and Gerarde gave to
it the well-merited name of Traveller's Joy.
Nor is ours the only land whose waysides it
enlivens. Backhouse saw the lofty shrubs of
Table Cape, in Van Diemen's Land, overrun
with a white Clematis, which if not identical
with this, much resembled it, and was equally
fitted to sfratifv the taste of the flower-lovinsr
wayfarer. Burchell, too, when on the shores
of the Gariep River, could with difficulty dis-
entangle himself from a very similar species,
which climbed to the very summit of the trees,
and covered them with its flowers and foliage.
He remarks, "The English Traveller's Joy,
in Europe, chiefly indicates a chalky substratum,
and it is remarkable that this African plant,
which much resembles it in habit and general
appearance, is also an indication of a calca-
reous quality in the soil."

KyOT GRASS.

KNOT GRk^'^.—Poh/(;onum aviculare.

Class OoTANDRiA. Order Trigtnia. Nat. Orel. Polygone^.
Persicaria Tribe.

There is not in all our land a plant more
common than this ; but having little beauty to
recommend it, it is little regarded ; yet as the
poet says —

" By the lone quiet grave,
In the Tvild hedgerow the Knot-grass is seen,
Down in the rural lane,
Or on the verdant plain,
Everywhere humble, and everywhere green."

Its small pinkish-white flowers are seated closely
on its stem from i\Iay till September, but are
redder and brighter during the height of sum-
mer than in earlier or later seasons. It is a
useful little plant, for thousands of birds are
nourished by its seeds and young shoots, and
the caterpillar of the Knot Grass moth lives
chiefly upon it. Ancient writers attributed
to it many medicinal properties, and the well-
known fact that it is much relished by cattle,
won for it the praises of Milton and others
of our earlier poets. Shakspeare, however,
alludino; to its tano^lino: stem, which lies over
the ground, calls it the " Hindering Knot-
Grass." It is a very common plant in the

108 KNOT GRASS.

Swan River colony, and is described as being
there, as with us, a pasture w^hich is very
agreeable to the animals feeding on it. It
received its English name from the knottiness
of its stems, and hke many other plants which
are eaten by cattle, it is called grass, though
having no affinity with the true grasses. All
domestic quadrupeds are said to eat it, and it
is devoured with great avidity by sw^ine. The
seeds, though much smaller than those of the
Buckwheat, have been used like them for crum-
pets, or ground for bread corn. Thunberg
says, that in Japan a bhie dye is procured
from it.

We have nine wild species of this genus ;
almost all are very common plants, and several
raise their pink spikes of flowers on moist lands
and on the borders of streams. The root of
the Common Bistort or Snakeweed, {Poh/gonum
bistorta,) Avhose flesh-coloured flowers grow on
marshy lands, is a powerful and vahiable astrin-
gent. The large climbing plant, known in
VanDiemen's Land as the jMacquarie Harbour
Vine, is a species of Polygonum, and its trian-
gular seeds are used for puddings.

'I'C, >';>•;:•!') ^T .I^jUN's WOlir

PERFORATED ST. JOHN'S WORT.

Hypericum perforatuni,.

Class PoLYADELPHiA. Order Polyanduia. Nat. Ord.
HypERiciNEiE. — St. John's Wort Tribe.

The English name of this bright yellow
flower reminds us of the practices with which
it was once connected. It was one of the
flowers gathered by our forefathers to be thrown
into the bonfires which were kindled in London
on the Eve of St. John It was formerly worn
in Scotland to preserve the wearer against
witches and enchantments ; and in several
continental countries the superstition lingers
yet, that it is a charm against thunder and light-
ning, and the machinations of evil spirits. In
many parts of France and Germany, the
peasantry still gather its golden blooms with
much ceremony on St. John's Day, and hang
them up in their windows and doorways to
avert evil. Alfred Lear Huxford has alluded
to a somewhat similar practice —

" So then about her brow
They bound Hypericum, whose potent leaves
Have sovereign power o'er all the sullen fits
And cheerless fancies that besiege the mind ;
Banishing ever, to their native night,
Dark thoughts, and causing to spring up within
The heart distress'd, a glow of gladdening hope,
And rainbow visions of kind destiny."

110 PERFORATED ST. JOHn's WORT.

The old name of this flower, Bahu of the
Warrior's Wound, is now ahnost forgotten ;
but in the olden time, physicians and poets
alike celebrated its properties; and some medical
writers deemed it so efficacious an internal
remedy for hypochondriacal disorders, that they
fancifully termed it Fuga Dcemonum. From a
mistake of their meaning, probably, arose the
popular ideas respecting this plant, which, in
spite of the advance of modern science, are yet
generally diffused throughout Europe. A good
ointment is still made of the rosin-scented blos-
soms ; tliey also tinge spirits and oil of a fine
purple colour, and the dried plant, boiled with
alum, dyes wool of a rich yellow hue.

The Perforated St. John's Wort is abmidant
in thickets aiid hedo;es, and flowers in Julv.
The blossom, flower cup, and leaves are often
tipped with minute black dots ; and the latter
are remarkable for being copiously sprinkled
with small pellucid dots, which are most evi-
dent when the plant is held against the liglit.
We have eleven species of the genus, all yellow,
and mucli like the plant here represented.

iiorNi

HOUND'S-TONGUE.— (7^;/oy^.^5^^;;^

officinale.

class Pentaxdria. Order Moxogynia. Nat. Orel. Bora-
GixE^.— Borage Tribe.

Any one who has looked upon this plant, at
once distinguishes it from all others by the
lurid purplish red hue of the blossom. Several
of our wild tio-vvers have tints ^yhich might be
called purplish-red, but not one is of the same
hue as this. Though not among our com-
monest flowers, yet it is abundant on some of
the waste places and road- sides of our islands,
blossoming in June and July. The whole plant
is soft and downy, of a dull green, and disagree-
able odour, like that of mice. It was formerly
used in medicine, and its effects are said to be
narcotic An instance is related in the "Hist.
Oxon./' in which the leaves of this plant, boiled
by mistake for Comfrey, disturbed the health of
a whole household, and proved fatal to some of
its members. Cattle in general refuse to eat
it, but the goat, which can with impunity feed
upon the Deadly Nightshade and the Tobacco,
is said sometimes to crop its foliage. Nor is
the plant useless to the insect world, some
of them adopting it as their especial food,

112 iiound's-tongue.

and the caterpillar of the scarlet tiger moth
{Phalcena dommidd) revelling upon it during
the months of April and May. The lower
leaves have long footstalks, and the plant
usually grows to the height of two feet. The
writer has always found it more common on
chalk than on other soils.

We have besides a smaller but rarer species,
the green-leaved Hound's-tongue, {Cynoglossum
si/lvaticum,) which, though bearing somewhat
similar flowers, is easily distinguished from
the common sort by its shining and brighter
green leaves, quite free from down or hairiness.
This blossoms during June and July, in some
shady places, and by road-sides in the mid-
land and eastern comities of England, and has
been gathered too in the Carse of Gowrie in
Scotland. The shape and texture of the leaf
originated the name of this genus, which is
formed from Greek words, signifying dog and
tongue.

BROAD-LEAVKU CAHLIC, OK UANSijMS.

BROAD-LEAVED GARLIC; or, RA\-
S O M S . — Allium nrsin urn .

Class Hexandria. Order Digynia. Nat. Orel. Lii.iace.e.
Lily Tribe,

It is not wise Avlicii gatlieriiig a wild nose-
gay to place this flower among the otliers,
though its clusters of Avhite blossoms and
bright-green leaves would render it ornamental.
Few of our wild plants have a more powerful
or a more disagreeable odour ; and so long is
it retained, that if placed in an herbarium, the
other specimens near it become scented with
garlic. The stem of this plant is triangular,
and the leaves are so like those of the Lily of
the Valley, that in the early part of May, the
rambler in the moist wood might 1)elieve it to
be full of that lovely plant, till some unwary
footstep crushed a leaf, and the garlic was
betrayed by its odour. The flower is not
uncommon, either in the wood or on the
hedge-bank, during the latter ])art of ^lay,
])ut has generally withered by the middle of
June. In the Isle of Man it is very abundant,
and the grave-yard of the church of Kirk
Braddon is so full of it, that often when the
No. 8.

114 BROAD-LEAVED GARLIC.

Sabbath bells are chiming, its odour is borne
afar upon the breeze, as the feet of those who
are going up to the house of God have trodden
upon it. Gerarde says, '' The leaves of Ran-
soms are stamped and eaten with fish, even as
we do eate greene sauce, made with Sorrell."
We have seven other wild species of Garlic,
most of which have purple flowers. No other
kind is so frequent as this. Gerarde says
of one of the species, " Those that worke
in the mines affirme that they find this roote
very powerful in defending them from the
impm*e spirits, which often, in such places,
are troublesome to them." Several species
have bulbs amons; the flowers. One of the
prettiest kinds is the Chive Garlic {Allium
Schoetwprasum), which, though a rare plant in
our meadows, is frequently cultivated in the
cottage garden. The name of the genus is
said to be taken from the Celtic word all,
which signifies hot, or burning.

SAIN'TFOIN.

SAUTFOlN.—0/iod?yc/ils,^afk'a,

Cla^s DiADELi'HiA, Order Decaxdria. Nat. Ord. LEOUiUNOS.u.
Pea and Bean Tribe.

Amid the glowing hues ^^hich deck the
landscape when June lavishes upon it all its
wealth of leaves and flowers, few are brighter
than the tints of the field of Saintfohi. The
wind sweeps over the flowers, and they fall
into red wave-like motion, rising again in
glittering beauty, to tremble' like banners be-
neath the gentler bi'eeze. For more than two
centuries these flelds have given their tmt to
many portions of our rural districts, the plant
being cultivated for the food Avhich it yields
to cattle, either while green, or when dried
and made into hay. The Saintfoin flourishes
on warm chalky lands, and few plants more
rapidly than this increase the value of poor
thin calcareous soils. The usual duration of
the plant on a soil well adapted to it, is from
eight to ten years. There are instances, how-
ever, of fields of Saintfoin wliieh, lia\ ing been
neglected, have run into pastures, and on which
plants have been found upwards of fifty years
from the time of sowing. For more than a

116 SAINTFOIN.

century it lias been cultivated on the Cotswold
Hills, and there its roots have been traced
down into stone quarries from ten to twenty
feet in leno;th.

But the Saintfoin is a wild flower too, grow-
ing on many a chalky hill and plain, as on
that bleak moorland of Eoyston Heath, as
well as on the Dover Cliffs, or some of the
banks which skirt the inland lanes of Kent or
other counties. Its name, Holy Hay, would
tell us of some legend which time has swept
away. Doubtless it was connected with some
ancient superstition, and we might ask with
Alfred Lear Huxford,—

" What have the pilgi'ims told
About this flower?
Said they, when in times of old
The Infant in the manger lay,
Thou thy blossoms didst display

And changed his humble birth-place
to a bower."

The French call the plant also L'Esparcet, ;
the Italians, Esparzita, and Cedrangolo.

:M^'-.-.

W

I

\

\

CU.MMOX IVY.

COMMON l\X.—Hedera Helix.

