THE WILD FLOWERS 
 
 f|ofo to Ste ano frofo to $a%r %nt. 
 
 TWO CHAPTERS ON THE ECONOMICAL AND MEDICINAL 
 USES OF OUR NATIVE PLANTS. 
 
 SPENCEE THOMSON, M. D. F.R.C.S.E, 
 
 FELLOW OF THE BOTANICAL SOCIETY OK EDINBURGH. 
 
 SECOND EDITION. 
 
 ITottbott : 
 GROOMBRTDGE & SONS, PATERNOSTER-ROW. 
 
 1854.
 
 /^M'UT f 
 tv<t- C JWvtcW. 
 
 " It is pleasant to note all plants, from the rush to the 
 
 spreading cedar, x 
 
 From the giant king of palms to the lichen that 
 staineth its stem." i 
 
 MABTIN TUPPER. 
 
 e V- <?
 
 TO 
 
 WILLIAM THOMAS THOMSON, ESQ., 
 
 F.E.S.E., F.I.A. 
 
 OF TRINITY GROVE, EDINBURGH. 
 
 bc 4r0Uofoig |)n<jcs 
 
 ARE 
 
 INSCRIBED 
 
 IN 
 
 AFFECTIONATE REMEMBRANCE 
 
 OF 
 
 YOUTHFUL DAYS AND WALKS, 
 
 ; 
 HIS BROTHER, 
 
 THE AUTHOR.
 
 PREFACE, 
 
 IT is, perhaps, superfluous to remark, that the 
 following little work is not sent forth as one which 
 is to complete the reader's botanical education ; 
 many, it may be, will be glad to acquire, in an easy 
 form, the general view of the Vegetable Kingdom 
 which it is meant to illustrate, without desiring to 
 pursue the subject farther ; but the chief hope of 
 the author is, that by interesting the mind, espe- 
 cially of the young, in one branch of Natural 
 History, it may lead to the study in a deeper form, 
 not of that branch only, but of the Natural Sciences 
 
 b
 
 vi PREFACE. 
 
 generally. Fortunate, indeed, has it been for 
 medical men, that the requirements of their pro- 
 fession have rendered some acquaintance with 
 these pursuits necessary ; it justifies the remark 
 recently made in one of the leading Journals, that 
 "Medical men are far the best informed class in 
 the community about those sciences in which the 
 world makes headway ;" and it accounts for the 
 fact, that a large proportion of the scientific writers 
 and investigators of the day are drawn from the 
 ranks of the medical profession ; many of these 
 men, moreover, being at the same time engaged 
 in the activities of practice, and in the battle of 
 life, which wins them their daily bread. Some 
 persons have a prejudice against medical men who 
 write, especially upon subjects which do not appear 
 to be very directly connected with the treatment 
 of disease. Nothing can be more short-sighted. 
 Every man must have intervals of leisure, and 
 none, perhaps, experience greater variation in the 
 calls upon their time, than those who are engaged 
 in the general practice of medicine. When such
 
 PREFACE. VU 
 
 intervals come, whether it be often, or few and far 
 between, then the man who has early acquired a 
 taste for the pursuits of Natural History, turns to 
 them as his best, most interesting relaxation ; and 
 puts them in the place of less improving sources of 
 amusement so often resorted to by those who have 
 no similar inducements thus to occupy time un- 
 appropriated by business. 
 
 These remarks are made, not so much in laudation 
 of the Author's own profession, as to shew the 
 value, as a resource through life, even if regarded 
 only in the light of an amusement, of the young 
 mind acquiring a taste for pursuits, hitherto so un- 
 accountably neglected in our systems of general 
 education. Well will it be when no man can be 
 considered properly educated who is ignorant of 
 the leading facts, at least, of the Natural Sciences ; 
 still better will it be, when the study of these 
 sciences, ranking next to that of the inspired 
 Scriptures, shall be made a great means to the end 
 of all education, the improvement of the heart as 
 
 I 2
 
 Viii PREFACE. 
 
 well as the cultivation of the intellect. When the 
 study of His works marvellous in all their exem- 
 plifications of "Wisdom infinite and of Love un- 
 bounded, shall ever be connected in the minds of 
 all with the recognition of their Almighty Author. 
 
 S. T. 
 
 GRANGEWOOD LODGE. 
 
 Bu RTON-OX-TREXT, 
 
 June, 1S54.
 
 ANALYTICAL INDEX OF CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS .... 1 
 
 Reasons why so great a variety of scientific and Latin 
 
 terms are necessary for botanical science. 
 A knowledge of wild flowers attainable without most 
 
 of these terms. 
 Object of present work directed to outward forms 
 
 and outward distinctive characters of plants. 
 
 3E. 
 ORGANS OF PLANTS. 
 
 THE SKIN OR EPIDERMIS 5 
 
 Its composition Breathing pores or stomata Ap- 
 pendages of plant skin, hairs, &c. 
 
 CONSERVATIVE ORGANS. 
 ROOT STEM LEAVES. 
 
 THE ROOT 7 
 
 Roots not necessarily fixed in ground Classification 
 of roots Different parts of root Various kinds of 
 root Bulbs not roots. 
 
 STEM 9 
 
 Not essential part of plant Under-ground stems 
 Division of stems Herbaceous and woody Stems 
 distinguished by their direction Stems simple and 
 branching Varieties of branching Covering of 
 stems Form of stems. 
 
 LEAVES .15 
 
 Buds protective coverings Folding of leaves in buds 
 Use of leaves Structure Ribs or veins, dif- 
 ferent arrangement of Netted and parallel 
 Two great divisions of vegetable kingdom distin- 
 guished by the ribbing or veining of their leaves. 
 Various parts of leaf Various forms of leaf Leaf 
 margins and points -Leaf substance and surface. 
 Compound leaves Examples. Seed or cotyledonary 
 leaves.
 
 x CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE. 
 REPRODUCTIVE ORGANS OF PLANTS. . 29 
 
 Certain parts of flowers essential, others not. 
 NON-ESSENTIAL OBGANS 
 
 CALYX, OR FLOWER-CUP 
 
 What it is ; its varieties ; its parts ; its speedy sepa- 
 ration, or permanent attachment. 
 
 COROLLA, OR FLOWER 35 
 
 What it is Varieties ; one-petaled or many-petaled 
 Characters Position with relation to calyx 
 Petals ; their varieties and forms The monopeta- 
 lous corolla Its varieties The perianth in the 
 rush and grass tribes. 
 
 ESSENTIAL ORGANS '> 
 
 The stamens Their position, actual and relative- 
 Their numbers Parts of the stamen Attachments 
 of stamens, and their importance as distinctions 
 Connection of stamens with each other, by the fila- 
 ments or anthers The pollen ; its profusion ; its 
 form and minuteness ; how discharged from the 
 anther The peculiarity of the stamen in the orchis 
 tribe. 
 
 THE PISTIL 54 
 
 Its position and office in the flower Its parts, and 
 their varieties The stigma ; its varieties ; its 
 special characteristic Fertilization ; its effects and 
 importance Provisions for securing the process 
 Barren and fertile plants Pistils often numerous in 
 the same blossom Separate or combined. Pistil 
 when matured becomes 
 
 The Fruit Changes undergone in maturing Fruit 
 classification Reference to monthly illustrations 
 Fruits seldom studied by beginners in botany. 
 Review of last chapter Recommendation of study of 
 Botany Advantages conferred by a knowledge of 
 Botany upon the tourist Illustrations. 
 
 FLOWER-BUDS, AND FLORAL METAMORPHOSIS . . . t> 
 Varied arrangement of petals within the bud Exam- 
 ples of floral metamorphoses Series of metamor- 
 phoses in Dutch clover.
 
 CONTENTS. XI 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 ARRANGEMENT OF BLOSSOMS INFLORESCENCE . . 70 
 The peduncle, or flower-stalk The pedicels The 
 scape Blossoms, solitary Blossoms in racemes 
 Blossoms in corymbs Blossoms in umbels Blos- 
 soms, at first in a corymb, at last in a raceme 
 Blossoms of grass, in a panicle Blossoms in a spike 
 Blossoms in a catkin Blossoms in a compound 
 head Blossoms in a whorl Bracts, or floral leaves 
 Characters of bracts Bract involucres. 
 
 PLANT CLASSIFICATION. 
 
 NECESSITY FOR AND USES OF CLASSIFICATION . . 90 
 
 Natural groups of plants First modes of classification 
 Tournefort's classification Linnsean classification 
 Natural classification Characteristics of Linnsean 
 method Advantages of Natural System Detailed 
 account of Linnsean classification Natural classifi- 
 cation explained Three great divisions of vegetable 
 kingdom. 
 
 Dicotyledonous plants Characters Divisions A 
 species ; .what it is A genus. 
 
 Practical exposition of plant distinctions Ranunculus, 
 or crowfoot tribe Cruciferse Crucial flowers, or 
 mustard tribes, &c. Leguminous, or pod-bearing 
 tribe Rosaceous, or rose-blossomed tribe Umbel- 
 bearers, or hemlock-like tribe Composites, or com- 
 pound-headed tribe Figwort tribe Labiates, 
 lipped-flowered, or mint-like tribe. 
 
 Monocotyledonous plants Orchis tribe Sedge tribe 
 Grass tribe.
 
 xii CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 ipart 3E1E1E. 
 
 MONTHLY ILLUSTRATIONS OF BRITISH WILD 
 
 FLOWERS 12 <" 
 
 Pleasant recollections of botanical excursions in early 
 life Description of a Student's botanical excursion 
 . Arguments in favour of the study of the natural 
 
 sciences. 
 
 THE MONTHS. 
 
 JANUAKT 187 
 
 Inducements to study of botany A Flora and its 
 uses The daisy and the gorse 
 
 FEBRUARY 144 
 
 Botanical distribution Habitat Reminiscences 
 connected with dried plants Plant collecting and 
 preserving The botanical box and the digger 
 The snow-drop, and aconite The spurge-laurel, 
 hazel, and dead nettle. 
 
 MARCH 155 
 
 Selection of specimens Preparation and carrying of 
 specimens Plant drying or preserving The colts- 
 foot and dandelion The butter-bur Ground-ivy 
 Whitlow grass, &c. The mistletoe and mercury 
 The willows, &c. 
 
 APRIL 166 
 
 Hints on plant gathering Mounting dried plants 
 Primroses and cowslips Their symmetrical flowers 
 Violets Anemones and the ranunculus tribe 
 Cardamines The moschatell, &c. Cuckoo-pint, 
 and toothwort Tree blossoms. 
 
 MAT 178 
 
 The month Ranunculus species and their characters 
 The poppies Cruciform plants Umbelliferous 
 plants The saxifrages and their connexions The 
 forget-me-not and its legend The geraniums or 
 cranesbills The rosaceous tribe The barberry and 
 vegetable irritability Herb Paris Bog-plants of 
 May Hill plants, and others The broom, &c. 
 The Gone, &c. Linnaeus.
 
 CONTENTS. Xlll 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 JUNE 195 
 
 Signs of summer Umbelliferae and their characters 
 Leguminous, or pod-bearing, and papilionaceous 
 flowers Trefoils and vetches The lady's-mantle, 
 and its name Labiate plants Trientalis, and globe- 
 flower The orchis tribe June wood-plants 
 Mares-tail and bladderworts Iris and water-plants 
 Potentillas, pimpernel Plantains Meadow-rue 
 Lychnis, &c. 
 