Cla^s Pentandria. Order Monogynia. Xat. Ord. Araliaceje.
Ivy Tribe,

Few besides the naturalist consider of how
much value this plant is both to the song-
sters of our woodland, and to the insect
world. Among -its boughs the blackbird and
the thrush can find shelter for their nests
ere bush or tree has a green leaf on its branch,
and many a shivering bird retreats thither from
the cold blasts of spring and autunni. It is
when the hips and haAvs and other A\ild fruits
have perished, that the Ivy berries ripen ; and
as no frost injures them, they are, dm'ing
winter and the early months of spring, the
chief food of the Missel-thrush, the Wood-
pigeons, and many other birds. The green
flowers are useful too ; for, blooming in October
and November, when blossoms are scarce, they
furnish a ])rovision to millions of insects, Avhicli
else must perish ; and tlie latest of our brilhant
winged creatures, the Bed Admiral and the
Peacock butterflies, yet hover over them on
sunny days, sipping thence the nectar by which
they are fed.

lis COMMON IVY.

There are different opinions as to whether
the ivy injures trees. When the woody stems
are hard and strong, it seems most probable
that they must do so, yet some botanists
think with Calder Campbell, who pleads for
the beautiful plant : —

" Oh, falsely they accuse me,

Who say I seek to check
The growing sapling's flourishing ; —

I better love to deck
The dead or dying branches

With all my living leaves.
'Tis for the old and Tvither'd tree,

The Ivy garlands weaves."

Sheep are fond of the Ivy, The soft wood
of its stem is used for giving a smooth edge
to knives, and the Highlanders make an oint-
ment from its leaves. Among the ancients
they formed the Poet's crown and the Baccha-
nalian wreath, and w^ere supposed to prevent
intoxication. In the Idylls of Theocritus our
Ivy is alluded to, but Virgil tells of the Golden
Ivy. There is little doubt that the plant of
the poet was the yellow-berried species now so
rare {Hedera chrpocarpum).

■m

i.

M

MEAJjO^V iAi-TiLOK.

MEADOW SAWRO^.—Co/r/iiann
autumnale,

C7a55 Hexandria. OfZ<?r Trtgynia. Nat. Ore/. Mri.anthack.r.
Meadow Saffron Tribe.

To look upon this handsome flower as it ex-
pands among the meadow grasses, during the
months of September and October, one would
deem it a leafless plant. Yet that same root
will, next spring, produce both leaves and fruit,
though the blossom opens only to the autunuinl
season. The flowers of the Meadow SailVon
are of a pretty delicate lilac hue, from two to
six in number, emerging from a sheath, which
issues from the solid bulb. TJiey are exact I3
like those of the Crocus, except that they
have six, instead of three stamens. Tliey
rise on long slender tubes, and dying away
at the end of October, exhibit no signs of
seed vessels or seeds. But the seeds lie buried
in the bulb during winter, and when s[)ring
is again decking mead and bough, then the
broad green leaves arise from the bulb, and the
seeds, elevated on a footstalk, gradually increjisc
in size and ripen by Midsummer. As has been
remarked, this is a beautiful and providential

120 MEADOW SAFFRON.

arrangement for tlieir protection from tlie frosts
and cold of winter. Most flowers have ripened
and dispersed their seeds before the cold sea-
son ; but as this flower appears so late in the
year its seeds would probably not have time
to be matured before winter ; and thus they
are secured within the bulb, at a depth from
the sm-face, where frost cannot harm them,
while at the proper season they rise to meet
the sun which shall ripen, and the wind which
shall scatter them.

We have but one native species of Colchi-
cum, nor is this a common flower. The
genus received its name from Colchis, where
the plant was said to grow in great abundance.
The French call it Morte aux cJiiens, and it is
probably, in its fresh state, injurious to most
animals. It has been known from earliest
ages to possess very powerful medicinal pro-
perties, and is frequently given to allay the
pains of gout and rheumatism. It has been
employed as a substitute for the celebrated eau
medicinale.

.^\

\

MICHAEUIAS DAISY.— ^6/6V' Trlpolium.

C^a^ij Syngenesia. OrcZer Scperflua. Nat, Onl Cqup^j^u x. .
Compound Flowers.

This plant is called also Sea Starwort, and
is one of the few flowers which deck the saline
soils in the neighbourhood of the ocean. It is
very common on the salt marshes, not only of
the sea, but of tidal rivers. Its blossom appears
in August and September ; the stem is often
three feet high, audits clusters of palelilac flowers
overtop the strongly-scented and grey-green
Southernwood, and the little fleshy-leaved Sand-
worts, and the tufts of Sea Lavander and of other
smaller plants of the marsh. Like many other
natives of saline soil, the stems and foliage are
very succulent, and have a saltish flavour, and
their surfaces are free from all down. It is
not an uncommon circumstance to find a cluster
of the Michaelmas Daisy, in Avhich the lilac
rays ai'e quite absent, and the disk only is to be
seen. Many of the plants which flourish in
the neighbourhood of the sea, grow, too, on
elevated mountains in inland countries. The
Thrift and Sea Milkwort, and several others, are
found on such spots ; but our Starwort never
grows wild but on salt land. It is, both in
flower and foliage, of too pale a colour to be

122 MICHAELMAS DAISY.

highly ornamental, yet it lends a charm to spots
whose aspect is dreary, and to a season whose
flowers are daily becoming fewer in number.

" The marsh is bleak and lonely. Scarce a flower
Gleams in the waving grass. The rosy Thrift
Has paler grown since Summer bless'd the scene,
And the Sea Lavander, whose lilac blooms
Drew from the saline soil a richer hue
Than when they grew on yonder towering cliff,
Quivers in flowerless greenness to the wind.
No sound is heard, save when the sea-bird screams
Its lonely presage of the coming storm ;
And the sole blossom which can glad the eye,
Is yon pale Starwort nodding to the wind."

We have but one species of the genus
Aste7\ the name of which is significant of
the starry form of all its flowers. But America
is the native land of Michaelmas Daisies, and
the multitudes of those which deck our gardens
were brought thence. Lyell, speaking of the
fir woods on the banks of the Piscataqua,
says, " I have seen this part of North America
laid down in some botanical maps, as the
region of Asters and Golden Rods." He
adds, that both are there very numerous and
striking flowers.

CUCKOO PFNT.

CUCKOO PINT.— ^;7/;;/ macidaUnn.

Class MoNCECiA. Order Polyandria. Nat. Ord. Arace^.
Cuckoo Pint Tuibe.

This plant is known in conntiy places hy
the name of Wake Robin, and Lords and
Ladies. It is very common in our English
hedges, hut is rare in Scotland, and in most
parts of Ireland. It is in flower during April
and May, and the cluh-shapcd column, around
which the pistils and stamens are situated,
is sometimes of a deep violet, at others of a
buff or pale green tint. The large shining
leaves are often spotted, and in winter a thick
cluster of rich orange-coloured berries sur-
rounds the stem of the plant, until they are
eaten by birds.

The root of the Arum is a tuber, and
affords a quantity of farinaceous powder, which
forms an excellent substitute for flour, and
is sold for that purpose in Weymouth and
Portland Island. The writer of these pages
received a letter from a gentleman holding an
important post at Gort, in Galway, stating
that as the plant grew there in great abundance,
he w^as desirous that the pooi- Irish, then suf-

124 CUCKOO PINT.

fering from all the ills of want, should find
in it a resoui'ce from starvation. He had
tried various methods of preparing it. It
had been boiled, baked, or dried in the sun ;
but though the acrid principle existing so
powerfully in the uncooked root was much
dissipated by these means, yet it was not
wholly destroyed. He was recommended to
grate it into water, and afterwards to pour off
the liquid, and dry the sediment. The plan
succeeded, and the benevolent inquirer had
the satisfaction of procuring a tasteless and
nutritious powder from the Arum root.

The root was much used in Queen Elizabeth's
time for stiffening lawn, which w^as then but
just introduced, and which, being so thin,
needed strong starch to stiffen it. But the
Dutch woman who came hither to teach the
English ladies how to starch linen, made
them so great proficients, that soon the ruffs
were worn more than a yard deep. The starch
made from the Arum, however, irritated the
hands of those who used it.

HEDGE WOUNDWORT.

HEDGE WOUNDWORT.-->S'/r/%s-

sylvaiica»

Class DiDYNAMiA. Ordej- Gymnospermia. Nat. Ord. Labiatjr.
Labiate Tribe.

This plant is very frequent in woods and
shady places during July and August, rearing
its spike of purple flowers sometimes to the
height of three feet. When bruised it has a
disagreeable odour, and no animal is known
to eat it, save the snail, which often leaves its
rainbow-tinted trail upon its foliage. The
flowers grow in whorls round the stem, and
are usually about six in number. This, as
well as all the other species, was considered to
be of great service in stopping the effusion
of blood. Gerarde says of the water species
{Stacliys pah'sfris), that by binding it over
the wound, he cured a man in Kent, who
had been severely cut with a scythe; and
that he also healed a wound made by one in
Holborn, who had attempted self-destruction ;
"for which," adds the pious herbalist, "the
name of God be praised." It was hence called
Clowne's Woundwort and All-heal. The Hedge
Woundwort is very hairy, though less so than
some other of our native kinds. The hair or

126 HEDGE WOUNDWORT.

down serves to protect plants from lieat and
cold, but is of use too to some of the insect
tribe. One species of wild bee, which dwells
in the cavities of trees, is skilled in using it.
Kirby and Spence remark of this little crea-
ture, that it knew what materials would slowly
conduct heat, long before Count Rumford's
experiments had been made ; and it attacks
the leaves of the Woolly Woundwort {Stach^s
lanata), the Rose Campion, and similar plants,
and scraping hence the down with its fore-
legs, rolls it into a little ball, and sticking it
on the plaister Avhich covers the cells, renders
them impervious to every change of tempe-
rature ; so that, say these writers, " this bee
may be said to exercise the trade of a
clothier.''

We have six native species of Woundwort,
all very similar to that represented in the
engraving. They are all in blossom during
July and August. The Downy Woundwort
[Stacltys (/ermanicci), a plant of our limestone
soils, is often cultivated in gardens on account
of the silky foliage.

MEADOW VETCH LING.

MEADOW VETCIILING.— Zr/%;7/.s
pratensis.

CYas5 DiADELPHiA. 0;-c?er Decandria. Nat. Ord. LEavm-
Nos^.— Pea and Bean Tribe.

During July and August this plant is very
frequent in moist meadows, sometimes ren-
dering the grassy bank of the stream quite
bright with its yellow flowers. It grows
also, wdth scarcely less luxuriance, on stiff clay
lands. The blossoms are in loose clusters,
about six or eight together, and the climbing
stem is often two or three feet long, and by its
clasping tendrils clings to some stronger object
near it. Cattle are said to be very fondof this
plant, and the author of Essays relating to
Agriculture and Rural Affairs, recommends its
cultivation on various accounts. He remarks,
that it annually yields a great amount of forage
of the ver}' best quality, fit for pasture or hay.
It is also an abiding plant, never leaving the
ground where it has once been established,
and increasing so rapidly by its running roots,
that a very few plants at first put into a field
would soon spread over the whole, and stuck
it sufficiently.