 JULY 211 
 
 Plants of sea-shore Samphire, wild celery Sea 
 Holly Glaucous plants Horned poppy, sea-rocket, 
 and scurvy-grass Glasswort and saltwort The 
 sea-reed and sea-wheat-grass Grasses and their 
 characters The sedges The rushes The flower- 
 ing rush The bur-reed, arrow-head and water-plan- 
 tain The raspberry and the bramble The Linnsea 
 The winter-green and rock-rose Wood-plants of 
 July Willow-herbs Plants of the corn-fields. 
 
 AUGUST 228 
 
 'The eyebright and its effects The heaths The 
 sheepsbit and the gentian The centaury and yel- 
 low-wort Perfoliate, amplexicaul and connate 
 leaves The Teazel The grass of Parnassus ; its 
 beauty The white and yellow water-lilies 
 The fig-worts and purple loose-strife The bitter- 
 sweet, nightshade, henbane and thorn-apple 
 Fools' -parsley, and water umbel-bearing plants 
 Parsnip and carrot- Agrimony and salad-burnet - 
 August leguminous plants The stone-crops The 
 St. John's-worts. 
 
 SEPTEMBER 243 
 
 A sad month for the botanist The chamomile tribe 
 Composite plants ; their floral structure The milk- 
 thistle The plume-thistles, &c. The chicory, field- 
 madder, &c. The self-heal and devil's-bit The 
 scabious Wormwoods and cudweeds Autumnal 
 sea-shore botany Mallows and mulleins Mints 
 and autumnal labiates Toad-flax 
 
 OCTOBER 257 
 
 Good King Henry, or mercury goosefoot The nettle 
 and its sting Pellitory of the wall, and other nettle 
 connexions The hop The dodders, parasites 
 The broom-rapes The autumn crocus and its his- 
 tory Duckweed.
 
 XIV CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 NOVEMBER 266 
 
 What fruit is botanically The wake-robin berries 
 
 True berries and false berries The strawberry 
 
 not a berrv. 
 An achene, and what it is Carpels Follicles The 
 
 rose-hep A drupe The blackberry Honeysuckle 
 
 berries and bryonies A pome and a nut Pods 
 
 and pouches. 
 
 DECEMBER 2 ^^ 
 
 Arranging and disposing of dried plants Mode of 
 affixing names Necessity of order in arrangement 
 Pleasures of botany in winter More winter 
 berries Holly Ivy Mistletoe The beauty of 
 our winter wild fruits A samara The Cone The 
 grains or grass-seed or caryopsis Modes by 
 which seeds are dispersed The feathery wing 
 The gorse and broom spring guns The hooks of 
 the burdock and screw of the cranesbill How 
 seed-cups open The increasing interest of botani- 
 cal studies. 
 
 OUR CHAPTER OF WILD FLOWERS . . .289 
 
 WITHOUT FLOWERS. 
 
 Plants with flowers and true seeds Plants without 
 flowers and without true seeds the ferns and 
 their organs The male fern How the young fern 
 frond unfolds " Fern seed," or spores Coverings of 
 fern spores Capsules and their jointed rings The 
 bracken The hart's-tongue The spleenworts and 
 the lady-fern The royal fern The maiden's hair 
 Adder's tongue and moon- wort Club mosses and 
 horse-tails Conclusion of wild-flower notices. 
 
 ECONOMIC PROPERTIES OF BRITISH WILD PLANTS 301 
 
 Reasons why native wild plants are neglected in Britain. 
 
 Native wild plants the origin of some garden vegetables. 
 Celery and sea-kale ; cabbage, beet and asparagus ; 
 parsnip, carrot, and turnip. 
 
 Native plants used in an uncultivated state Nettles, 
 goosefoot, and hop. 
 
 Wild originals of garden fruits Cherry, pear, and crab- 
 apple ; currant, gooseberry, and strawberry ; rasp- 
 berry and brambles ; bilbery and cranberry ; hazel 
 nuts.
 
 CONTENTS. XV 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 i'lants yielding Condiments Mustard, horse-raddish, pars- 
 ley, water-cress ; salad burnet and samphire. 
 
 Farinaceous Roots Orchis tribe, cuckoo-pint, rampion and 
 bitter-vetch ; pig-nut. 
 
 Seeds. Linseed, seed of iris, buckwheat. 
 
 Mucilage. Mallow tribe. 
 
 Oil. Linseed, and mustard. 
 
 Aromatic Products. Umbel-bearing and labiate plants ; 
 angelica ; gout-weed, spignel, and sea-holly ; caraway, 
 coriander and dill ; mints, thyme, marjoram, sage, 
 &c. ; juniper and sweet sedge. 
 
 Aromatic Bitters. Hop, germander, &c. 
 
 Dyes. Dyers' green-weed, dyers' -woad ; dyers' yellow- 
 weed. 
 
 Water-lily and Gypsywort. Tormentil and whortleberry. 
 
 Astringents and Tanning. Saltwort and glasswort. 
 
 Mechanical Properties of Native Plants. The lint and the 
 rush tribes ; willow, teazel, and holly ; the horsetail ; 
 the grasses ; Lyme-grass, sea-reed, and common reed ; 
 Dutch myrtle and hornbeam ; the birch, and its 
 wine ; timbei'-trees ; fencing and fodder. 
 
 NATIVE MEDICINAL PLANTS, 310 
 
 EMPLOYED IN REGULAR MEDICINAL PRACTICE. 
 
 The meadow crowfoot and spearwort ; the red poppy and 
 the opium poppy ; scurvy-grass, mustard and cuckoo- 
 flower ; sweet violet ; mallows and linseed ; wood- 
 sorrel ; rose-tribe astringents ; umbel-bearers, aroma- 
 tics and hemlock ; the elder ; the valerian ; bitter 
 composites, opium lettuce and coltsfoot ; foxglove ; 
 the nightshade family ; water-dock and sorrel ; bistort 
 and asarabacca ; hop catkins and willow-bark ; fir tur- 
 pentine and juniper ; male fern and colchicum. 
 
 MEDICINAL NATIVE PLANTS 
 
 CHIEFLY EMPLOYED POPULARLY. 
 
 Bitter herbs and "bitter teas ;" agrimony, chamomile ; 
 tansy and wormwood ; buckbean and centaury ; butter- 
 bur ; yarrows and fever-few ; wall-pennywort ; adder's- 
 tongue and nettle ; arrowhead and dock. 
 
 Popular superstition and fancies respecting plant virtues.
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTKATIONS. 
 
 1. Magnified view of the cells and breathing pores of the 
 
 skin of a plant. 
 
 '2. Specimens of hairs of plants. 
 
 3. Root of ipecacuanha. 
 
 4. Root appendages of bird's nest orchis. 
 
 5. Tubers of root of spotted orchis. 
 
 ti. Underground stem (bulb) of crocus. 
 
 7. Underground stem of iris. 
 
 8. Ascending stem of Dutch clover. 
 
 9. Winged stem of vetch. 
 
 1 0. Bud of horse-chestnut. 
 
 11. Hart's-tongue fern. 
 
 12. Leaf of nettle. 
 
 1 3. Lance-shaped leaf of senna. 
 
 14. Oval leaf of senna. 
 
 15. Sessile leaves. 
 10. Palm-shaped leaf. 
 
 1 7. Arrow-shaped leaf. 
 
 18. Linear leaf. 
 
 1 9. Part of a compound leaf. 
 
 20. Connate leaves of teazel. 
 '21. Decurrent leaf of thistle. 
 22. Compound leaf of ash. 
 28. Compound leaf of clover. 
 
 24. Partite leaf of bur marigold. 
 
 25. Compound leaf of cow-parsnip. 
 
 26. Seed-leaves of dead nettle. 
 
 27. Leaf of pitcher plant. 
 
 28. Blossom of wall-flower. , 
 
 29. Section of primrose blossom. 
 
 30. Back view of blossom of common loosestrife. 
 
 31. Blossom of gorse. 
 
 32. Bud of dead nettle. 
 
 33. Bud of poppy.
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 34. Section of rosebud. 
 
 35. Petal of buttercup. 
 
 36. Petal of wall-flower. 
 
 37. Blossom of sweet violet. 
 
 38. Blossom of umbel-bearing plant. 
 
 39. Blossom of wall-flower. 
 
 40. Pea or papilionaceous blossom. 
 
 41. Blossom of primrose. 
 
 42. Bell-shaped blossom of campanula. 
 
 43. Wheel-shaped blossom of forget-me-not. 
 
 44. Florets of daisy. 
 
 45. Blossom of dead nettle. 
 
 46. Blossom of hairy wood-rush. 
 
 47. Spikelet of grass. 
 
 48. Stamens and pistils of wall-flower. 
 
 49. Section of buttercup. 
 
 50. Blossom of speedwell. 
 
 51. Blossom of common starwort. 
 
 52. Stamen of wood anemone. 
 
 53. Floret of ribwort plantain. 
 
 54. Section of rosaceous calyx. 
 
 55. Stamens and pistils of common gorse. 
 
 56. Blossom of orchis. 
 
 57. Pistil of bell-flower. 
 
 58. Section of blossom of common crocus. 
 
 59. Section of primrose blossom corolla removed. 
 
 60. Pistils and seed-vessel of poppy. 
 
 61. Carpels of columbine. 
 
 62. Capsule of speedwell. 
 
 63. Diagram of a symmetrical flower. 
 
 64. 68. Stages of flower metamorphosis. 
 