We have eight British species of Lathyrus,

128 MEADOW VETCHLING.

comprehending the Vetchlings, and the three
species of Everlasting Pea. They are of the
Leguminous tribe, having butterfly-shaped
blossoms, and bearing their seeds in pods ;
and some of them, hke the Meadow Vetchling,
are pretty and graceful plants. The smaller
Yellow Vetchling {Lathyrus Aphaca) has
flowers of the same hue as those of the
engraving, but the appearance of the plant is
very different, as the blossom growls singly on
the floAver-stalk. It is found on sandy and
gravelly fields, from June to August, but is
not a common plant. The Crimson Vetchling,
or Grass Vetch {Lcdhjriis Nissolia), is much
more frequent, growing in many parts of
England, on the borders of grassy fields, and
bearing in j\Iay a pretty crimson flower and
long grass-like leaves, without tendrils. There
is also a Bhie Marsh Vetchling (Laihjnis
palustris) which grows in moist meadows in
several parts of England, while the rare
Rough-podded Vetchling {Lathyrus hirsutus)
with its crimson standard is found only in
cultivated fields.

i

.^^.^ '^;?'

V

YKLLOW IRIS.

YELLOW IRIS. — /m Pseud-acorus.

Class Teiandeia, Order Monogtnia. Nat. Ord. iRiDACEiE.
Iris Tribe.

This handsome flower waves its bright petals
over many of the streamlets which wind their
way among our rustic landscape. It grows
too in moist meadows and woods. It is also
called Corn-flag and Water Sedge, while in
Scotland it is commonly termed Water Skeggs.
Charlotte Smith thus alludes to it : —

" Retiring May to lovely June

Her latest gai'land now resigns ;
The banks with cuckoo flowers are strewn,
The wood-walks blue with columbines ;
And with its reeds the wandering stream
Reflects the flag-flower's golden beam."

The root of the Corn-flag is scentless, and of
sweetish flavour. Either infused in w^ater, or
powdered and taken as snuff", it produces a
sense of heat in the mouth and throat, wdiicli
has been known, in some individuals, to re-
main for twelve hours. The root is somethnes
used medicinally, but is so powerful that it
should be employed with great caution. An
infusion, like that of galls, and other vegetable
astringents, may with the addition of iron be
made into ink, or it forms a good black dye ;
and the inhabitants of Scotland and the adja-
cent isles have long been in the habit of using
3^0. 9.

130 YELLOW IRIS.

it for both these purposes. This root is also
recommended as a cure for tooth-ache. Dr.
Johnstoii quotes EttmlUler as saying, " But
above all which I have hitherto known, the
juice of the roots of the Iris, rubbed upon the
tooth that is painful, or the root itself chewed
in the mouth, in an instant, as if by a charm,
draws away the pain of the teeth, arising
from what cause soever. He that communi-
cated it to me affirmed that he had tried it forty
times, at least, with like success. I myself also
have tried it ; a great many others have done
the same by my persuasion, and I hardly ever
knew it to fail." A cosmetic is also made
from this plant, and the roasted seeds are
recommended as a good substitute for coffee.

The name of this genus was given on
account of the various and beautiful colours
exhibited by several of the species. According
to Plutarch, the word Iris signified in the
ancient Egyptian tongue, eye, the eye of
heaven. We have one other Avild kind, the
Stinking Iris {Iris fcetldissima), which is of
unusual occurrence, except in the West of
England, where it inhabits thickets. The
flowers are smaller than those of the Corn-
flag, and of a livid purple hue.

>• A B.ROW- LEAVED

NARROW-LEAVED EVERLASTING
PEA. — Latliyrus syhestris.

Class DiADELPHiA. Order Decandeia. Nat. Orel. Leguminos.e
Pea and Bean Tribe.

This pretty wild pea is not a very common
flower, though often found in woods and
thickets in the middle and south of England.
The specimen from which the drawing for the
engraver w^as made, was gathered at Higham,
near Rochester, in Kent; and a good deal of
the plant grows in the w^oods and lanes around
the venerable ruins of Lymne Castle, near
Hythe, a spot so interesting to the antiquary,
from its Roman remains. It creeps among
the bushes too on Salisbury Crags, and on the
coast of Angusshire. The flowxrs are usually
about four or five together, and the stem climbs
to the height of four or five feet, clinging to
any object near it. The blossoms are of
greenish pink and purple, the stem is broad
and expanded, and each leafstaU^ bears two
leaflets and a tendril. It blossoms in July
and August, resembling somewhat the Ever-
lasting Pea [Latliyrus latifolius) of our gardens,
though far inferior to it in size and beauty
of colour. This Broad-leaved Pea is often

132 NARKOW-LEAVED EVERLASTING PEA.

enumerated among our wild flowers, though it
is most probably the outcast of the garden.

The genus Lathyrus, if we inchide the
Broad-leaved flower, contains eight native
species, but five of these are Vetchlings. The
only other wild Pea is the sea-side species
{Lathi/nis pisiformis). This grows on several
of our sea beaches, but is by no means a com-
mon flower. The seeds are rather bitter, but
in 1555, when great famine prevailed in
England, they were used as food, and thou-
sands of poor families were, by their means,
preserved from starvation. The seeds of all
this tribe are more numerous in dry than in
moist seasons, and doubtless afford a valuable
nutriment to birds ; while those of some of
our native species of Lathyrus may safely be
used as food for man. Like all our native
Leguminous plants, the seeds are contained in
pods, and the flowers are papilionaceous, or
butterfly-shaped.

COMMON CREEPING CINQUEFOTL.

COMMON CREEPING CINQUEEOIL.

Potentilla reptans.

Class IcosANDRiA. 0)'der Polygtnia. Nat. Ord. Rosacea.
Rose Tribe.

It would be difficult to discover the remedial
properties once believed to belong to the pretty
flowers which are included in this genus, and
which procured for it its scientific name. Po-
tential we cannot deem them ; for, saving some
slight power in stopping the effusion of blood
from a wound, which a few possess, no service
is done by them to modern generations. Enough
however it is for the lover of wild flowers, that
they are beautiful, that they deck the waysides
where he loves to wander, and have power to
awaken pleasant thoughts and old memories
of green fields and clear streams and waving
boughs, and the blue sky bending over all.
Of the eleven native species of Cinquefoil,
that represented here is the most frequent.
Its stems, taking root at the joints, creep
over meadows, pastures, and hedge-banks,
bearing the soft velvety yellow flowers and a
great profusion of leaves from June till
August ; and long before the flowers appear,
before the hedgebank has put forth a single
blossom, save the daisy and the chickweed,

134 COMMON CREEPING CINQUEEOIL.

graceful sprays of its foliage are lying among
the grass.

The greater number of our Cinquefoils are
mountain flowers, gracing the banks of paths
traversed by the footsteps of few travellers,
and where their yellow or white blossoms live
and die ungathered and unseen. Some of
them, however, like the Creeping Cinquefoil,
are common flowers. Such is the white-
flowered strawberry-leaved Cinquefoil {Foten-
tilla Fragariastrimi), which, in March and
April, has leaves and flowers so like the straw-
berry plants, that all save the botanist would
deem its blossom the harbinger of the ruddy
fruit of summer. The Hoary Cinquefoil
{Potentilla argentea), with its flowers smaller
than those of the creeping kind, and its
leaves downy on their under surface, is less
frequent in meadows and by road sides on a
gravelly soil, blooming in June ; and frequent
as any of the species, is the handsome Silver-
weed {Potentilla cmserina), with its leaves pale
beneath, with a profuse quantity of silky down,
and flowers shaped exactly like those of the
eno;ravinoj.

COMMON BUGLE.

COMMON BUGLE.— 4V^^ re:ptam.

Class DiDYNAMiA. Order Gtmnospermia Nat Ord. Labiat.e.
Labiate Teibe,

When wandering during May or June on the
moist meadows or pasture lands, we rarely fail
to find the Bugle blooming there. Its floAvers,
though commonly of a purplish blue colour,
vary to pale lilac, and occasionally to a pure
w^hite. The stem is erect, but the creeping
shoots proceeding from it distinguish the
species. It is too pretty and frequent a wild
flower to have been unnoticed by poets, and
we find it enumerated by Clare, among the
wild ornaments of Cowper Green :

" Thine's full many a pleasing bloom
Of blossoms lost to all perfume ;
Thine, the Dandelion flowers,
Gilt with dew like suns with showers ;
Harebells thine, and Bugles blue,
And Cuckoo flowers all sweet to view :
The wild Woad on each road we see ;
And medicinal Betony
By thy woodside railing reeves,
With Antique Mullein's flannel leaves."

The Bugle is still a village remedy for various
diseases, and its properties are astringent. It
is rarely now used for wounds, though it was
once much relied on as a vulnerary. Its old

136 COMMON BUGLE.

names are Brown Bugle, Middle Comfrey,
Sicklewort, and Carpenter's Herb ; the last
two being significant of its uses in healing the
wounds made by the sharp implements of the
husbandman or mechanic.

We have four wild species of this genus, but
one only besides the Common Bugle is at all
a frequent flower. This is the Ground Pine
or Yellow Bugle {Ajuga Chamcepitys), which is
not uncommon on sandy or gravelly fields in
Kent and Surrey, blossoming during April
and May. Its yellow blooms are formed like
those of the engraving, but the whole appear-
ance of the plant is very dissimilar, as the
leaves are long and narrow, resembhng those
of a Pine, and the flowers, which are yellow,
spotted Tvdth red, seem to hide among them.
The two remaining species, the Pyramidal
Bugle {Ajuga pijramidalis), and the Alpine
Bugle {Ajuga alpinct), have blue or purple
flowers. The former grows on Highland pas-
tures ; the latter on mountains.

NETTLE-LEAVED BELL-FLOWER.

NETTLE-LEAVED BELL-FLOWER.

Campanula Traclielium.

Class Pentandria. Order Monogynia. Nat. Ord. Campanu-
LACE^. — Bell-flower Tribe.

Beautiful as the woods are in July with
their well-clad boughs waving in the breeze,
yet woodland flowers are fewer in number than
in the spring. Some large species of Bell-
flower are, however, conspicuous among the
bushes of the wood or hedge bank, and that
represented in the engraving is very common
there. It is a hairy plant, with an angular
stem, and large purple blossoms ; while the
leaf is sufficiently like that of a nettle to give
to the species its distinctive name. Though
so frequent in the green lanes and woods
of some parts of England, it is, in Scotland,
a rare flower, but has been found on the old
walls of Mugdoch Castle, near Glasgow, and
in a few other places. It has been described
by the poet :— :

" And there with hispid leaf and blooms
Of darken'd sapphire, richly swinging.
The Bell-flower nettle-leaved illumiis

With azure light the woods ; while bringing
Around it troops of insect things,
With merry song and dancing wings."

138 NETTLE-LEAYED BELL-FLOWER.

This plant, though often more than two feet
high, is neither the largest nor the handsomest
of our wild Campanulate flowers. The giant
Bell-flower {Campanula latifolia) far outrivals
it, not only in the beauty of its brighter blue
blossoms, but in the size of the w^hole plant.
Except in some of the northern counties, it is
rare in England ; but it is a common flower in
the woody glens of Scotland.

The genus received its name from Campana,
a bell, the species having the flowers bell-shaped.
We have ten native kinds. Some of them, like
the Harebell, are graceful and delicate ; but
several, like the nettle-leaved species, are showy
plants. One of this family, the Rampion Bell-
flower {Campanula Bajjmiculus) , grows wild in
some of the gravelly lands of our midland
counties, flowering in July and August. Its
roots are much cultivated in Erance and Italy,
and occasionally in our own country. They
are called Eamps, and are eaten boiled with
sauce, or cold with vinegar and pepper.

^ ■ - ^^^ ■

WOOD LOOSESTRIFE.— Z?/smacMa

nemorum.

Class Pentandria. Order Monogynia. Nat. Orel. Pemu-

LACE^. — PeIMROSE TrIBE.

This flower, whicli is called also Yellow Pim-
pernel, is very frequent in woods and copses,
and other shady places, from May till July.
The stems are weak, and trail over the ground,
and the foliage is of a remarkably light and
delicate green hue. It belongs to a genus of
plants once greatly valued, because of the
absurd notion entertained by the ancients,
that, when put upon the yokes of restive
oxen, they rendered them Q-entle and sub mis-
sive. Linnaeus says, that the genus was named
from Lysimachus, King of Sicily, who first
used it for this purpose ; and the Enghsh
word Loosestrife is a translation of its old
Greek name. The Wood species was called
in Gerarde's time Serpentaria ; because, as he
says, " If serpents be wounded they do heal
themselves with this herb." The Loosestrifes
have, however, notwithstanding their reputa-
tion, little beyond their beauty to recommend
them to our regard ; but they are all pretty
yellow flowers, some of them much more con-
spicuous than the little wood species, and often
very ornamental to the sides of streams and

140 WOOD LOOSESTRIFE.

rivers. We have five native species. The
Great Yellow Loosestrife {Lysimachia vulgaris)
is by no means an uncommon flower during
July, by the river side, or on moist meadows
or bogs of England, though in Scotland it is
rare. It is sometimes two or three feet high,
with large clusters of golden blossoms. It has
scarcely any odour, and no modern botanist
has any high opinion of its properties or uses ;
but of old times, if Ave may trust to poets, it
was thought to possess some powers which
rendered it serviceable to man. Some lines in
the Faithful Shepherdess allude to it : —

" Yellow Lysimachus, to give sweet rest
To the faint shepherd ; killing, where it comes,
All busy gnats, and every fly that hums."

The tall Tufted Loosestrife {Lysimachm
thyrsiflorct), and the Four-leaved Loosestrife
{Lysimachia punctata), are rare flowers ; but
the Creeping Loosestrife {LysimacJiia minimu-
larid) is, like our yellow Pimpernel, common in
watery places, flowering in June. It is called
also Moneywort and Herb Twopence, and
has creeping stems. It is a hardy plant, and
is often cultivated in gardens upon rock- work.

COMMON SOArWORT.

COMMON SOAPWORT.— /S'r/^o^^^m/

officinalis.

Class Decandkia, Ch-der Digynia. Nat. Orel. Caryophylle^.
Chickweed Tribe.

This plant is one of those which seem to
follow the footsteps of man, and is much more
frequently found near villages than in the more
secluded spots of the landscape. It is in
blossom during July and August, on road-
sides, hedge-banks, and the margins of woods,
often at the distance of two or three minutes*
walk from the village. It usually grows to
the height of a foot, or a foot and a half, with
a rather stout cylindrical stem, and the cluster
of flowers is of a pale rose colour. It was
formerly called Bruisewort, and considered
heahng in its nature. A double variety is
cultivated in gardens, and Gerarde says of it,
*' It is planted in gardens for the flowers'
sake, to the decking up of houses, for the
which ])urpose it chiefly serveth."

We have but one Avild species of Saponaria,
and both the English and scientific names
allude to the soapy principle which exists more
or less in all the plants of the genus. Our
Soapwort will make a lather with hot water,

142 COMMON SOAP WORT.

and in former times it was used in batlis to
cleanse and beautify the skin. It will remove
stains or grease almost as well as soap.

The saponine principle of plants has been
thought to be of a poisonous nature. M. Mala-
pert and M. Bonnet made several experiments
on plants containing it, and they stated not
only its deleterious principle, but its exist-
ence in plants in which it had not been
suspected. Though most plentiful in all parts
of the Soapwort, it is contained also in the
Corn Cockle {A^rosfemma Gitliago), but in
this instance the saponine is found only in the
roots and unripe seeds. As much saponine
exists in the Nottingham Catchfly {Silene
nutans) as in the Soap wort, and here it is
diffused throughout all parts of the plant
except the seed. Other chemists have dis-
covered it in several species of the Pink and
Carnation genus, in various species of our
wild Lychnis, and even in the Scarlet Pim-
pernel. It has long been known that the nuts
of the Horse Chestnut -iree contain a large
quantity of saponine.

'^iU^^-

fi

J

COMMON CISTUS: or, ROCK ROSE.

Helianthemimi vidgare.

Class PoLTANDRiA. Order Monogtnia. Nat. Ord. CiSTACEiE.
Rock-Rose Tribe.

This is truly a flower of the sun, for its deli-
cate petals are always closed when clouds
obscure the noon-day sky, or when evening
and its twilight and deepening shadow warns
blossoms and leaves to close before the coming
dews. Large clumps of Rock Roses may be
seen adorning our barren lands ; and the dry
chalky cliff, or open dreary down, or hilly
pasture where the soil is of chalk or gravel,
often shows a gleam of beauty from their
numerous golden flowers. The crumpled
petals are very fragile, looking as if a rough
wind would scatter them ; and indeed all the
Cistus tribe are remarkably ephemeral, even
among the flowers of the field, which have
from oldest times been symbols of quick
decay. Such is the irritability of the stamens
of the flower, that if touched ever so gently,
they lie down upon the petals. Calder Camp-
bell has some pleasing lines upon it : —

" Midst Alpine clefts, or in rare grassy spots

Of mountain-ridges, where the wild bee dwells,
The Rock Rose with her yellow blossoms dots
Its dark and hoary leaves : a thousand spells

144 COMMON CISTUS ; OH, ROCK ROSE.

Of delicate grace around it lingering, bind
The poet-gatherer's heart to Beauty — found

Afar fi'om beaten tracks, for Nature kind

Scatters her richest gems o'er loneliest ground."

This plant blossoms from June to August,
and several variously coloured species are cul-
tivated in gardens. The rose-coloured variety
of this species, called by some writers Cistiis
roseiis, was planted in the Botanic Garden of
Chelsea more than a century since, and is
thought by some botanists to be the Rose of
Sharon. Speaking of this place, " I observed
nothing," says Munro, " bearing the appear-
ance of what we call a rose, and unless the
Rose of Sharon be the Cist us roseus, which
grows there abundantly, I know not what it
is." Mr. AVilde, who travelled in the same
region, also remarks that the Vale of Sharon
abounds with the white and red Cistus, and
expresses his opinion that this is the flower
intended by the Scripture writers.

The name of the genus is derived from sun
and flower, probably because the plant opens
only in sunshine. There are five British
species, but the one here represented is the
only one which is a common flower.

■^

COMMON ENCHANTEE'S NIGHTSHADE.

COMMON ENCHANTER'S NIGHT-

S H AD E . — CirccBa Lutetian a .

Clans DiANDRiA. Order Monogynia. Nat. Ord. Onageaele.
Willow-Herb Tribe.

From the botanical and familiar name of this
flower, one would infer that it was among the
plants renowned in the annals of superstition
for magical uses. The Henbane and various
other herbs were in old times used in incanta-
tions, and doubtless, their use consisted in
stupifying or exciting by their fumes the mental
powers of those subjected to their influence.
In any narcotic or other powerful principle,
however, our Enchanter's Nightshade is cjuite
deficient, and it received its name simply
because it grows in those dark, damp places
to which the magicians resorted, in order that
their gloom might afiect the imaginations of
their victims. Such spots were deemed fitted
for the spells of the enchantress Circe. Charlotte
Smith has described one in her poems : —

" Ke-echoed by the walls the owl obscene
Hoots to the night, as through the ivy green,
WTiose matted tods the arch and buttress bind,
Sobs, in low gusts, the melancholy wind ;
The Conium there, her stalks bedropp'd with red,
Rears, with Circsea, neighbour of the dead ;
No. 10.

146 COMMON enchanter's nightshade,

Atropa, too, that, as the beldams say,

Shows her black fruit to tempt and to betray,

Nods by the mouldering shrine of Monica."

The Conium is the Hemlock, the Atropa the
Deadly Nightshade.

Notwithstanding its evil associations, our
Enchanter's Nightshade is a pretty little flower,
and a frequent one too in shady places, w^hile
it often grows wild in the garden, among the
bushes and trees. The blossoms, which are
w^hite or rose-coloured, appear in June and
July. The stem is about a foot, or a foot and
a half high, and the root is creeping. It is as
common beneath the shadow cast by the tall trees
of Canadian Avoods, as in the recesses of ours.

We have another wild species of the genus
growing in woods, coppices, and stony places,
especially by the sides of lakes in the north of
England and in Scotland ; flowering in July and
August. This is the Alpine Enchanter's Night-
shade [Circcea alpind). It much resembles the
common kind, the flowers being exactly like
it, and the leaves differing in little except
their longer stalks. It is usually, however,
altogether a smaller plant than the former
species. Neither kind has anv odour.

c^^-^

SWEET MTLK VETCH.

SWEET MILK VETCH.— Jsfra^alu6^
ghjcuijhjlliis.

Class DiADELPHiA. Order Decandria. Nat. Onl, Leguminos^.
Pea and Bean Tribe.

Should a person unaccustomed to this plant
find the leaves in April, when as yet it had not
blossomed, he Avould probably think that the
green spray was some seedling from the tree
of our gardens, called the False Acacia, for it
much resembles it. The foliage is larger than
that of any of our wild vetches. The plant
grows in woods and thickets, chiefly on a
gravelly or calcareous soil, and the dingy yellow
butterfly-shaped flowers appear in May. The
stem is prostrate, extending two or three feet
over the ground, and the pods in which the
seeds are enclosed are about an inch long,
and curved in shape. This Milk Vetch is rare
in Scotland, and found more in the neighbour-
hood of Edinburgh than elsewhere ; nor is it
a very frequent English flower, for though
abundant in some rural districts, it is quite
unknown in many. The flavour of the stems
and leaves is sweetish, but bitter. The plant
is apparently disliked by cattle, as they leave

148 SWEET MILK VETCH,

it untouched, otherwise it would be a valuable
plant. for culture, because of its abundant
foliage.

We have another native species, the Purple
Mountain Milk Vetch [Astragalus hypocjlottis),
easily distinguished from the sweet species, not
only by the colour of its flowers, but by its
much smaher size. Its stem is weak, and only
a few inches high, with small sprays of leaflets,
and a cluster of flowers very large in proportion
to the foliage. It is of a bluish-pm-ple colour,
and sometimes white. It grows on dry,
gravelly, or chalky pasture lands, chiefly in
the south of England. It is very plentiful
on the celebrated Royston jNIoor, The seed-
vessels are erect and hairy, and it flowers during

Botanists enumerate a thud species of Milk
Vetch {Astragalus alpinus), which has been
found only in the Glen of the Dole, Clova, and
is distinguished by its spreading branched stem,
and spikes of w^hite drooping flowers tipped
with purple ; its seed-vessels hang dowTi, and
are covered with black hairs.

COMMON EVEBRIUHT.

COMI^ION EYEBRIGUT. —mp/irasia
officinalis.

Class DiDTNAMiA. Order Angiospermia. Nat. Ord. Scrophu-

LARINE^. FlGWORT TrIBE.