 69. Plant of cowslip. 
 
 70. Sprig of lesser loosestrife. 
 
 71. Raceme-bearing branch of red-currant. 
 
 72. Raceme of germander speedwell. 
 
 73. Corymb of beam-tree. 
 
 74. Umbel. 
 
 75. Corymb, becoming a raceme, of shepherd's-purse. 
 
 76. Panicle of hair-grass. 
 
 77. Pendent-spike of hazel. 
 
 78. Composite-head of leopard's bane. 
 
 80. Bract of lime-tree. 
 
 81. Composite head of daisy. 
 
 82. Spathe of wake-robin. 
 
 83. Leafy bracts of sedge.
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 84. Spikelet of grass. 
 
 84. Wood crowfoot Nat. order Ranunculacese. 
 
 85. Petal of ranunculus. 
 
 86. Section of ranunculus blossom. 
 
 87. Stamen of a ranunculaceous plant. 
 
 88. Water-cress Nat. order Cruciferae. 
 
 89. Cruciform wall-flower blossom. 
 
 90. Stamens and pistil of wall-flower. 
 
 91. Wood : vetch Nat. order Leguminosse. 
 
 92. Stem of vetch, winged. 
 
 93. Stamens and pistils of gorse. 
 
 94. Wild strawberry Nat. order Rosaceae. 
 
 95. Section of rose-bud. 
 
 96. Rosaceous calyx. 
 
 97. Section of strawberry blossom. 
 
 98. Rough chervil Nat. order Umbelliferse. 
 
 99. Blossom of umbelliferous plant. 
 
 100. Fruit of umbelliferous plant. 
 
 101. Michaelmas daisy Nat. order Composite. 
 
 102. Florets of daisy. 
 
 103. Composite head of leopard's bane. 
 
 104. Seed of dandelion. 
 
 105. Water-figwort Nat. order Scrophulariaciae. 
 
 106. Large-flowered hemp nettle Nat. order Labiate. 
 
 107. Blossom of labiate plant. 
 
 108. Small white butterfly orchis Nat. order Orchideie. 
 
 109. Tubers of spotted orchis. 
 
 110. Blossom of orchis. 
 
 111. Cyperus-like sedge Nat. order Cyperacese. 
 
 112. Sedge. 
 
 113. Rushy sea-wheat grass Nat. order Gramineae. 
 
 114. Spikelet of grass. 
 
 115. Composite head of common daisy. 
 
 116. Botanical box. 
 
 117. Botanical digger or hand-spade. 
 
 118. Blossoms of hazel. 
 
 119. Flower of dead nettle. 
 
 120. Seedling of common goose-grass. 
 
 121. Receptacle and seeds of dandelion. 
 
 122. Reproductive organs of wall-flower. 
 
 123. Primrose section. 
 
 124. Flower of sweet-violet. 
 
 125. Section of buttercup. 
 
 126. Floral spadix of cuckoo-pint. 
 
 127. Buttercup petal.
 
 LIST OF ILI/USTBATIONS. XIX 
 
 128. An umbel. 
 
 129. Blossom of germander speedwell. 
 
 130. Calyx and stamens of a rosaceous plant. 
 
 131. Plant of herb Paris. 
 
 132. Umbelliferous blossom and fruit. 
 
 133. Pea-blossom. 
 
 134. Orchis blossom. 
 
 135. Plantain florets. 
 
 136. Spikelet of grass. 
 
 137. Spikelet of grass. 
 
 138. Sedge-plant. 
 
 139. Floret of hairy wood-rush. 
 
 140. The Linnaea borealis. 
 
 141. Perfoliate leaf. 
 
 142. Amplexicaul leaves, and whorled flowers. 
 
 143. Connate leaves. 
 
 144. Section of umbelliferous fruit. 
 
 145. Leaf of cow-parsnip. 
 
 146. Section of daisy-blossom. 
 
 147. 148. Florets of daisy. 
 
 149. Decurrent leaf. 
 
 150. Sting of nettle. 
 
 151. Hop catkin. 
 
 152. Autumnal crocus. 
 
 1 53. Section of blossom of autumnal crocus. 
 
 154. Strawberry fruit. 
 
 155. Section of strawberry -blossom. 
 
 156. Seed and pappus of dandelion (magnified.) 
 
 157. Carpel of ranunculus (magnified). 
 
 158. Capsule of lychnis. 
 
 159. Follicles of marsh marigold. 
 
 160. Section of rosebud. 
 
 161. Samara of maple. 
 
 162. Cone of juniper. 
 
 163. Capsule of lychnis, opening. 
 
 164. Siliqua of wall-flower, opening. 
 
 165. Portion of fern-frond with " round son." 
 
 166. Portion of fern frond with " kidney-shaped sori." 
 
 167. Capsules which contain fern-seed or spores, with their 
 
 elastic jointed rings. 
 
 168. Portion of frond of maiden' s-hair fern. 
 
 169. Hart's tongue fern. 
 
 170. Adder' s-tongue. 
 
 171. Moonwort.
 
 ito Jfkfm 
 
 " O Father, Lord ! 
 
 The All-beneficent ! I blew thy name 
 That thou has mantled the green earth with flowers, 
 Linking our hearts to nature I By the lore 
 Of their wild blossoms our young footsteps first 
 Into her deep recesses are beguiled." 
 
 "By the breath of flowers 
 Thou callest us, from city throngs and cares, 
 Back to the woods, the birds, the mountain streams, 
 That sing of Thee !" 
 
 " Thou bidd'st 
 
 The lilies of the field with placid smile 
 Reprove man's feverish strivings, and infuse 
 Through his warm soul a more unworldly life, 
 With their soft holy breath." 
 
 "Receive 
 
 Thanks, blessings, love, for these thy lavish boons, 
 And most of all their heavenward influences, 
 O Thou that gavest us flowers," 
 
 MRS. HEIIANS. 
 
 How quickly are the feelings and the imagination 
 interested in the associations connected with flowers.
 
 2 WANDEBIHGS AMONG 
 
 How easily, how early in life, do the young wild 
 blossoms "link the heart to nature," form as it 
 were 
 
 " A flowery band to bind us to the earth :" 
 
 and yet, strange is it, no sooner do we speak of the 
 intellectual study of this fairest portion of Grod's 
 creation, than people generally think of something 
 dry and unattractive ; they seem frightened at the 
 very name of botany, which conveys to their minds 
 little else than an idea of long catalogues of "dreary" 
 latin names. True it is that the scientific study of 
 botany does involve a knowledge of a good many ap- 
 parently learned terms ; but it does so for the simple 
 reason, that in such lavish profusion has He who 
 gave us flowers "mantled" with them the green earth, 
 so diverse has He made the forms and vestiture of 
 these " bright children of the sun," that those who 
 study them, have had to find names for some eighty 
 or ninety thousand different kinds or " species." 
 Names, too, which shall not merely be understood 
 in a limited locality, but which shall pass current 
 among men of all civilized nations and tongues. 
 Hence, plants and flowers, even the most familiar, 
 must all have their botanical names, and for this 
 purpose the latin language is the most convenient, 
 to distinguish them in their places in the great 
 system of plant arrangement, well named the "Vege- 
 table Kingdom." 
 These long names, therefore, which appear so
 
 THE WILD FLOWERS. 3 
 
 terrible, are really no essential part of the botanical 
 lore of our British wild flower gatherer and student. 
 We could take all our wanderings amid the woods 
 and glades of England, over the hills and by the 
 mountain burns of Scotland, without troubling one 
 of them, or finding them stand in the way of our 
 study of any wildling we pick up. You need have 
 nothing to do with them unless you like, and yet, 
 we venture to say, that when you have got inte- 
 rested in botanical study, you will find these names 
 so convenient, that you will then think it no trouble 
 to learn and to use them. If you really love wild 
 flowers, even their hard names will gradually fix 
 themselves in your memory ; and once in, they do 
 not very readily escape. 
 
 Nevertheless, in our little volume, we promise you 
 shall find as few of these learned terms as possible. 
 Its intention is not to speak of botanical science, but 
 of wild flowers ; not to lead you into the microscopic 
 intricacies of vegetable anatomy, but simply to deal 
 with the outward forms and distinctive features of 
 our floral favourites, to Show you how to see them, 
 how to appreciate those varied characters which 
 distinguish "classes," "families," and " species," of 
 plants from one another ; and which, though ap- 
 parently separating the vegetable kingdom into 
 diverse parts, actually give rise, by their combined 
 differences, to the beautifully harmonious whole 
 which it presents to us, whether we view it with the 
 eyes of the scientific student, or with those of the 
 
 B 2
 
 4 WILD FLOWERS. 
 
 admirer of nature's beauty. Whether we give our 
 mind to learn how 
 
 " The folded leaf is woo'J from out the bud,'" 
 
 in early Spring, or the down- clothed seeds wafted 
 abroad by the winds of Autumn ; or whether, taking 
 a wider view, we seek to appreciate the beauty of 
 the extended landscape, which owes so much to the 
 varied forms and glowing colours of tree, and shrub, 
 and flower.
 
 [ito Jfloters. 
 
 PART I. 
 ORGANS OF PLANTS. 
 
 THE COYEEING, SKIN, OB EPIDEEMIS OF PLANTS. 
 
 PLANTS, like animals, have a skiu, that is, have an 
 outward covering, which protects, and assists to bind 
 together the internal structures. Generally, this 
 skin, which is composed of two layers, is extremely 
 thin, as we find it on most leaves, and is usually 
 colourless, allowing the varied tints of the parts 
 beneath to shine through it. In most plants the 
 skin or epidermis is simple; but in some, such as the 
 grasses, horsetails, &c., it contains silica or sand 
 substance, and from this derives peculiar hardness.* 
 Moreover the plant covering is not impervious, but 
 is pierced with numberless minute openings called 
 
 * The use of what are called Dutch rushes in polishing brass, <fcc., 
 depends upon their containing a large amount of this silica, or Band 
 substance, in their epidermis.
 
 6 WILD FLOWERS. 
 
 stomates Fig. 1. These openings communicate 
 with the interior parts of 
 the plant, and permit the 
 interchange of gases and 
 vapours with the surround- 
 ing atmosphere: they are 
 in fact the breathing mouths 
 i. Portion of the epidermis or .un of plants. Capable, too, are 
 
 of a plant, highly maimifleil, shewing - . . . , 
 
 tl.e irregular shaped flattened cell, of they 01 Shutting UD in dry 
 which it ia composed, and the stomata * ; r > 
 
 or breathing pore-a, a. weather, and so checking 
 
 the escape of the vegetable juices, and of opening to 
 receive grateful refreshment in a moist atmosphere. 
 As we might expect, these stomates would be of but 
 little use on roots, or on plants immersed in water, 
 and there we scarcely find them ; they are most 
 numerous on the undersides of leaves ; a tolerably 
 good microscope, however, is required to see them. 
 But the plant covering has appendages much less 
 microscopic than these curious little stomates ; 
 occasionally it is smooth, but very often it has a 
 clothing of hairs of all kinds, from the softest down 
 to the stiffest bristles, merging into the spines and 
 prickles which arm our roses and brambles, or into 
 the stings of the nettle. The disposition and form 
 of the hair coverings of plants often aiford us valu- 
 able distinctions. Pluck a piece of chickweed, or of 
 the germander speedwell, Veronica chamoedrys. On 
 the stem of the first you will perceive alternate lines 
 of hairs, on that of the second opposite lines of 
 hairs, both well marked characters. Most hairs
 
 OEGAKS OF PLANTS. 
 
 perhaps are simple, but many are varied, some are 
 
 star-shaped Fig. 2 b 
 others forked 
 Tig. 2 a others glan- 
 dular Fig. 2 c. 
 
 Having looked well 
 to our plant covering, 
 we must go to what 
 very few incipient bo- 
 tanists trouble them- 
 selves about 
 
 2. Varieties of plant hairs a, forked hair i, 
 star-shaped hair c, branched and glandular 
 nair of gooseberry. 
 
 THE BOOT. 
 
 And yet roots are often beautiful yes, beautiful ; 
 offcener still, remarkably characteristic very varied 
 in form. Although the root is usually the part of 
 the plant by which it is fixed in the ground, and 
 by means of which it draws up nourishment, the 
 arrangement is by no means constant ; some of the 
 orchis family, and others, do not have their roots in 
 the ground at all, but possess what are called 
 aerial roots ; others develope their roots in the air 
 in the first place, although they subsequently be- 
 come fixed in the earth. Boots are classed as 
 annual, biennial, and perennial, according as they 
 last for one, two, or more years. A root may be said 
 to consist of two parts, the body, or, as it is often 
 called, the caudex, and the radicles or fibres. Some
 
 8 
 
 WILD FLOWERS. 
 
 roots, like the carrot, dandelion, &c., are simple, and 
 terminate in a point ; others terminate abruptly, as 
 in the devil's-bit scabious, mentioned among our 
 September wild flowers ; whilst some are globular, 
 like the turnip. Many roots, like those of the 
 majority of the grasses, and the sedges, are com- 
 posed solely of fibres. Perhaps, however, the com- 
 monest form of root is the branched, such as we 
 find possessed by trees and shrubs generally. Of 
 the curious roots, that of the Ipecacuanha Fig. 3 
 is not the least so. It is annulated or ringed. 
 Another form of root, the fasciculated or bundled 
 Fig. 4. we see in the bird's-nest orchis, ap- 
 
 >. Hoot of the Ipoecciuuiha an- 
 nolutod or riugeJ. 
 