Our pretty Euphrasy received its name from
Euphrosyne, and is thus expressive of joy or
pleasure. It merits the distinction, for few who
love flowers would look on it without gratifi-
cation. Its little blossoms are sprinkled over
the sides of chalky cliffs, or they stud the short
grass of mountains or open plains, or are almost
hidden among the taller herbage of the pasture
land. The plant is sometimes only an inch in
height, and bears but a single flower ; but it
varies so much, that on situations where it
thrives well, it becomes branched and taller,
and many blossoms are scattered among its
leaves. The foliage is of bright green, and
deeply notched ; and the blossoms are either
white or pale lilac, streaked with purple. The
plant is very frequent, flowering from June to
August. Beautiful as it is, its name probably
refers rather to its properties than its loveli-
ness. It was supposed, some centuries since,
that the application of this plant Avould " make
okl eyes young again ; " and our old herbaUst,

150 COMMON EYECRIGHT.

Culpepper, says, " If the herb was but as much
used as it is neglected, it would have spoilt the
spectacle-maker's trade, and a man would think,
that reason should teach people to prefer the
preservation of their natural sight before arti-
ficial spectacles." JMilton apparently held the
general opinion of its virtues, and represents
the Archangel Michael as employing it to
quicken the vision of our first parent, when
disobedience to his Maker had dimmed alike
the physical and mental eye. When directing
Adam to look forward into coming ages, he
first

" The film removed
Which that false fruit, which promised clearer sight,
Had bred ; then purged with Euphrasy and Rue
The visual nerve, for he had much to see."

No record remains to tell of the value of
Rue to the dimmed eyesight, but the use of
Euphrasy is still common in villages, though
some oculists consider that it is injurious to
the eye. Lightfoot says, that the Highlanders
make an infusion of the plant with milk, and
anoint the patient's eye with a feather dipped
into the liquid.

RED CAMPION.

RED CAUVlO]<i.—Z?/c/mis dioica.

Class Decandria. Order Pentagtnia. Nat. Orel. Caryo-

PHYLLE^.— ChIOKWEED TrIBE.

The attention of wanderers in green meadows
is often attracted by this handsome flower.
Though no sweet odoiir reaches us as the mnd
blows over the hedge-bank on which it
flourishes, yet the absence of fragrance is
compensated by its beauty, and it is con-
spicuous among the many flo^vers of May or
of the still richer month of June. Country
people call this, as well as another species,
Bachelor's Button. It is frequently one or
two feet in height.

There is a white variety of this flower, which
may easily be known by its resemblance to it
in all respects, save the hue of its blossoms. It
has a sweet fragrance in the evening, and is on
this account called by some botanists Lychnis
vesperthia. It is occasionally cultivated as a
border flower ; but though its perfume is
agreeable, yet it is far less powerful than that
of some night-flowxring blossoms ; such, for
example, as the night-blowing Stock of our
gardens, or the night-flowering Catchfly of

152 RED CAMPION.

our cornfields. Both the Red and White
Campions are frequent flowers, and both are
dioecious ; that is, they have stamens in one
flower and pistils in another. The ovary or
seed-vessel is always much larger in the white
than in the red kind.

The genus Lychnis has, like that of Silene,
the English name of Catchfly, on account of the
clammy secretion on its stems and foliage ;
though this is not quite so abundant in any
of our native Lychnises as in some species of
the allied genus. The flowers and other
characteristics of the two genera are indeed
so similar, that only a practised botanist dis-
covers the difference. The name of Lychnis is
taken fi^om a lamp, because the cottony down
of some of the species has been burnt for
wicks. We have, besides the Red or White
Campion, three other species. Two of them
grow on mountains, but one is a common
flower. This is the Meadow Lychnis or Ragged
Robin {Lijolmis Flos Cuculi), w^ith rose-coloured
jagged petals. It is common during June iu
moist meadows.

COMMON SORUEL.

COMMON SOR'REL.—Bmnecv acetosa.

Class Hexandria. Order Digyxia, Nat. Ord. Poltgone^.
Persicaria Tribe.

Almost all whose early life has been spent in
the country, are famihar with this plant. Its
stem, often two feet and sometimes three in
height, looks gay, when in June and July the
large bunches of small red flowers give their
colour to the meadow or other grassy spots.
The leaves and juicy stems, though not so
powerfully acid as those of the Wood Sorrel,
have, however, a very agreeable acid flavour
when the plant is in full season, though in the
early months of spring they are almost taste-
less. They are sometimes boiled as spinach,
or are used to flavour salads and soups. The
plant, by cultivation, increases both in size and
acidity, and is often reared in gardens for the
use of the table. The Laplanders use the
fohage to turn their milk sour, and in Iceland,
as well as in France, it is eaten with fish. The
flowers are red tinged with green, and as they
increase in size become of a purphsh colour ;
and the root is very astringent, and is con-
sidered to possess valuable medicinal proper-
ties. When dried and boiled, it yields a good

154 COMMON SORREL.

red dye. All our domestic animals are fond
of this and the other species of sorrel.

A smaller species, called Sheep's Sorrel
{Bumex acetosella), is very frequent in dry
pastures, and, wherever it abounds, may be
regarded as a certain indication of barren
land. Haller observes that it is often found
growing in coal-yards ; and it flourishes
wherever iron prevails in the soil. It is very
variable in size, growing to the height of from
five to ten inches, and becoming, at the end
of summer, of a rich red colour. Besides its
smaller size, it is distinguishable from the
common species by the form of its leaves ; for
though the shape of those on the stem varies
very much, yet the root-leaves taper towards the
end, and are at the base arrow-shaped.

These Sorrels are both included in the Dock
genus, and their flowers are very similar to the
blossoms of those plants, but the leaves of the
Docks are not acid.

■nrKoo prowrn

CUCKOO FLOWER.— Cardamine pratensis.

Class Tetradtnamia. Order Siliquosa. Nat. Orel. Ckucifer^.
Ceuciferous Tribe.

Several of our wild flowers have a name
which connects them with the bird whose
note is one of the sweet voices of the spring.
Thus the Wood Sorrel was of old called
Cuckoo's Meat ; and Cuckoo Mower is still
the name of a species of Lychnis, while the
Cuckoo bU'ds of Shakspeare were our Butter-
cups. The flower of the engraving is the
" Lady's Smock all silver Avhite " of our great
dramatist; and it is said to have been thus
called because its whitish blossoms, when
thickly scattered among the grass, might re-
mind one of linen laid there to bleach. The
plant blooms in May, and before the sun has
fully whitened it, is of a delicate lilac colour.
It is sometimes found double. It is about
a foot high, and the root-leaves are differently
formed from those on the stem, the leaflets
on the latter being roundish and slightly
toothed, while those of the former are slender
and uncut at the edges. The foliage is
pungent, and has been used for salad, but it has
not the pleasant flavour of the water-cress^

156 CUCKOO FLOWER.

wliich is so often its companion on the borders
of the stream. The Cuckoo FloAver is very
plentiful in moist meadows, and the double
variety is remarkably proliferous, as the leaflets
produce new plants when they come in contact
with the ground, and when the flowers wither,
a stalked flower-bud rises from their centres.

This genus received its name from two
Greek words, signifying the "heart," and '^ to
fortify ; " because of its supposed strengthening
properties. It contains five native species,
and one other is as abundant in the moist
meadow, as is the Cuckoo Plower. This is
the Hairy Bitter Cress {Cardamine Jursida),
Its flowers are small and quite white, and its
height varies from four inches to a foot. In
dry situations it ripens its seeds in March
or April, but on moist shady places it con-
tinues in flower from March till the end of the
summer. The leaves and young flower-stems
afford a pleasant salad.

BLADDER CAlIPION, OB CATCKFLY,

BLADDER CAMPION; or, CATCHELY.

Bilene injiata.

Cl<iS8 Decandria. Order Trigynia. Nat. Ord. Caryophylle^.
Chickweed Tribe.

Our engraving offers the representation of
a flower wliicli is very familiar to most English
readers, and yet there are some districts, as
the neighbourhood of Tonbridge Wells, where
the plant, so common elsewhere, is regarded as
a rarity. It grows in meadows, but is more
frequent by road-sides, flowering from June
to August. It is very variable both in the size
and number of its white flowers, and the shape
of its leaves, which have, however, always
a sea-green bloom upon their surface ; while
the flower-cup, veined as if with a network,
and inflated like a bladder, distinguishes it from
the other species. The young shoots have the
odom' and flavour of green peas, and are
sometimes boiled as asparagus ; though the
writer of these pages has found them too bitter
to prove agreeable. They are, however, per-
fectly wholesome, and the bitterness might
be removed by blanching. Bryant, in his
Flora Bietetica, says that their culture would
wefl reward the gardener's trouble. This flower

158 BLADDER CAMPION.

was formerly called Spatling. The botanical
name of the genus is formed from the word
Saliva, and the English name refers also to
the viscid secretion of several of the species.
In the Bladder Campion this is not very great,
but in some it is so profuse that the stems
and leaves are to be seen covered with small
black insects, which they have attracted, and
then held prisoners. We have ten native
species, and some are interesting on account
of their beinoj ni^ht-bloomino; flowers. The
night-flowering Catchfly {Silene 7iodifiord),
with large reddish- white blossoms, is delici-
ously scented in the evening. No less fragrant
are the flowers of one variety of the Nottingham
Catchfly. This is by some writers called Silene
2oaradoxa, It grows on Dover Clifis, and
hundreds daily pass it during May, and see
only the white blossoms, looking as if the sun
had withered them. Yet by six o'clock in the
evening, the grassy spots seem whitened by
its stars, and the perfume appears to the
author to be more powerful than that of any
other wild flower.

'^

r/.(ON THRIFT.

COMMON TimilT.—Siaiice Armeria.

Class Pextandria. Order Pentagtxia. Nat. Ord. PLUMBAGI^"E^,
Thrift Tribe.

The salt marsli, covered with its short grasses
and maritime plants, is usually a treeless dreary
waste. Yet a few flowers spring up there, as
if to remind us that there is no spot on this
wide world on which the Great Creator has not
scattered some object of interest or beauty;
just as there is no human life so sad, but that
some joy can find room to grow. Large
patches of the Thrift may be seen from afar on
the marsh, sometimes brightening it into a
deep rose-colour, but more often giving it a
pale pink or lilac hue. The flowers appear
from June to August, forming round heads of
blossoms, interspersed with chafly scales, and
growing on downy stalks to the height of four
or five inches. The summit of the flower-stalk
is cased in a brown meiftbranous sheath, and
the slender leaves all proceed from the roots.

This plant is called also Sea Gilhflower, and
our old writers term it Ladies' Cushions, while
it is known in France as the Gazon (T Esjjagne,
It is well named Thrift, for it will thrive in
spots where little nutriment is aff'orded by the

160 COMMON THRIFT.

soil; and far up the cliff on the sea-shore, it
blooms among the crevices, often to be seen
by no eye save that of the wild sea-bird, whose
nest is perched in some cavity near it. It
flourishes, too, on elevated inland mountains.
When it is a plant of the saline soil, it pos-
sesses iodine and salts of soda ; but when it
grows inland, it loses the iodine, and exchanges
soda for potash.

The genus Statice was named from the
Greek word, to stop ; either because the tang-
ling stems would arrest the footstep, or that
some of the plants were supposed to arrest
disease. It, however, appears originally to
have belonged to another genus. There are
besides the Thrift, three British species, which
are not very similar to it, and are called Sea
Lavander, from their lilac-tinted flowers.

CATPIARTTC 'FLkX.—Zinum cat/iarticum.

Class Pentandria. Ordeo^ Pentagynia. Nat. Orel. Line^.
Flax Tribe.

This little flower is very plentiful on dry
grassy spots, during June and July, but is so
inconspicuous as to be often overlooked, its
stem being seldom more than five or six inches
high. It is a pretty slender plant, and small
as it is, is not without its uses. In country
places it is often called Mill Mountain, and
an infusion, made either from the fresh or
dried plant, is an old medicine for rheumatism,
and has been recommended for this malady
on the authority of some eminent botanists.
The small w^hite flowers droop gracefully before
expansion.

The genus Linum is named from the Celtic
w^ord Liii, thread, on account of the uses* of
some of the plants. We have, besides our
White Flax, two wild species of a blue colour,
the blossoms of wdiich are of the same form as
this little vase-like flower, but they are very
much larger. The Common Tlax {Linum
iisitatissimum) is the species which is usually

No. 11.

162 CATHARTIC TLAX.

cultivated for commerce, but as its seeds some-
times spring up in our corn-fields, it is by some
writers enumerated among our wild flowers.
It lias large purplish-blue blossoms, and affords,
in tlie strong fibres of its stems, the valuable
material for our thread and linen, while the
seed is serviceable for its oil. The Perennial
Flax {Linum perenne) is more truly wild.
It is a beautiful blue blossom, so fragile that
it will scarcely bear gathering, as its petals are
scattered to the winds on the gentlest touch.
When bowing down to the gale which sweeps
across the chalky hills, it is a most graceful
and elegant little flower. It blooms in June
and July, and is usually about a foot in height.
Its fibres aff'ord as good a substance for linen
as do those of the Common Flax. A light-
blue species, the Narrow-leaved Pale Flax,
{Linnm angustifolium^ is very similar to it, but
the flowers are paler in colour. It is frequent,
during June and July, on the sandy pastures
of our island, especially those which are near
the sea. Its leaves are very narrow, tapering
to a point.

GkR.AT njettle.

GREAT ^mTLK—Urtica dioica.

Class MoNCECiA. Order Tetrandria. Nat. Orel. Urtice^.
_Nettle Tribe.

This well-known plant of our every wayside
has, at some period or other, inflicted a wound
on almost all who have sought for wild flowers.
Its green blossoms, tinged sometimes with pur-
]Dlish-red, hang in clusters upon its dark fur-
rowed stem in July and August. The leaves
are beset with numerous hairs, each with so
fine a point that it can easily penetrate the
skin, and being in itself a tube, which conveys
poison from a httle gland at the base. This
species is, however, less virulent than the rare
Roman Nettle, {Urtica pilidifera,) which grows
about walls, especially near the sea, and which
leaves a much greater irritation after the touch.
The sting of our native species is, ho^xver,
far outdone by those of hotter climes. Thus
a nettle of India, {Urtica crenidata^ though
touched ever so slightly, causes inflammation
in the finger, which gradually extends itself
to all the limbs, and causes intense sufl'ering
for several days \ while the celebrated nettle
of Timor, called by the natives Daouusetan,

164 GKZAT SETTLE.

or Devil's Leaf, produces effects wliicli are said
to last a year, and sometimes to cause death.

Om* common nettle grows all over Europe,.
as well as in 1??:^ :'rr. S:''-:iia. and .Tapan. At
least thirty d:-^:a:^ -; [ - < f ^/>-cts hi our
native land d _ a \ d - ;.: its stems

and -' " :"--;,.: -.. ^^ : . di early

spriL., .__.... :_a :. :..:_. ^\^.:..:_... and a
strong decoction ci its leaves will curdle milk
without impartiug a disagreeable flavour, while
the libres of its stalk are, like those of hemp,
capable of being made into ropes, cloth, and
paper. The juices are said to be useful in
stopping the leaks of casks, and other wooden
vessels. For this purpose the green nettles are
rubbed over the apertiu*es, and the juice enter-
ing in, coagulates and prevents the contents
from running out. This result is obtained bv
the apphcation of th^ ' " 'minutes.

Besides the two : -^ _- .. vre have a

much smaller kind, winch is a very common
plant. The Lesser Xettie ^Uriica uren-s) grows
on waste and cultivated grounds. It is of
a brighter green than the other, and blossoms
fi'om June till October.

SAT-AD BUHNET.

SALAD BJJKNET.—Poteriim Sanguisorha,

Class MoxGECiA. Order Poltandria. Nat. Ord. Eosace^.
Rose Tribe.

This plant is very abundant on dry pastures,
especially on such as have a chalky soil. On
chalk cliffs, both those which tower above the
shore, and which skirt the green lanes of
England, the Salad Burnet is very general,
though it is not frequent in Scotland or Ire-
land. The sprays of dark green leaflets are
almost as ornamental as the blossoms, and
they have, when bruised, a slight odour of
cucumber. It is on this account that the plant
received its English name, for the foliage was
formerly used in salads. Its use, like that of
other of our wild herbs, is now almost for-
gotten, since so many good edible vegetables
are reared in our gardens at little cost ; and
Lamb's Lettuce, and Old Man's Pepper, and
Salad Burnet are left ungathered in the field,
save when the rambler there takes them for his
nosegay of wild flowers. The plant, Avhile
young and green, was also sometimes steeped
in wine, which was with this addition con-
sidered very exhilarating ; and a kind of
medicinal beverage was made by its infusion.

166 SALAD BURNET.

which was believed to be a vakiable medicine
in many complaints. The " cool tankard,"
too, once so highly enjoyed, was thought to be
improved either by Burnet or the still more
renowned Borage ; and hence the botanic name
of the genus, from poterion^ a drinking-cup.
It was formerly sown on dry soils, with Trefoil,
as an herbage plant ; and Shakspere refers to

" The even mead, that erst brought sweetly forth
The freckled Cowslip, Burnet, and sweet Clover ; "

but it is not cultivated in the present day.
The flowers are of greenish pm^ple, and the
upper blossoms in each head have crimson
tufted pistils ; while from the lower ones hang
numerous delicate thread-like stamens, which
render the plant very beautiful.

We have but one British species of this
genus. The plant called Common Burnet
{Sanpiisorha officinalis) is, however, very nearly
allied to it. Both the folias^e and flower are
much larger than those represented by the en-
graving, and the heads of blossom are oblong
in form, and of a browner hue. It grows, too,
on a very different soil, and is not uncommon,
from June to September, in moist meadows.

SHEPHERD'S ^^^E'EDL'E.—Scandia: Pecfen.

Class Pentandria. Order Digynia. Nat Ord. IJMBELLiFERiE.
Umbelliferous Tribe.

There is somethmg very pleasing in the old
English names of many of our wild flowers.
They are connected with rural haunts and
habits, and bear with them remembrances of
those old simplers and herbalists, who, though
they might have greatly overrated the virtues
of plants, yet found out many things respect-
ing them which have proved of use to succeed-
ing generations. Very often, too, they are
significant of some obvious feature of the
plant, or some property which distinguishes it.
Thus, the Shepherd's Purse has 'its seeds in
little heart-shaped pouches, formed like the
purses of olden times ; and the Shepherd's
Weather-glass foretells the rain by closing up
its petals ; and our Shepherd's Needle has very
peculiar seed-vessels, growing in clusters of five
or six, long, and tapering to a point, and each
as large, in some specimens, as a packing-
needle. The plant has in an earher stage

168 shepherd's needle.

small clusters of tiny white flowers, and is very
abundant in corn-fields during June and July.

Its foliage is of a bright green, its stems
and seed-vessels are rather rough on the sur-
face, and the plant varies in height from a few
inches to a foot. Its botanic name is taken
from the Greek word to prick, because of its
sharp-pointed seed-vessels ; and in some rural
districts it has also the familiar names of Venus's
Comb, and Needle Chervil. It is thought to
be the same plant named by the Greeks, and
to have been eaten by them boiled as greens.
We have but one British species of the genus.

It is an umbelliferous plant, and belongs
to a family the plants of v»diich have a great
resemblance to each other. They have all
white or yellow flowers, growing on rays around
a central point, like the spokes of an umbrella.
The corolla has five petals, five stamens, and
two pistils. Their flowers enliven the grassy
spots in early spring-time and through the
summer. Several of our table vegetables, as
the carrot, are umbelliferous plants.

^m^.

^^^'ff^i^,

COMMON MOLSE-KAR IIAWKWri-D.

COMMON MOUSE-EAR HAWKWEED.

Hieracium Filosella.

Class Syxgenesia. Order ^qctalis, Nat. Ord. CoLUPOSiTiE.
CoMPOu>'D Flowers.

The Hawkweed family is one of the most
perplexing, not only to the unpractised botanist,
but also to those who have studied plants long
and well. Sir W. Hooker calls it a " trouble-
some genus/' and all who have attempted to
identify its species have found it so. A great
difference of opinion exists among scientific
men as to the number of species, some con-
sidering certain points in various kinds of a
permanent nature, others as only occasional.
All the Hawkweeds, like the Mouse-Ear, have
yellow flowers, but this species is readily dis-
tinguished from the rest by its creeping shoots,
wliicli run over or just beneath the sm^face
of the soil. The blossoms are of a bright
lemon colour, and in most of them the outer
florets are striped with red beneath ; and as the
young unclosed flovv'er-buds often exhibit the
same bright colour, this plant in its different
stages of growth is exceedingly varied and

170 COMMON MOUSE-EAR HAWKWEED.

beautiful. Long hairs are thinly scattered
over the leaves, the under surfaces of which
are of a whitish-grey, and the young shoots
are of the same colour. This plant is very
abundant everywhere on dry sunny banks,
flowering from May till the end of July.

Among the strange fancies respecting
flowers which the ancients entertained, was
that which ascribed to the juices of this family
of plants the power to strengthen the vision of
bkds of prey. Hawks were supposed to resort
with their young ones for this purpose to the
Hawkweed. Hence the scientific name of
the genus, which has a synonym in almost
every country in Europe. Thus we have
Hawkweed, and the Germans call the plant
Habichtskraut, and the French, Eperviere.
Several of the Hawkweeds are very pretty
flowers, and we have many brought from other
lands to decorate our gardens. One native
species is also cultivated as a border flower.
This is the large handsome Orange Hawk-
weed, {Hieracium aurantiacum,) with hairs on
its stalk, AAdiich are black at the base ; hence
it is often called Grim the Collier.

COMMON BRAMBLE ; or, BLACK-
BERRY. — Rubusfndicosiis.

Class IcosANDRiA. OnUr PoLTGYNiA. Nat. Ord. Rosacea
Rose Tribe.

Eew are unacquainted with a plant whose
finiits are so pleasing to the simple taste of child-
hood and whose white floAvers, sometimes
tinged with pink, decorate every hedge during
July and August. Elliott has said of it,

" Thour^h woodbiDGS flaunt and roses f^row

O'er all the fragrant bowers,
Thou need'st not be ashamed to show

Thy satin- threaded flowers ;
For dull the eye, the heart as dull,

That cannot feel how fair,
Amid all beauty, beautiful

Thy tender blossoms are."