 4. Hoot of BirdVnest Orchil, composed o 
 many fleshy fibres a fasciculated or bundled 
 root.
 
 OBGANS OF PLANTS. 
 
 9 
 
 preaching the tuberous roots of others of the orchis 
 species. Here is one Pig. 5 the palmated root of 
 
 the common Orchis 
 maculata, or spot- 
 ted leaved orchis. 
 Properly, however, 
 we ought to speak 
 of these tubers, and 
 of others like them, 
 such as those of 
 the potato, rather 
 as appendages to 
 the root than the root itself. Some of our readers, 
 perhaps, are ready to remind us that we have for- 
 gotten to speak of bulbs ; but for these we must 
 refer them to our next section, the stem, to which, 
 perhaps to their surprise, they will find these 
 apparent roots truly belong ; for as there are aerial 
 roots, so are there underground stems. 
 
 5. Root of the Spotted Orchis, with palmated 
 (hand-shaped) tubers. 
 
 THE STEM. 
 
 The stem is that portion of the plant which, as 
 a general rule, rises from the root at the surface of 
 the ground, and supports the leaves, flowers, &c. 
 It is not, however, an essential part of plant exist- 
 ence, many species, such as the primrose, plantain, 
 &c., having no. apparent stem whatever, whilst 
 others possessing bulbs, like the onion or lily, or
 
 10 
 
 WILD FLOWERS. 
 
 6. Underground stem, or, as it is 
 commonly called, bulb or root, of 
 the common crocus , proper fl- 
 brous root b, the corm which pro- 
 perly represents the stem c, buds, 
 consisting of leaves and flowers. 
 
 solid conns, like the crocus, are said to have 
 their stems underground. Pig. 6, is a section of 
 the common crocus, of which 
 a is the fibrous root b 
 the corm, which may be 
 taken to represent the stem, 
 and c, c, buds springing 
 from that stem, and unfold- 
 ing into leaves and flowers. 
 Another form of stem 
 usually considered as an 
 underground one, is such as 
 we find in the lily of the val- 
 ley, or more conspicuously 
 in the iris Fig. 7. 
 
 To proceed to what 
 our readers will have less 
 difficulty in recognizing as 
 stems, we find those which 
 rise above the ground, pre- 
 senting us with almost 
 every conceivable form and 
 appearance, from the slen- 
 der thread-like support of 
 the "slight hairbell," to 
 the trunk of the gnarled 
 and knotted oak, or the 
 light elegant shaft of 
 the oriental palm. How 
 g rea tly this almost infinite
 
 OBGANS OF PLANTS. 11 
 
 diversity of stem and branch* for branches are 
 but secondary stems adds to the beauty of natural 
 scenery, it is almost superfluous to remark, and 
 our readers may well imagine, how valuable and 
 distinct must be the characters which botanists 
 derive from the stems, as signs of difference between 
 one plant and another. 
 
 One great division among stems is into herba- 
 ceous or green, and woody. The stem of an annual 
 plant or of a one year's shoot is always herbaceous, 
 that of two years growth becomes woody ; hence, 
 like roots, stems are annual, biennial, and so forth. 
 Stems vary greatly in their directions, here is 
 another source of difference ; some, like the pine 
 tree, are erect, shooting straight upwards ; among 
 smaller plants, the mints and the foxgloves are 
 good specimens of the straight stem. Some, unable 
 to support their weight, lie on the ground, like the 
 ground-ivy, they are procumbent. Some of these 
 procumbent stems send down roots, and are then 
 rooting. Some stems which are at first procumbent, 
 show a tendency to rise upward ; of this the com- 
 mon clover Fig. 8 is a good example. Such 
 stems are ascending. Then we have the well-known 
 trailing stems of the hop, of the honeysuckle, 
 and convolvulus or bindweed : differing from these 
 are the climbing stems of the vine, of many of 
 the pea species, or of the now well-known canary 
 creeper; the former, the vine, the vetches, &c. 
 
 * Refer to Figs. 84 to 113.
 
 12 WILD rLOWEBS. 
 
 supporting themselves by means of their tendrils, 
 the latter climbing by means of the graspings of its 
 
 '- 
 
 8. Ascending stem of common Dutch Clover. 
 
 leaf and flower stalks. The incurved stems of the 
 bramble afford us another example of stem variety 
 as regards direction. Other stems simply droop, 
 either bending stiffly as it were, or with the grace- 
 fulness which we see in some of the grasses, such as 
 the brome, or the melic grass. A few seem unde- 
 termined what course to take, and so follow the zig- 
 zag, like a species of clover. Again, stems may be 
 simple, like that of the foxglove ; or they may be 
 branched, that is, sending out secondary stems, and 
 in the distribution of these branches we find 
 another source of distinction. There is the simply 
 forked stem dividing itself into pairs of branches, 
 or the many-branched. In some cases these 
 branches come off singly, and apparently without
 
 OEGAKS OP PLANTS. 13 
 
 regularity, in others, by regular alternations, and 
 again by twos opposite each other. Occasionally 
 a number of branches shoot out from around the 
 same centre of the stem in a whorl. Then we must 
 remark what position the branches hold with respect 
 to the stem whether they are erect, spreading, 
 or, like those of some of our most graceful trees and 
 shrubs, pendent or drooping. Eunners, such as 
 we find in the strawberry Fig. 94 and many 
 other plants, we may look upon as long weak 
 stems or branches, unable to support their own 
 weight, and resting upon the ground. Exactly the 
 opposite of these we find on the common thorn, 
 and other spinous plants, the prickles of which are 
 but short, stiff, undeveloped branches, giving their 
 own special character to the plant which bears them. 
 Very different, however, are these thorns from the 
 prickles of the rose or of the brambles : of this, the 
 most superficial examination will be sufficient to 
 convince any one. The thorn is connected with the 
 wood, the prickle is simply an appendage to the 
 skin or epidermis. 
 
 Additional plant characteristics do we find fur- 
 nished to us by the surface of stems and branches. 
 Some are perfectly smooth, some clothed with hairs 
 of various degrees of softness or stiffness. Some 
 stems, as that of the common hemlock, are spotted, 
 or, like the toothwort or broom-rape, scaly ; on 
 others the bark is rough and wrinkled, even on the 
 small branches. Another variation presents itself 
 when a stem is winged, as it is in some of the
 
 14 WILD FLOWEBS. 
 
 vetches. Fig. 9 or sheathed, as in the glasses 
 Fig. 113. Next we have to look 
 to the form of stems, some being 
 cylindrical or nearly so, others 
 flattened or compressed, many 
 presenting us with angles moye 
 or less numerous. There is 
 the triangled, and often very 
 sharp-angled, stem of the sedges 
 Fig. Ill the square four- 
 angled stem of the figwort or 
 scrophularia Fig. 105 and 
 other plants; or those of the 
 gentian, or of the starwort, with 
 more angles still. 
 
 Lastly, we have stems knotted 
 as in the brittle geranium, jointed 
 or knotted as in the grasses, which 
 last also offer us examples of hollow or fistulous 
 stems. But enough : we have shown how many and 
 how distinct characters may be derived from the 
 stems of plants ; and our readers must and nothing 
 is easier both verify and extend the knowledge for 
 themselves. Scarcely two will they find alike ; the 
 variety is infinite as it is perfect, telling of 
 
 "The well ordained 
 laws of Jehovah." 
 " The wonderful all-prevalent analogy that 
 
 testifieth one Creator. 
 
 The broad arrow of the Great King carved on 
 all the stores of his Arsenal." 
 
 MA.KTIN TUPPER.
 
 OBGANS OF PLANTS. 15 
 
 THE LEAYES THE BUDS. 
 
 In the tree or shrub, bare even as we see it in 
 winter, there are all the points which have hitherto 
 engaged our attention the root, the stem, and the 
 branches ; but there are also the buds, which, hard 
 and lifeless as they appear when 
 
 "Winter winds are piercing chill," 
 
 nevertheless contain closely packed up, and well 
 protected, the future leaves and branchlets, the 
 flowers and fruits, destined to burst into bloom and 
 being, when 
 
 "Winter has passed with its frowns away, 
 And the beautifuf Spring is coming." 
 
 Most buds have a general external resemblance, but 
 they differ considerably in the internal arrangement 
 and packing of their contents. As all are aware, 
 these contents are either leaves or flowers or both, or 
 at least their germs, which during winter are so well 
 protected from the nipping frost, or rotting damp, 
 by the covering of hard brown-looking scales 
 which so closely invests them. Overlapping one an- 
 other Fig. 10. these scales are assisted in their 
 protective office in some cases by a covering of 
 a hard dry varnish ; in others, as in the poplars,
 
 16 
 
 WILD FLOWEBS. 
 
 horse chesnut, Fig. 
 
 10 &c., &c., from being 
 glued together by a 
 sticky resinous sub- 
 stance ; whilst in not 
 a few instances they 
 have a warm woolly 
 lining. Within these 
 carefully constructed 
 coverings lies the fu- 
 ture foliage at pre- 
 sent we refer only to 
 leaf-bud s of the tree, 
 packed most closely, 
 most beautifully, and 
 in very varied forms, 
 according to the na- 
 ture of the plant 
 which bears it. Take 
 
 any bud swelling to the bursting in spring, cut it both 
 across and lengthwise, and you will at once gain an 
 idea of the disposition of the foliation, or vernation, 
 as it is called, of the future leaf. If your bud belongs 
 to the oak, the rose, or various other plants, you will 
 find the leaves doubled side by side, conduplicate ; 
 if it claims parentage from the maple, the lady's- 
 mantle, or the birch, the leaves will lie plaited up 
 like a fan. In some plants, the leaves as it were 
 embrace one another, in others, they are rolled in- 
 wards, or, as in the primrose or cowslip Fig 69 
 outwards or backwards. In the fern tribes we find 
 
 10. Leaf-bud of Horse Chesnut, s 
 the overlapping, imbricated, scales by 
 the young leave* are protected.
 
 OBGANS OP PLANTS. 
 
 17 
 
 the very curious and beautiful circinnate or gyrate 
 mode of foliation Pig. 11 
 in which the whole leaf 
 or frond, as it is called, and 
 at the same time every seg- 
 ment of it, is rolled inwards 
 upon itself. Many other 
 modes of leaf-folding will 
 the careful examiner dis- 
 cover, and he should mark 
 them, not only as valuable 
 distinctive characters be- 
 tween plants of different 
 tribes, but as examples, and 
 beautiful examples, of His 
 handiwork " who hath made 
 all things well." 
 11. Harts-tongue Pem, shewing the The packing of the flower 
 
 peculiar gyrate mole of unfolding of i /> , i t it 
 
 the/rond* or leavw. and fruit bud, named by 
 
 botanists its (Estivation, will be considered in a 
 future section. 
 
 THE LEATES. 
 
 Few are there who cannot appreciate the beauty 
 at least, as the gaze falls upon some stately tree, 
 " which proudly spreads the bough" in the full flush 
 of its summer leafiness, or as the eye wanders over 
 the foliage of every form, and of every shade of 
 green, which decks the broad bosom of the earth at 
 all times : but how few, comparatively, know the use 
 
 c
 
 18 WILD FLO WEES. 
 
 for which this enormous breadth of leafy expansion 
 is designed, for what purpose it is exposed to the 
 influence of the sun's heat and light, and to the 
 vicissitudes of our ever-changing atmosphere. Few 
 are aware that every perfect leaf is an organ of 
 respiration, a breathing mouth of the plant to 
 which it belongs ; that through the little pores or 
 stomates of its surface See Fig. 1 constant 
 changes and interchanges are going on with the sur- 
 rounding atmosphere, whereby that atmosphere is 
 continually purified, kept fit to support animal life, 
 whilst, at the same time, it is made to yield to the 
 plant, materials for its continued growth. Through 
 the leaves, too, pass all the peculiar juices by which 
 different plants are characterized ; exposure to the 
 influence of light and air in the leaf being requisite 
 before the sap can become the proper juice of the 
 vegetable ; that is, can possess the odour, flavour, 
 medicinal or nourishing properties, which are 
 peculiar to the individual. Some plants it is true, 
 such as the cactus tribe, do not possess true leaves ; 
 but in such cases the duties of the leaf are per- 
 formed by the green stem. 
 
 A leaf, as all can see at once, is composed of two 
 different structures the ribs or veins, and the 
 vegetable substance lying between them. The term 
 rib is applied to the more prominent markings, the 
 central See Figures being called the midrib; the 
 less conspicuous markings are the veins. More- 
 over, it can scarcely have escaped the notice of the 
 least observant, that throughout plants generally,
 
 OEGANS OF PLANTS. 19 
 
 the ribbing or veining is arranged according to two 
 very distinct plans. In one set of plants, more 
 especially in those which are common to temperate 
 climates, the veining is netted, or reticulated, or 
 branching Fig. 12, &c. as we see it in the elm, 
 the oak, the rose, and indeed in the majority of our 
 British native plants. Another division of plants, 
 such as the grasses, the lilies, &c., we find character- 
 ized by the ribs or veins running directly parallel 
 throughout the leaf Figs. 18, 108, 111, 113. In 
 tropical countries a considerable proportion of the 
 vegetation is composed of plants and trees with such 
 parallel veined leaves.* The outward marks upon 
 the leaves are in themselves valuable and ready 
 distinctions, and greatly add to the beautiful diver- 
 sity of foliage ; but to the mind of the botanist, 
 they convey more than a mere surface character ; 
 they indicate the division of t\Q flowering vegetable 
 kingdom into two great sections, each distinguished 
 by peculiarities which run through its members, 
 which commence with the seed, and which stamp 
 the stem, the leaf, the flower, till they end in the 
 seed again. From the form of the seed, these two 
 great sections of flowering plants are named. In 
 plants with netted veins the seed has two lobes, or 
 as they are called botanically, cotyledons, as any 
 one may see who opens a bean or pea hence such 
 plants are classed as DICOTYLEDONOUS. In 
 
 * The palms, the bananas, the aloe, the bamboo, all belong to this sec- 
 tion of the vegetable kingdom, and associate with them the beautiful and 
 varied orchis family, of which we have many species in our own land. 
 
 c2
 
 20 WILD FLOWEBS. 
 
 plants with parallel veins, on the other hand, such 
 as wheat, oats, and barley, the seed has but one 
 lobe or cotyledon ; hence such are named MONO- 
 COTYLEDONOTJS.* 
 
 It may readily be comprehended, that the immense 
 variety of form, substance, position, &c., presented 
 by leaves, must furnish botanists with many and 
 valuable distinctive marks ; at the same time, it 
 must be evident, that these distinctions necessarily 
 call for a long catalogue of terms too long, by far, 
 for us to enumerate here but yet one which ought 
 to be learned, generally at least, by those who 
 desire to make any real progress in botanical lore. 
 
 Most leaves are composed of two distinct parts, 
 the broad expanded portion, or blade, or limb, 
 Fig. 12, 1 and the leaf-stalk or petiole, 2. Some 
 leaves, however, have no stalk, as at Fig. 15, and 
 then they are called sessile, or sitting as it were 
 close to the stem. The portion of the leaf next the 
 stem Fig. 12, 3 is designated the base, the 
 opposite extremity 4 the apex. The boundary 
 Fig. 12, 5 is the margin of the leaf; and the 
 angle of junction with the stem 6 the axilla, 
 or axil. At the base of the leaf-stalk or petiole, 
 and sometimes running down the latter, there 
 are frequently found certain leaf-like appendages 
 Figs. 19, 91 ; these are named stipules ; they 
 often afford valuable distinctive characters. They 
 are very prominent in the pansy, and in many other 
 
 * See Chapter on tbe Classification of Vegetables.
 
 OEGAKS OF PLANTS. 
 
 21 
 
 plants, and take various forms. In the example 
 shown, Fig. 19, the leaf of the tuberous bitter 
 
 12. Leaf of common Nettle, with branched or reticulated 
 veins. 1, the blade or limb 2, the petiole or leaf-stalk 
 3, the base of the leaf 4, the apex 5, the mfirgin 6, 
 the axil. The leaf i heart-shaped, acute, with a deeply 
 toothed or serrated margin. 
 
 vetch, they are half-arrow shaped. Some leaves which 
 are without stalks, not only sit quite close to the 
 stem, but embrace it in various ways : in some cases 
 completely surrounding it in a leafy cup Fig. 20 
 in others furnishing it with leafy wings, which run 
 down it from one leaf to another Fig. 21. The 
 attachment of the leaves of parallel-veined plants is 
 often what is called sheathing, as we see in the 
 grasses Figs. 18, 113 in which the leaf springs 
 form a sheath, entire or split, which embraces the 
 stem for some distance. 
 
 The form of a leaf is of course determined by its
 
 22 
 
 WILD FLOWERS. 
 
 margin. Some, like those of the grasses, are linear 
 Fig. 18. Some Fig. 13 are lancet-shaped ; 
 others have the base heart-shaped Fig. 12 
 the general outline of the rest of the leaf varying 
 from round oval to even linear. At Fig. 14, 
 we have the acutely oval leaf; at Fig. 16, the 
 palm-shaped ; at Fig. 17, the arrow-shaped. "We 
 might multiply greatly our numeration of the 
 varieties of simple leaves ; but the examples already 
 given will serve to illustrate, how the form of the 
 leaf is employed by botanists in the 
 description and distinction of plants. 
 There are yet, however, other means 
 
 13. Lancet, 
 shaped Senna 
 leaf with the 
 margin entire. 
 
 14. Oval Senna 
 leaf, acute at the 
 apex. 
 
 15. Lcav,sof Ground Ivy without 
 petioles or footstalks, called sessile 
 leaves. 
 
 of distinction to be drawn from the leaves. Take 
 any number of different specimens and examine 
 their margins, scarcely two will you find alike. 
 Some will have the margins entire Figs. 13, 14, 
 in others it will present just perceptible notch- 
 ing - - Fig. 23 whilst in another set, this 
 notching or saw-toothing is much more evident
 
 OEGANS OF PLANTS. 23 
 
 though still minute Fig. 16. Some plants, like 
 
 16. Palmate, or palm-shaped leaf of Castor oil. 
 
 17. Arrow-shaped leaf of 
 Arrow-head. 
 
 the common nettle Eig. 12 
 have their leaf margins re- 
 gularly saw-toothed, serrated 
 as it is called. The rose leaf 
 presents us with another and 
 very beautiful example of this 
 sharp serrature. The cuttings 
 of the leaf margin, however, 
 are not necessarily sharp ; at 
 Fig. 15 we have an instance 
 of leaves in which they are 
 a rounded. In other cases, they 
 are not only notched, but they 
 are curved and crimped in 
 various ways. Then again, we 
 is. Linear leaf of grass with find the leaf margins, as in the 
 
 irallel veins, and with sheath, ' 
 
 thistle, the holly,&c., &c., armed 
 
 paral! 
 
 1, to the stem, 3.
 
 24 WTLD FLOWEBS. 
 
 with sharp spinous projections, whilst some plants 
 
 19. Portion of compound-leaf of Bi.ter Vetch. 1, 1 Half-arrow shaped stipules. 
 
 20. Connate leaves of common Teazel. 
 
 W; Dccurrcnt leaf of Thistle 
 
 like the primroses 
 Pig. 64 curl the mar- 
 gin back. Besides the 
 margin, the apex of the 
 leaf also presents us 
 with often well marked 
 characters ; it may be 
 rounded, or blunt, or 
 sharp-pointed ; it may 
 end in a curled tendril,
 
 ORGANS OF PLANTS. 25 
 
 or in some few cases in such a curious appendage 
 as we see in the pitcher plant Kg. 27. Moreover, 
 as all know, leaves differ in substance, some are 
 fleshy like those of the house-leek ; some limp and 
 soft, like the leaf of henbane, &c. ; some leathery, 
 like the oak, or stiff", like the holly. 
 
 Position, form, marginal cutting, substance, all 
 add to the never-ending variety of leaves : but to 
 these we have yet to add the variety of surface 
 which gives so much character to plants, whether 
 we regard them with the eye of the botanist, or 
 with that of the simple lover of nature. How 
 bright is the polish of the holly's "gay green leaf:" 
 how soft with downy hair that of the downy wound- 
 wort ; how curiously covered with glands that of 
 the sundew ; how rough with bristles the surface of 
 the borage tribe ! But why go on with an enume- 
 ration which would occupy our volume. To our 
 readers we say, go, take practical lessons. None 
 more accessible will you find in this world: for the 
 
 " Flowers that spring by vale or stream, 
 Each one may claim them for his own." 
 
 Take the great volume of the Book of Nature, 
 that book ever spread open before us by Him who 
 is its Author ; go straight on, gather leaf after leaf, 
 examine, compare, and ponder over them. Ponder 
 how well 
 
 "The Almighty Maker has throughout 
 Discriminated each from each, by strokes 
 And touches of his hand, with so much art 
 Diversified, that two were never found 
 Twins at all points. "
 
 26 
 
 WILD FLOWEBS. 
 
 Thus, and thus only, will you gain practical know- 
 ledge of, will you acquire real interest in, the study 
 of plants. "When you have acquired that real in- 
 terest, the long enumeration of varied forms will 
 cease to weary ; it will be forgotten as a theoretical 
 study, as it merges into the practical knowledge of 
 the subject. 
 