This, as well as some others of the genus, is
a biennial woody plant, producing suckers from
the root, which ripen and bear leaves one
year, and flowers and fruits the next. Phny
said that the propagation of trees by layers
was taught the ancients by the bramble-bush.
Knapp has observed of both this and the
Dewberry, {Riibus ccesius,) that they may
almost be considered as evergreens, and adds,
that we have perhaps no other shrubl3y plant
naturally deciduous except the Privet. These
slu'ubs may be often seen with many green or

172 COMMON BRAMBLE ; OR, BLACKBERRY.

purplish leaves on tlieir boiiglis when all others,
save the Ivy and the Hollj, are stripped of
then' summer honours.

Tlie ancients held the notion that both flower
and fruit of the bramble were efficacious against
the bite of serpents ; and that the young shoots,
eaten as salad, served to fasten the loosened
teeth, was an old fancy in our own country.
The green twigs have been used for dyeing ;
the stems are employed for thatching cottages;
and the fruits are preserved or eaten in pud-
dings. In Sweden the berries of the Arctic
Bramble, {Buhiis Arcficiis,) as w^ell as those of
the Cloudberry, {Bubus Chamamorns,) are
highly prized for various domestic uses. The
berries of both these species are larger than
our Blackberry. The Cloudberry is found on
Alpine moors in this country, and has an agree-
able flavour. It is much eaten both by the
Laplanders and Norwegians. The Arctic Bram-
ble is found in Scotland, but rarely. The genus
is named from the Celtic word Bub, red, from
the colour of some of the fruits. The common
Raspberry is included in it, and is sometimes
found wild in the north of our island. Gerarde
calls it Basils, or Hindberry.

KNorri:u fig-wokt.

KNOTTED mGANOm^.—ScrofjImlaria

nodosa.

Class DiDTNAMiA. Order Angiospermia. Nat. Orel. Scrophu-

LARINE^.— FiG-WOKT TrIBE.

This is a frequent plant in woods and moist
grounds. Tiie dingy greenish-purple flowers
appear in June and July, and the leaves are
heart-shaped at the base, and taper to a point,
being notched like the teeth of a saw. The
upper leaves are small, but loAver down the
stem they are two or three inches in length.
The stem is square, and rises to the height of
three or four feet, so that the loose cluster of
small flowers is an inconspicuous part of this
tall plant. This species is named from its
knotted root ; but another species is equally
common, and generally found close by rivers
and streams. This is the Water Fig-wort,
or Water Betony {Scrophidaria aqicatica). The
flowers resemble those of the engraving ; but
it is a stouter, more compact plant, and the
notches and ends of the leaves are rounder.
There is one feature, too, which at once dis-
tinguishes it : the stem is square, like that of
the knotted kind, but its angles, instead of
being blunt, have on them a thin green
expansion, which renders it what the botanist

174 KNOTTED PIG-WORT.

would call winged. It has a disagreeable
odour, like that of the Elder-tree, and both
species are usually considered unwholesome,
and are dishked by cattle. That the Water
Fig-wort may be used as food, has, however,
been proved ; for during the celebrated siege
of Rochelle by Cardinal Richelieu, in 1628,
the soldiers, when in great distress, resorted
to the roots of various plants, and were in
their extremity mainly supported by those of
this Fig-wort. The French to this day call the
plant Herhe die Sle^e, in memory of the event.
The Rev. C. A. Johns, in his '' Flowers of the
Field," remarks that the stems of this plant,
though hollow and succulent, are rigid when
dead, and prove very troublesome to anglers,
owing to their lines becoming entangled in the
withered capsules.

The flowers of the Fig-wort are very attrac-
tive to several insects, and are said to be
especially resorted to by wasps. There are
two other species besides those named : the
Balm-leaved Fig-wort {Scrop/udmia scoro-
donia), and the Yellow Fig-wort {Scrophdaria
vernalis), but they are not common flowers.

PEUFOUATE YELLOW WOUi

PERFOLIATE YELLOW AVORT.— 67^/om
perfoliata.

Class OcTA>'DRiA. Order Monogynia. NaX. Ord. Gextia>-e^.
Gentian Tribe.

This plant is very ornamental to the grassy-
parts of the chalky clifFs, or to the verdure
wiiich clothes our hill sides. It is \^•ell named
Yellow Wort, for not only are the blossoms
of a full bright yellow colour, but the whole
plant affords a good dye of that hue. It
flowers from July till September, at which
season yellow blossoms are so prevalent, that
they colour the scene almost as much as the
Buttercups of spring tint the places where they
abound. Hawkweeds, from a delicate lemon
to a full orange colour, are everywhere abund-
ant; Ragworts, bright as the golden sunbeam,
and Hawks'-beards, and Sow-thistles, and
Goats'-beards, which open only to the cloud-
less sky, rival the bright tints of the Dande-
lions, which glitter like stars among the grasses.
The leaves of the Yellow Wort are joined at
the base, so that the stalk goes through them,
and hence its specific name. Both foliage and

176 PERFOLIATE YELLOW WOUT.

stems are thickly covered with that pale sea-
green bloom, which, like the grey powder on
the plum, may be rubbed off by the finger ;
the plant too is remarkably subject to attacks
of mildew. It is about a foot high, and is
a common flower on chalky hilly places in
the middle and south of England, and grows
well near the sea, as on the cliffs at Dover,
where it is remarkably abundant and luxu-
riant. It is not common in Scotland, though
found on the chalky lands of almost all the
countries of Europe.

The genus Chlora was thus named from the
Greek word yeJloio, from the colour of its
flowers. It is intensely bitter, and belongs to
the same natural order as the Gentians. The
bitter prhiciple exists in a greater or less degree
in all these Gentianese, and is tonic in its nature;
that of the Chlora, though not so powerful as
in the Gentian, may be used medicinally in the
same cases as those in which the latter plant
would be employed.

WILD THTM:

WILD TRYlTE.—npnus Serpyllum.

Class DiDTNAMiA. Order Gymxosperiiia, Nat. Ord. Labiate.
The Labiate Tribe.

It is pleasant to wander over the " bank
wliereon the AVilcl Thyme blows/' and to
breathe the ah^ which, in July and August,
is fragrant with the odour of its purple flowers
and aromatic leaves. It is very abundant on
dry hilly pastures, and Dr. Armstrong, in his
celebrated poem on the Art of Preserving
Health, recommends such spots as peculiarly
salubrious.

" Mark ■where the dry champaign
Swells into cheerful hills ; where Marjoram
And Thyme, the love of bees, perfume the air,
There bid thy roofs, high on the basking steep,
Ascend ; there light thy hospitable fires."

Doubtless the pure air of such places
strengthens the human frame, and we know
well that sheep flourish where Thyme is
plentiful. It was long thought that the value
of the animal was increased by feeding on
Thyme, but this is generally known to be an
error. Mr. Bowles, the author of the " Sheep-
walks in Spain," says that sheep are not fond

^^o. 12.

178 WILD THYME.

of aromatic plants, and that they will carefully
push aside the Thyme to get at the grass
growing beneath. He adds that they never
touch it, except when walking upon it, when
they will catch at anything.

The odour of the Wild Thyme is increased
when we tread upon it, and its flavour is very
similar to that of the kind cultivated in the
kitchen-garden ; like that plant, too, it yields
a strong essential oil. It was OTvdng to its
grateful aroma that the genus derived its name
from the Greek word signifying mental vigour,
its balsamic odour being supposed to strengthen
the animal spirits. Country people make the
Thyme into tea for curing head -ache, and also
consider it a certain cure for nightmare. Few
wild plants vary more than this in size. When
grooving on dry exposed downs it is small and
close to the ground, but when springing up
among the Furze and Broom and Ling, and
other plants of the Heath land, its stalk is
often a foot high, and its cluster of flowers
much larger. The leaves, too, are in some
plants hairy, and in others quite smooth. It
is the only British species of the genus.

OYEIl S GREEN WEjlD

DYER'S GREEN- WEED. — 6'^;2e'5^a

Tinctoria,

Class DiADELPHiA. Order Decandria. Nat. Ord. LEQUMlNOSiS.
Pea and Bean Teibe.

Another familiar name for this plant is,
Woad- waxen. It is frequent in England, on
pastm-es, field-borders and thickets, and is
common, too, in the Lowlands of Scotland.
Its pale yellow butterfly-shaped flowers open
in July and August. The stem of the plant
is about one or two feet high, and in some
specimens the blossoms become double, as in
those which grow on the rocks near Ilkley, in
Yorkshire. The plant yields a good yellow
colom% and is used by dyers. The author of
the '' Journal of a Naturalist" says, " Our
poorer people, a few years ago, used to collect
it by cart-loads, about the month of July, and
the season of Woad-waxen was a little harvest
to them; but it interfered greatly with our hay-
making. Women could gain about two shil-
lings a-day clear of expenses by gathering it.''
The collecting the Dyer's-weed is a very
laborious employment, as the roots extend a
good way into the soil. The writer referred

180 DYERS GREEN-WEED.

to adds that the trade is not so common now,
and is discom^aged by the farmers. This plant
is seldom eaten by cattle. It grows in most
countries of Europe, and is, by people in
villages, used as a medicine for various mala-
dies.

We have three wild species of Genista. The
Needle Green-weed, or Petty Whin {Genista
Aiiglica), is not unfrequent on moist heaths
and moory grounds. It is a low shrub ; its
stems are tough, about a foot high, and
studded at intervals with sharp thorns. The
flowers are very similar to those of the
engraving. The Hairy Green-weed {Genista
pilosa) is a more rare plant. It has no thorns,
and its yellow flowers are smaller than those
of the other species. They bloom in May,
and again in Autuma. The stems are much
gnarled and branched, and the leaves are often
covered on the under surface with silky hairs.

The genus received its name from the Celtic
Gen, a small bush, whence also is derived the
French name of the plant, Ge7iet. From the
same origin is the name of the Plantagenet
family.

3i

COMMOy DAISY.

COMMON DkWl.—Bems peremiis.

Class Syxgenesia. Order Superflua. Nat. Ord. Composit^e.
Compound Flowers.

There is no flower wliicli seems so peculiarly
to belong to our native land as the Daisy.
Springing up in every meadow, in " times
unkind/' as well as on the summer day, the
delight of childhood, how often does it seem
to recal

" Some brief delight,
Some memory that had taken flight,
Some chime of fancy, wrong or right.
Or stray invention,"

English and Scottish poets have sung its
praises, from Chaucer downwards, who called
it Day's Eye, because its flowers are shut at
night, and Avho says it is " of all flouris the
floure." It is indeed what Wordsworth de-
scribes it, "the poet's darling;" and not the
less so, that, like the wind, it comes to every
field. In the north it is called Bairnwort,
because it is loved by children. And when the
traveller sees its rosy-tipped flowers among
the grass of other lands, as at Madeira, AA*kere
it is natm^alized, or beholds it cherished in a
garden-pot in India, it brings back a thought
of his early days. " Many little flowers," says
Backhouse, when in Auslraha, *' begin to
enamel the ground, one of which is too much

182 COMMON DAISY.

like an English Daisy not to excite pleasing
recollections, associated with that little flower,
though others bespeak the antipodes of
England." Leyden, when in India, wrote of
his longings to look on the Daisy flower;
Pringie, in his day-dream in the African desert,
saw the meadows " gemmed with the primrose
and goAYan ;" and om' late lamented botanist
Gardner had, in the interior of Brazil, a thought
of the Daisy —

" I wander alone, and often look
For the primrose bank by the rippling brook ;
"Which, waken'd to life by vernal beams,
An emblem of youth and beauty seems ;
And I ask wliere the violet and daisy grow,
But a breeze-born voice, in whisperings low.
Swept from the North o'er Southern seas.
Tells me I'm far from the land of these,"

The Daisy is not relished by cattle, and is
disliked even by geese. Its leaves, though
acrid, are sometimes boiled and eaten, and they
were, in former times, considered a valuable
application to recent wounds. The Italians
call the flower Pratolina, Meadow Elower ; or
Fiore de Primavera, Flower of Spring; and
the French term it La petite Margmrite, It
is the only British species.

COMMON YERY Am. —Feriem officinalis.

Class DiDTNAiiiA. Order Axgiospermia. ]Vat. Ord. Verbe-
NACEJE. — Vervain Tribe.

So small are the lilac blossoms of this plant,
that it Avins little regard from any but" the
botanist. Yet the Vervain was once a plant
of great repute, — the holy herb of om- fore-
fathers, and full of symbolic meanings in yet
older times. The ancients gathered it with
many ceremonies, and employed it when
making treaties w^ith ambassadors, in sacri-
ficial rites and incantations. They had their
Verbenalia, at which time temples wxre strewed
and sanctified with Vervain, the beasts for
sacrifice were filleted with its garlands, and its
flowery sprays were laid on the altar. Pliny,
as translated by Holland, says, '' It is used
in casting lots, telhng fortunes, and fore-
shewing future events by way of prophesie.
They add, moreover, that if the halle or
dining-ch amber be sprinkled with the water
wherein Vervain lay steeped, all that be at the
table shall be very pleasant, and make merrie
more jocundhe. Of all hearbes there is none
more honoured among the Romans than
Hierobotane, the sacred })lant Vervaine. It is
that hearbe which our ambassadors use to carry

184 COMMON VERVAIN.

with them when they declare war, and to give
defiance unto our enemies. With this hearbe
the festivall table of Jupiter is wont to be
swept and cleansed with great solemnitie ; with
it our houses also be rubbed and hallowed for
to drive away ill spirits."

Many persons noAv living can remember how
general a practice it was, some years since, to
hang a piece of Vervain around the neck of a
child to avert infection ; some believing it to
be an amulet or charm, others thinking it a
herb of powerful properties. Besides this, it
was taken medicinally, or worn to cure existing
disease, and was deemed efficacious in thirty
different complaints, in some of which it was
particularly recommended that it should be
tied round the neck with white ribbon.

The Vervain is a slender plant, often two
feet high, with few leaves. These are rather
rough, and cut at the edges, and the flowers
are somewhat distant from each other. It
grows on waste places, especially near houses,
and blooms in July and August. It is the
only British species, and is not now believed
to possess any valuable medicinal properties.

TiED BAUTSIA..

RED BAKTSIA.—Bartsia Odontites.

Class DiDTNAMiA. Order Angiospermta. Nat. Ord. Scrophu-
LARiNE^. — Fig-wort Tribe.

Those who are not very observant of plants,
would be likely to leave this unnoticed, as the
dull purplish colour of its upper leaves and
flower-cups renders it unattractive. Yet it is,
upon examination, a pretty flower, though
scentless. That Linnaeus admired some species
of Bartsia seems probable, from the fact that
he named the genus after his beloved friend
John Bartsch, of whom he gives an interesting
though somewhat sad account in his Flora
Biiecica. The reddish-purple blooms of this
plant appear in July and August. It is very
common in corn-fields, and on field borders
and other waste places, and is usually about
eight or ten inches in height.

We have two other native species, which
are readily distinguished from the Red kind by
their differently coloured blossoms. The Yel-
low Viscid Bartsia [Bartsia viscosa) is by no
means a common plant, though it grows very
plentifully in pastures, in many parts of the
West of England, and more rarely in the
South-west of Scotland and the South of
Ireland. It is much more showv than our

186 RED BARTSIA.

common species, and has large yellow hand-
some flowers, which have the odour of musk.
The plant would remind one of the common
Yellow Rattle of the meadows, but that the
blossoms grow imbedded among the leaves.

A still rarer species is the Alpine Bartsia
{Bartsia aljmia), which is found on some rocky-
alpine pastures in Yorkshire, Westmoreland,
and other northern counties of England, as well
as on Scottish mountains. It flowers in June
and July. Like alpine plants in general, its
stem is but little raised above the ground, and
its flowers large. The low mode of growth, the
strong and often crooked or procumbent stem,
the crowded appearance of leaves and blossoms,
as well as an excessive development of roots, are
so characteristic of alpine plants, that a botanist
can at a glance distinguish them amid a large
collection of diied flowers.

The flowers of the Alpine Bartsia are of a
deep purplish-blue colour, very downy, and the
upper leaves are often tinged with purple.
Some species of the genus from North America
and Siberia are found in gardens, but they are
not easy of cultivation.

BROOM l{.\]

LESSER BROOM ^k^Y..— Orohanclie
minor.

Class DiDYNAMiA. Order Angiospermia. Nat. Ord. Oroban-
CHE^. — Broom-rape Tribe.

There is something so peculiar in the general
aspect of parasitic plants, that they may usually
be at once recognised as such, by any one
familiar Avith flowers. The true parasite fixes
on the root or trunk of another vegetable,
deriving its nourishment from its juices, and
is therefore not like the moss or lichen, which
hangs on the tree, but draws no nutriment
from it. We have few native parasitic plants ;
and the greater number of them have that
brownish dull tinge which at first sight
would lead us to suppose them to be half
withered. They are distinguished, too, by the
absence of leaves.

In many cases parasites gro»w only on certain
plants, in others they infest various vegetables.
Of the Lesser Broom Rape there are several
varieties, which grow^ on the roots of clover,
ivy, sea carrot, and other plants. It is not an
unfrequent flower in the clover-field, during the
months of July and August. It varies from
half a foot to more than a foot and a half in
height, and its blossoms are, in its varieties,
more or less tinged with a dingy purple and yel-

188 LESSER BROOM RAPE.

low colour, while tlie stem and scales are in this,
as in ail the species, of a dull reddish brown.
All the Broom Rapes are of a very acrid nature,
and are rejected by almost all animals.

The literal translation of the generic name,
Strangle-Vetch, is very apphcable, for they
peculiarly infest plants of the Leguminous
tribe, such as have, like the Vetches, their seeds
in legumes or pods, and they are sadly destruc-
tive to them. It is said that the seeds of these
parasites will often lie dormant in the soil for
many years, till some young plant, suitable for
their nourishment, vegetates near them, when
they, too, sprout and take possession of the
points of its roots, which enlarge and serve as
their base.

Difierent botajiists enumerate various num-
bers of species, some considering that slight
peculiarities of structure form specific distinc-
tions, others regarding these marks as only
accidental, and forming varieties merely. The
Greater Broom Rape is much like the plant of
our engraving, but a great deal larger, and
often above two feet hisfh. It is common on
Furze and Broom, and its succulent stem is as
thick as a finoier.

fc:<JilMON PELLITOFT OF THK "WALI*

COMMON PELLITORY OF THE WALL.

Parietaria officinalis.

Class Tetraxdeia. Order jNIonogyxia, Nat. Ord. Urtice^.
Nettle Tribe.

Our old walls are often made verdant by the
Pellitory. As Knapp has observed, it may be
seen in such places seeking the calcareous nitrate
found there, this salt appearing essential to its
vigom' and health. Large masses of the plant
may be found on rocky places near the sea, in
some spots almost lying over the surface on
which it grows, in others rising erect and
branched, a foot and a half in height, and
losing much of the downy covering which
invests both the flower and foliage of the
smaller specimens. The little reddish-purple
blossoms crowd closely between the stem and
leaf, and appear on the plant from June to
September. The manner in which the sta-
mens shed their pollen, or yellow powder, is
very singular. These minute threads, on their
first appearance, all bend inwards ; but no
sooner is the pollen matured and fit to be
discharged, than the warmth of the sun, the
hght tread of an insect, or the smallest touch
with the point of a pin, makes them fly back
and throw out a little cloud of dust- This
elasticity is owing to the jointed structure of

190 COMMON PELLITORY OF THE WALL.

these tiny threads, and it may be observed on
any warm sunny morning, when thousands of
these small stamens are exploding, and dis-
persing the pollen.

The leaves of this plant, when strewed in
granaries, are said to destroy the Corn- weevil;
and it contains so large a quantity of nitre,
that in making an extract from it, the whole
mass has been found to take fire. Curtis
remarks, that the same degree of cold, thirty-
one of Fahrenheit, which strips the mulberry-
tree of its leaves, will destroy the herbage of
the Pellitory. Pellitory tea is a favourite
medicine in country places for a large number
of disorders.

The name of the genus is derived from
2)aries, a wall. AVe have but one British
species, but several have been introduced into
gardens from other countries ; their native soil
being generally that of the old wall or waste
place by the wayside. They have all greenish
or purplish flowers, and are not very ornamental
to the garden. The celebrated Pellitory of
Spain, sold by druggists as a remedy for
tooth-ache, is a species of chamomile, brought
from the South of Europe.

SMALL TV'OODrvUVT.

SMALL WOODmJYY.—AsperuIa

Cyncmchica,

Class Tetrandeia. Order Monogynia. Nat. Orel. Rubiaceje.
Madder Tribe.

This lovely little flower can scarcely be called
common, because we might often wander for
miles in tlie country without seeing it. Yet
in several of our counties, where chalk prevails
in the soil, it grows in great abundance on
warm sunny banks ; and small as it is, its
numerous clusters form no inconsiderable
ornament to such places. During the months
of June and July, large patches of the white
or lilac little blossoms look like remnants of
a snow-storm, left among the grassy hills of
Cambridgeshire. So too, upon the cliffs of
Dover, the plant may be seen from beneath,
far beyond our reach, adorning their steep
sides and short green verdure. A familiar
name of the flower, Squinancy-wort, origin-
ates in its having been formerly considered
as a specific for the squinancy, or as it is now
called, the quinsey : and its botanical name,
from the Greek word to choke, aUudes also to
its supposed virtues. It is not found in Wales
or Scotland.

192 SMALL WOODRUFF.

The other native species of the genus, the
SAveet Woodruff, {Asperula odorata,) is far
better known than this. The flowers are
white, in clusters, and, like those of our
engraving, in the form of the jessamine, and
the leaves grow in whorls around the stem,
and resemble those of the common Cleavers.
This plant has no odour when fresh, but is
deliciously fragrant Avhen dried. Dr. Wallich
says that its flowers, infused in water, make a
tea far superior to the Chinese teas. The
Germans use the plant to flavour vinous
liquors. The leaves will preserve their odour
for years, and if laid among clothes, are an
excellent preservative from moths. Old
records found in the books of London
churches, show that they were once hung up
in garlands within their walls, and few of our
native plants would be more suitable for the
purpose. The scent is like that of newly
made hay.

The genus received its name from the
Latin asjjer, rough, some of the species
having, like the Sweet Woodruff, rough leaves
and stems. ,

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