 "When the cutting of the leaf 
 margin goes far into the substance 
 of the leaf Figs. 24, 84 so as 
 almost to divide it into different 
 portions, it becomes a partite leaf ; 
 but when the leaf is cut quite 
 down to the midrib, forming as 
 it were separate leaflets Figs. 
 22, 88, 91, 98 we have the 
 
 COMPOUND LEAF, 
 
 34. Partite leaf of Bur-mari 
 gold. 
 
 as distinguished from the simple 
 leaves which have hitherto en- 
 gaged our attention. 
 
 Compound leaves, although very varied in form, 
 belong either to the same class as the leaves of the 
 pea tribes Fig. 19 or of the ash Fig. 23 they 
 are pinnated leaves ; or they rank with the class 
 which includes such as the horse-chesnut, the po- 
 tentillas, &c., in which the leaflets radiate as it were 
 from a centre. Pick up a fallen ash-leaf from the 
 heap which strews the path after the first real frosty 
 night of October, and you will have an excellent
 
 ORGANS OF PLANTS. 
 
 27 
 
 specimen of a compound leaf broken off at its joint 
 with the main stem, and with its numerous little 
 
 22. Pinnated compound leaf of Ash-tree 
 1, petiole or midrib 2, leaflets, jointed at 
 3 to petiole. 
 
 23. Radiate compound leaf of Clover. 
 
 leaflets readily breaking off at their jointed attach- 
 ments with the central petiole or midrib. The 
 umbel-bearing plants, such as the hemlock, offer us 
 many specimens of extremely compound leaves. 
 Kg. 25 is a specimen of the compound leaf of an 
 umbelliferous plant ; but is not, like some of the 
 leaves of the family, doubly and trebly compound. 
 
 We must not bring our brief chapter to a conclu- 
 sion without noticing certain leaves that are scarcely 
 true leaves, and yet look extremely like them we
 
 28 WILD F1OWEES. 
 
 mean the first, or seed, or cotyledonary leaves, with 
 which many plants first make their appearance 
 
 25. Leaf of an tlmbelliferoui Plant. 
 
 above-ground. These leaves do not resemble the true 
 leaves of the plant, but, having served the purpose 
 for which they were designed, of nourishing and 
 protecting the first tender shoot, they wither and 
 die. At Fig. 26, we see the seed leaves and first 
 true leaves of the common white nettle, differing 
 greatly from each other ; in the March wild flowers 
 will be found a different example of the same fact. 
 
 With the subject of leaves, we conclude the con- 
 sideration of what are classed as the conservative 
 or nutritive organs of plants. The root, the stem, 
 the leaves, are devoted to the preservation and de- 
 velopment of the individual plant to which they 
 belong ; the whole plant itself tending to the deve- 
 lopment of the reproductive organs, by which the
 
 OBGANS OP PLANTS. 
 
 29 
 
 perpetuation and multiplication of the species is 
 
 26. Seedling of common Dead Nettle 1, 1, the seed leaves 
 or cotyleilonary leaves 2, 2, the proper leaves of the plant. 
 
 secured. Our next section is devoted to the con- 
 sideration of these reproductive organs. 
 
 37. Curious leaf appendage of the Pitcher Flan-
 
 30 
 
 RE-PRODUCTIVE ORGANS OF PLANTS. 
 
 THE FLOWEB, AND THE SEED. 
 
 " There lives and works 
 
 A soul in all things, and that soul is God. 
 
 The beauties of the wilderness are His, 
 
 That make so gay the solitary place, 
 
 Where no eye sees them." 
 "He" 
 
 "in its case, 
 
 Russet and rude, folds up the tender germ 
 Uninjured, with inimitable art ; 
 And, ere one flowery season fades and dies, 
 Designs the blooming wonders oftht next." 
 
 COWPER. 
 
 The re-productive organs of plants are composed 
 of certain parts essential to the production of the 
 seed. In themselves these essential parts are ex- 
 tremely simple, the gay colourings and beautiful 
 forms of what is usually called a flower, being by 
 no means necessary to constitute a perfect blossom 
 to the eye of the botanist. But of this more 
 hereafter. 
 
 THE TLOWEE-CUP, OB CALYX. 
 
 Our present lesson, like all other botanical 
 lessons, must, to be worth anything, be a practical 
 one. Let us take a few simple flowers, living ones 
 if possible, but in case these should not be forth-
 
 EE-PEODUCTITE OEGANS OF PLANTS. 
 
 31 
 
 coining with some of our readers, and at all seasons, 
 we must give their portraits. Take the wall-flower 
 
 Fig. 28 for one ; 
 the primrose Fig. 
 29 for another ; 
 the loose -strife 
 Fig. 30 for the 
 third; and the gorse 
 flower Fig. 31 
 for a fourth. Ex- 
 amine the outside 
 of each of these 
 flowers. You will 
 
 28. Blossom of common Wall-flower, cross-like, ODSCrVO that 
 or cruciform in shape 1, peduncle or flower-stem 
 
 =^r^2r^v^sr^s5 has a p"* or p arts ' 
 
 the corolla^, rtamens-6, pistil. well mar t e d in all 
 
 the figures, which surrounds the rest of the flower. 
 In the primrose it is green, and in one piece ; in the 
 loose-strife it is also green, and in one piece, but 
 deeply divided into five divisions. In the gorse 
 there are two all but complete divisions, more 
 yellow than green; and in the wall-flower the 
 divisions are four, and deeply coloured. In all 
 these instances, the part we have described is the 
 flower-cup, the calyx of botanists, the outer en- 
 veloping portion of the flower. Multiply your 
 observations on flowers generally, and you will find 
 that, almost without exception, they have this outer 
 part or calyx in some form or other. At the same 
 time you must not expect to find it always as
 
 32 
 
 WILD FLOWEES. 
 
 distinctly marked as it is in the instances pointed 
 out above. In the majority of flowers it is easily 
 enough distinguished by 
 its position, and by its 
 green leaf-like colour ;but 
 in some, especially among 
 the parallel -veined leaf 
 plants, such as the iris, 
 the snow-drop, the crocus 
 Fig. 58 the calyx is 
 quite flower-like. In 
 such plants it is often 
 included in the term 
 perianth. By botanists 
 the flower-cup is con- 
 
 29. Vertical section of blossom of com- sidored to be made UD 
 mon Primrose 1, the limb of corolla, 
 
 which is in one piece 2, the tube of -f _ ^arfoin TmrnVlPT nf 
 
 the corolla 3, the calyx or flower-cup, OI a Certain nUmUBr OI 
 In one part or sepal 4, the pistil 5, -, 
 
 two of the flve stamens-6, the ovary Separate UIVISIOUS OT 
 or seed vessel 7, the peduncle or flower- 
 
 parts, which are called 
 sepals, these sepals being either distinctly separate, 
 
 Back view of blossom of com- 
 mon Loose-strife, deeply divided into 
 five segments, partite 1. calyx 
 3, 8, corolla 3, peduncle. 
 
 31. Blossom of common Gorse or Whin 1, 
 calyx or flower-cup, of two parts, lips or 
 sepals 2, 2, petals of the corolla 3, 
 curved pistil. 
 
 as in the wall-flower, or united into one, as in the
 
 BE-PBODUCTIVE OEGANS OI" PLANTS. 33 
 
 primrose ; in the latter case the calyx is spoken of 
 as monosepalous, or one-sepaled. The expression, 
 however, is not perfectly correct ; for the one-sepaled 
 calyx does not consist of one part, but of several 
 joined together. The existence of these parts is 
 generally indicated by some approach to division. 
 In the primrose Fig. 29 the five parts are indi- 
 cated by the ftve-toothed flower-cup ; but in the 
 loose-strife Fig. 30 they are much more strongly 
 marked in five deep divisions, constituting a five- 
 parlite calyx. In the wall-flower Fig. 28 the 
 sepals are completely separate. In most plants, 
 perhaps, the flower-cup is regular in form, but not 
 in all. In the labiate plants, for example, the class 
 to which the white and red dead nettles belong, 
 the calyx is irregular Fig. 32. 
 
 Some flowers you will examine 
 in full bloom, and yet you will be 
 unable to detect any calyx at all, 
 for the good reason, that when the 
 blossom is fully expanded it is not 
 there, it has been cast off. The 
 familiar garden escholtzia, which 
 may be seen any summer morning 
 ca? Jrfcc s up p o d f throwing off its extinguisher-like 
 
 a Labiate plant. _ . , . 
 
 caps, or calyces, irom its expanding 
 gay yellow blossoms, is a good example. Another 
 we have in our own wild poppies, which separate 
 their flower-cups, or rather, in their case, flower- 
 caps Fig. 33 as the blossom expands. 
 
 D
 
 34 
 
 WILD FLOWEBS. 
 
 In most plants, perhaps, the calyx withers with 
 the flower; but in some it adheres more or less 
 
 33. Buil of common 
 Poppy casting off its deci- 
 durnui calyx, composed 
 of two parts, or sepals. 
 
 34. Section of Rosebud, show- 
 ing the calyx 2 -adhering 
 to and forming a part of the 
 ovary or secil-cup, 3. 
 
 completely to the seed-vessel, and not only does 
 not wither and fall off, but continues to grow with 
 the increase and growth of the seed-vessel, and 
 eventually forms part of the fruit, as it does in the 
 apple or pear, or in the hep of the rose, as shown 
 in Fig. 34, where 2 is simply the calyx adhering to 
 the seed receptacle contained within. One singular 
 form is the bladder calyx, which looks as if blown 
 up by air ; the most familiar example of this form 
 among our native wild flowers is seen in the bladder 
 campion Silene inftata.
 
 RE-PRODUCTIVE ORGANS OF PLANTS, 35 
 
 Many pages might we fill with descriptions of 
 the different forms of calyx ; but again we say, go 
 to the book of Nature, pick blossom after blossom, 
 and compare each with the other. This little work 
 is not meant to spell out any part of that great 
 Book of God for its readers ; it simply aims at 
 shewing them how they may spell it out for them- 
 selves how they may truly see the things they 
 look at : many there are who look at things, 
 but comparatively few are there who see them 
 few who feel them few are there to whom 
 
 " There is a tougue in every leaf, 
 A voice in every rill." 
 
 We would make the few the many. 
 
 THE FLOWER, OR COROLLA. 
 
 Again, we return to our practical lessons, and 
 have recourse to the living flower or to its picture 
 if the original fails us. The corolla, that which in 
 the eyes of people generally constitutes the flower, 
 is the floral envelope lying next within the flower- 
 cup or calyx ; the divisions of this floral envelope 
 being known to botanists by the name of petals, 
 a term corresponding to the sepal division of the 
 calyx. The bright yellow petals of the buttercup, 
 the pink petals of the wild rose, the blue, bell-like, 
 conjunction of petals which forms the hairbell 
 blossom, are all the corollas of their respective 
 plants. In plants, such as the buttercup,' the rose, 
 
 D2
 
 36 WILD FLOWEES. 
 
 &c., &c., in which the corolla is made up of a 
 number of separate petals, the term polypetalous, 
 or many-petaled, is applied to it. In those, like the 
 hairbell, in which the corolla is in one piece, it is 
 called monopetalous, or one-petaled, a term, however, 
 which is scarcely correct, seeing that such corollas 
 are not truly one-petaled, but are actually formed 
 by the conjunction of a number of petals, of 
 which, moreover, the points of union are often 
 well marked. 
 
 As in most instances, the calyx of the flower is 
 green in colour, leaf-like, and comparatively incon- 
 spicuous, so, generally, we find the corolla bright in 
 hue, showy, and often fragrant. Not always, how- 
 ever, is it so distinguished or distinguishable ; for in 
 some plants, as the ivy, or its relative the moschatell, 
 in the lady's mantle, and various others, the corolla 
 is greenish and insignificant. In other instances, 
 as in the hellebores, whilst the corolla is small and 
 scarce noticeable, the calyx is large and conspicuous. 
 In others of the ranunculus family to which the 
 hellebores belong the calyx is still more con- 
 spicuous from its gay colour, such as we find in the 
 beautiful globe flower, in the anemones, &c. These, 
 however, are exceptions ; generally speaking, the 
 corollas, the flower petals, are the ornamental 
 part of the blossoms, to them we mostly owe the 
 beauty and fragrance of these lovely creations, these 
 bright revelations of pure benevolence ; which make 
 the earth
 
 BE-PEODTJCTITE OBGANS Or PLANTS. 
 
 37 
 
 "all Eden bright, 
 With these her holy offspring, 
 
 Creations of the light ; 
 As though some gentle angel, 
 
 Commissioned love to bear, 
 Had wandered o'er the green sward, 
 
 And left her foot-prints there." 
 
 Before going farther, mark the fact in any flowers 
 which you gather, that the petals of the corolla are 
 not opposite the sepals of the calyx, but alternate 
 with them. Now take our old friend the buttercup : 
 you find its petals perfectly simple Fig. 35 so 
 
 35. Petal of com- 
 mon Buttercup, show- 
 ing nectary 1 at its 
 base. 
 
 36. Single petal of com- 
 mon Wall-flower 1, the 
 limb- 2, the claw. 
 
 also in the rose, in the poppy, &c. Now take the 
 wall-flower Fig. 39 you will find it has four 
 distinct petals, but different from those of the rose, 
 or of the buttercup. These petals have two parts, 
 the limb Fig. 36, 1 and the claw, 2. Similar 
 petals will you find in the pink, carnation, and 
 many other flowers. 
 
 How much might we say respecting the varied 
 forms of the petals ! Like the leaves, scarce two do
 
 38 
 
 WILD FLOWEKS. 
 
 we find alike. Differing in general outline, so do 
 they in the cuttings of their margins. Many are 
 perfectly even ; some are simply toothed, as they are 
 in the pinks; some, like those of the campions, are 
 deeply cleft ; and in a near relative of the campions, 
 the bright-coloured but forlorn-looking ragged- 
 robin, you find the petals cut in all directions, as 
 if some fairy folk had gone at them hap-hazard 
 with their scissors as they expanded. The now 
 well-known garden Clarkia is another instance of 
 petals deeply cut. Some plants, like the columbine, 
 the larkspur, or the violet, have their petals, or 
 some of them at least, rolled up into a spur-like 
 appendage Fig. 37. In many of the umbel-bear- 
 
 37. Dlossom of common sweet 
 Viotft. I he corolla a, 3 com- 
 posts! of five petal-, the lower one 
 of which is extended into a sour 
 1. The calyx -4 of five sepals! 
 'I he |M duuclc or flower stalk having 
 two bracts, 3. 
 
 3.S. Dlossom of an 
 bearing plant, havi 
 pctiils 2, -2 each wit 
 flected point; five sta 
 and a pistil with two styl 
 
 ig five 
 
 ing plants the petals end in a point, which is turned 
 inward, or inflected Fig. 38.
 
 BE-PBODUCTIYE OBGANS OP PLANTS. 39 
 
 Varied as blossoms are by the form of their 
 petals, not less so are they by the disposition or 
 arrangement, which in some is of the most regular 
 character, in others of the most irregular. First 
 examine the blossom of the wall-flower Fig. 39 
 
 39. Blossom of Wall flower. Peduncle, 1. The 
 calyx, 2. The petals of the corclla, 3. The stamens, 
 4. The pistil, 5. 
 
 or of the wild mustard, charlock, or any similar 
 plants ; mark their regular, cross-like arrangement, 
 from which the family to which they belong, the 
 Cruciferse, derives its name. Take up the rose, 
 the apple blossom, the potentilla, the strawberry, 
 and you will find them exhibiting another 
 general flower-form, the rosaceous also regular. 
 Refer to the pea tribes ; look at the flower of the 
 broom, or of the gorse Fig. 31 or of the common 
 pea Fig. 40, also Fig. 91 and you will find
 
 40 
 
 WILD FLOWEES. 
 
 different petals, of very different form, combined to 
 form an irregular blossom, that is to say, one which 
 
 can only be severed 
 into two equal halves 
 by one way of cutting. 
 Examine the violets, 
 and you will find 
 similar irregularity, 
 but under arrange- 
 
 40. Papilinnac-ous or butterfly-shape.! bios- ffiCnt VCry different 
 - of comm. n Pea. Corolla, composed of five - , . 
 
 from what we find m 
 
 petals ; 1, the standard, of one petal 2, the 
 wings, of two petals 3, the keel, of two petals. 
 
 the pea. 
 
 Hitherto, we have confined our attention to blos- 
 soms which are polypetalous, that is, in which the 
 petals are separate : no less varied are those in which 
 they are united into one piece, forming a monopetalous 
 corolla. Our old familiar friend the primrose offers 
 us an excellent example of 
 a one-piece flower. "We 
 see Fig. 41 its salver- 
 shaped limb, as the broad 
 expanded, part is named, 
 surrounding the throat of 
 the tube Fig. 41, 2 which 
 passes down into the calyx. 
 
 1. The corolla of the common I'rim- -\r 1 1 
 
 * in one piece, or ther of ft petals I ou may remark, however, 
 
 joined in one, const tutinu a mono- 
 
 p.ocoroiia-2 the pirtii appearing that although the pnmrose 
 
 at the throat of the Cube of the corolla. 
 
 corolla is all in one piece, 
 
 it is evidently marked off by partial division into 
 five segments or petals, just as we found to be the 
 
 41. The corolla of the comn
 
 EE-PBODUCTIYE ORGANS OF PLANTS. 
 
 41 
 
 case in the calyx. Very numerous do we find the 
 forms of our one-piece, or monopetalous, corolla : 
 some, like the primrose just alluded to, are what 
 are called salver-shaped, others have the bell shape 
 of the campanula Fig. 42 or are rotate (wheel- 
 shaped) like the blossoms of the well-known forget- 
 me-not Fig. 43 or like the yellow florets in the 
 
 42. Corolla of clustered Bell- 43. Sprig of common Forget-me-not, showing rotate 
 flower, composed of one piece or wheel-shaped corollas, 
 
 monopetalous the calyx, 2, also 
 of one piece monosepalous 
 deeply divided into five lobes. 
 
 centre of the daisy Fig. 44 B are tubular. The 
 daisy, belonging to the class of compound flowers, 
 offers in the same head of collected florets, the 
 regular tubular corollas which make up 
 
 " The gold-embossed gem " 
 
 of the centre, and the irregular strap-shaped corollas 
 Fig. 44 c of the white ray, which surrounds
 
 42 WILD FLOWEBS. 
 
 that centre gem with a setting of silver. The forms 
 of irregular corollas, in one piece, or monopetalous, 
 are very numerous. Such we find in what are 
 called the labiate or lipped plants, of which the 
 white and red dead nettle Fig. 45 the mints, the 
 hemp-nettles Fig. 106, &c. are familiar examples 
 and the larger salvias excellent ones. 
 
 You will find some plants, especially among the 
 parallel-veined or monocotyledonous, in which the 
 blossom is all of one colour; such is the case in 
 the tulip, the wild garlic, the crocus, &c. In these 
 cases the term perianth is applied, instead of corolla. 
 This same term also is used in the case of the 
 
 44. Blossoms or florets of common Daisy. B, one of the yellow 
 tubular florets of the central disk 1, its stamens and style 2, the 
 seed. C, one of the white strap-shaped floras of the ray without 
 Btumens 1, the style 2, the seed. 
 
 irregular, very often beautiful, and almost as often 
 singular flowers of the orchis family. 
 
 Our next step takes us from the region of gay 
 flowers into the domains of the rush, the sedge, and 
 the grass. One of the rush family, to be sure, the 
 yellow bog asphodel, is really pretty and flower- 
 like, and the flowering rush of English pond and
 
 EE-PEODTJCT1TE OEGAKS OF PLANTS. 
 
 river sides bears an umbel of handsome flowers, 
 albeit it is not a true rush at all ; but the rushes 
 generally are, we need scarcely say, sombre and 
 unattractive, until close examination detects the 
 floral formation of their dark-coloured little blos- 
 soms, which consist of a single perianth rig. 46, 3. 
 
 45. Blossom of a 
 labiate plant. 1, the 
 Irregular corolla 2, 
 the calyx 3, the 
 lower lip of the co- 
 rolla 4, its upper 
 liji cwlo-ing the four 
 stamens, 5, of which 
 two are longer than 
 
 46. Blossom of hairy Wood- rush 
 3, the perianth, composed of six 
 jrlumaceous pieces 2, the stamens, 
 six in number 4, the thiee-valved 
 capsule surmounted by the triple 
 stigma, 1. 
 
 In the blossom of the grasses we lose the rayed 
 flower character; and though still we have what 
 answers to calyx and corolla, these bear but little 
 resemblance to the parts as we have hitherto seen 
 them. Take up almost any grass ; an ear of wheat 
 will do as well, or indeed of any grass. You will 
 find that each little spikelet, as in Fig. 47, is com- 
 posed in the first place of two outer scales 1, 1, 
 usually called glumes. These outer scales have been
 
 WILD FLOWERS. 
 
 considered to be analogous to the calyx or flower cup 
 of flowers generally; but as they inclose, usually, not 
 
 one but several blos- 
 soms, they rather re- 
 semble the involucre, 
 or green outer enve- 
 lope, of such composite 
 plants as the daisy, the 
 dandelion, &c. "Within 
 these outer scales or 
 glumes, you will find 
 another set of scales 
 or palece Fig. 47, 
 2, 2 which differ in 
 
 47. Spikelet of grass 1, the involucre, or rnirnhpr nPPOrfHnO 1 to 
 
 glumes, sometimes called the calyx-2, the scales -UUIIlUei dCCUIUlIlg tU 
 
 or palese of the perianth, sometimes called the ji r> 
 
 corolla 3, the feathery stigmas- 1, the veriatile tn6 SpCClBS 01 gl'aSS. 
 ttamena 5, the awns. 
 
 These inner scales 
 
 inclose within them the essential flower organs, and 
 may therefore be considered to hold the place of the 
 corolla or of the perianth. The blossom of the 
 grass is sober of hue, and yet how well do we find 
 the absence of gay colouring compensated for by 
 the neatness, so to speak, of the compact spikes, or 
 by the elegance of the drooping panicles of many of 
 the grass family, still further adorned by those long 
 awn appendages Fig. 47, 5 which in the barley 
 or the rye are so conspicuous, and which in the beau- 
 tiful feather-grass attain the perfection of graceful 
 ornament. Appendages of various kinds are not 
 uncommonly met with attached to the corollas,
 
 HE-PEODTJCTIVE OHGANS OF PLANTS. 45 
 
 of plants, and fringes of hairs, of glands, &c., as in 
 the buckbean, or in the grass of Parnassus, give 
 additional beauty ; as if no " array " could be too 
 bright for the " lilies 'of the field."
 
 46 
 
 ESSENTIAL ORGANS OF RE-PRODUCTION. 
 STAMENS AND PISTILS. 
 
 THE STAMEN. 
 
 THE two parts of the flowering plant which have 
 just engaged our attention, the calyx and the corolla, 
 though generally forming a part, and that seldom 
 the least conspicuous, of the re-productive organs, 
 are not by any means essential to the perfection of 
 these organs, so far as regards the end of their 
 existence the perpetuation of the species. We 
 now come to organs which are necessary for that 
 perpetuation in the flowering plant, without which 
 perfect seed, that is seed capable of being the germ 
 of a new plant, cannot be formed. These essential 
 organs are the stamens and the pistils of flowers. 
 As we found in such a flower as the wall-flower, an 
 outermost circle of floral development, the calyx, 
 and within that the corolla, the divisions of the one 
 alternating with those of the other; so we find 
 within the corolla, in a perfect flower, the circle of 
 stamens, also in alternate series, these organs 
 encircling the last or central series, the pistil or 
 pistils, which constitute the centre of the flower. 
 
 You cannot mistake the stamens in the gene- 
 rality of flower plants ; here we have them in our 
 ever faithful example, the wall-flower Fig. 48
 
 ESSENTIAL OBGANS Of KE-PRODUCTION. 
 
 47 
 
 from which, for the sake of distinctness, the calyx 
 sepals and corolla petals have been removed. These 
 
 8. Essential re-pro.luctire 49. Section of blossom of common Buttercup 
 
 orgnnsofcommon Wall Hower 1, petals, of which there are five 2, portion of calyx 
 
 (the calyx and corolla being eepal 3, numerous instils or ci>rpels 4, numerous 
 
 removed) 1, 1, the ttamens stamens. 
 2, the pistil. 
 
 stamens Fig. 48, 1 are six in number, four long 
 and two short. Open up a buttercup, and we have 
 a whole crowd of these stamens Fig. 49, 3 too 
 many to count. Turn to the bright blue blossom 
 of the germander speedwell Fig. 50, and we find 
 
 50. Monopetalous or one- 
 pieced corolla of common 
 Speedwell, having its two 
 stamens 1 attached to It. 
 
 51. Magnified view of simple blossoms of water 
 Star-wort. 1, the bracts whic : constitute the sole 
 floral appendages of the solitary stamens 2, 2. 
 
 but two. In the mare's-tail of our marshes, or 
 in the water star-wort of our streams Fig. 51
 
 48 
 
 WILD FLOWEES. 
 
 the number is reduced to one solitary stamen to 
 each, flower, if our readers will permit us to call 
 that a flower, which is little more than an insig- 
 nificant looking scale. 
 
 In the examples we have given, you will perceive 
 that the stamen is composed of two parts ; that like 
 many leaves, it has a supporting stalk, called thej^Zo- 
 ment Fig. 52, 1 and an expanded portion, called 
 the anthei Fig. 52, 2. Moreover, you 
 will generally find the anther marked 
 off into two halves, or lobes Fig. 52. 
 These are the cells or pouches which 
 contain the flower-dust or pollen, and 
 as we have remarked, are generally two 
 to each anther, but not always. As an 
 exceptional example the water star-wort 
 Fig. 51 has its anthers but one- 
 celled. The attachment of the filament 
 to the anthers varies, and hence becomes 
 a source of distinction. It may pass 
 up between the lobes, as in Fig. 52, and is then 
 called adnate ; it may extend only to their base, 
 when it is innate ; or as in the grasses Fig. 47 
 be so attached to some point of the anther, as to 
 allow it to swing loosely, when a versatile anther is 
 constituted. 
 
 When we discussed the subject of leaves, we 
 found that the length of their supporting footstalks 
 varied greatly. So we find it in the stamen. Re- 
 fer back to Fig. 29, and you will perceive that 
 
 52. Stamen of 
 "Wood Anemone 
 1, the adnate 
 anther with its 
 two lobes 2, the 
 filament.
 
 ESSENTIAL ORGANS OF BE-PBODUCTION. 
 
 49 
 
 in the section of the primrose flower there repre- 
 sented, the stamens 5 situated within the tube 
 of the corolla, are almost destitute of filaments. On 
 the other hand, there are plants whose stamens have 
 filaments so long that they cannot be packed in the 
 bud without being folded and refolded, as occurs 
 in that familiar plant the ribwort plantain, the 
 little florets of which Pig. 53 are well worthy 
 
 53. Floret of common ribwort Plantain 1. corolla, 
 within which the long filaments 2 of the stamens are 
 folded when in bud 3. 
 
 of examination. Refer again to our primrose sec- 
 tion Pig. 29 or better still, go, where you can, 
 and gather primroses or cowslips either will do 
 by the hedgerows and in the fields of April, and 
 examine them ; you will find the stamens five in 
 number, attached to the corolla. Take the bright
 
 50 WILD FLOWEBS. 
 
 blue blossoms of the speedwell Fig. 50 and exa- 
 mine as many as you may, you will find but two 
 stamens to each, and these also attached to the 
 corolla. Gro to the wall-flower, pull off" its calyx, and 
 then its petals, as we have done Fig. 48 but still 
 the stamens, six in number, remain firmly attached 
 just below the seed-pod. In like manner you may 
 serve the buttercup ; its stamens also remain after 
 both calyx and corolla have been taken away. 
 Try the same thing with the potentilla, the straw- 
 berry, or the wild rose also plants of many stamens. 
 The petals come off easily enough and leave the 
 stamens behind them ; but when you try to detach 
 the calyx, you bring the stamens with it, for the 
 reason that, as we see in Fig. 54, the stamens are 
 attached to it. As our readers 
 may imagine, these attach- 
 ments of the stamens to various 
 parts of the flower, are to 
 the botanist most valuable 
 distinctive marks. Indeed, 
 in the case we have cited, 
 
 54. Section of calyx of a rosa- . , , . . 
 
 ceou. plant, with the numerous the different DOSltlOn Of the 
 
 stamens fixed upon it. 
 
 stamens in the ranunculus or 
 buttercup tribe, and in the rose tribe, draws a well- 
 defined line of separation between two most impor- 
 tant sections of the vegetable kingdom, the blossoms 
 of which bear a near general resemblance. Neither 
 is the distinction in this case, and indeed in many 
 others, simply one of scientific import ; for we find
 
 ESSENTIAL ORGANS OF RE-PRODUCTION. 51 
 
 that certain families of plants, distinguished by certain 
 characters of outward form, are also distinguished 
 from one another by their economic uses. To refer 
 to our examples : whilst we find the ranunculus 
 tribe notorious for the acrid and poisonous pro- 
 perties of its members, we draw from the rosaceous 
 plants some of our most delicious and wholesome 
 fruits. Mark then, well, when you examine a 
 flower, how its stamens are attached. But you 
 have more to do than this ; within certain limits 
 the number of stamens has to be counted. Indeed, 
 if you study the Linnaean mode of classifying plants, 
 this must be one of your first-sought characters in 
 their examination, for upon the number of stamens 
 the Linnsean classification is principally based. 
 Some plants, like the speedwell Fig. 50 with its 
 two conspicuous stamens, give us but little trouble : 
 if we take the grasses, we find them, with one 
 exception, in Britain at least, hanging out three 
 versatile stamens from each little floret. In the 
 plantain Fig.53 in the holly, in the bedstraws,&c., 
 we count four stamens, and in many plants five. 
 But we are anticipating our remarks on plant 
 classification. Let us look for another mark. of 
 distinction, and indeed of classification also, in the 
 connexion which in some tribes exists between the 
 stamens themselves. Gather one of the mallows 
 those things you called " cheeses," in the young 
 days, when anything edible about a plant was its 
 most striking character in your eyes examine this 
 
 E 2
 
 52 WILD FLO WEES. 
 
 mallow blossom, and you will find the filaments of 
 the stamens so united, as to form a tube through 
 which the pistil passes. Take the pea tribe, you 
 will find the filaments in like manner connected. 
 The tube, however, is either split above, as it is in 
 the gorse Fig. 55 or, while 
 nine of the stamens seem to form 
 an exclusive brotherhood, one is 
 left solitary. As, however, this 
 solitary member is the upper- 
 most, we may suppose that he 
 
 . J f tf 
 
 constitutes the exclusive, and 
 looks down upon "the mass." 
 Not only, however, are stamens 
 at times united by their fila- 
 ments, they may be so by their 
 anthers likewise. If you have never observed this 
 in the violets, look, and you will find it so now ; 
 so also is it in the composite flowers, the family of 
 the daisy Fig. 44 the dandelion, and the marigold. 
 The anthers of the stamens, we remarked above, are 
 generally divided into two cells or pouches, which 
 contain the pollen or flower-dust, that yellow 
 powder which often shakes out so profusely from 
 blossoms in full flushing. Look under the full- 
 blown catkins of the willow in early spring, when 
 
 " Tender leaves on tree and bush, 
 Scarce hide the blackbird and the thrush " 
 
 nay, even before the tender leaves appear and
 
 ESSENTIAL OBGANS OE KE-PBODUCTION. 53 
 
 you will find the pollen sprinkling the ground with 
 a golden shower. But, indeed, almost any full- 
 blown blossom furnishes a specimen, and when 
 
 " The breath of May 
 Creeps whisperingly where brightest flowers have biroh," 
 
 look at the bees after they have been rifling some 
 of these flowers ; their well-dusted coats tell of the 
 scenes of their robberies. Abundant, extremely so, 
 is this pollen dust ; in some places its quantity must 
 be enormous, for showers of it have been known to 
 fall in localities to which it must have been carried 
 from a distance by the winds. This pollen, this 
 apparently formless dust, is made up of innu- 
 merable minute grains, round, oval, or at times 
 triangular, each one of which is instinct with life 
 to fulfil its office. Very minute, however, are these 
 little grains, and you will require a microscope to 
 see them well. The mode in which anthers open to 
 discharge their pollen varies considerably, some 
 affording it exit by pores, others by valves, &c. ; 
 but the most general mode of opening is by what 
 is called the suture, or line of opening, which may 
 be traced, by a little examination, in many anthers. 
 An exception to the ordinary form of stamen we 
 find in the family of the orchis. If you take an orchis 
 flower Fig. 56 to examine for the first time, you 
 will have some difficulty in finding the stamens at 
 all. Our illustration will help you. Mark the 
 point corresponding to that marked 1 in the
 
 WILD FLOWEES. 
 
 figure, and there you will find two little pouches, 
 each of which contains a 
 waxy looking stamen, or 
 pollen mass, of the form 
 represented Pig. 56, 
 5. If you are a young 
 botanist and getting en- 
 thusiastic, you will be 
 highly delighted with the 
 novelty of poking out, 
 with the aid of a needle, 
 these little organs from 
 their snug concealment. 
 To the careless, these 
 seem trifles; indeed they 
 cannot appreciate the 
 pleasure which the real 
 lover of natural science 
 
 experiences, as each step leads him on to fresh 
 
 discoveries of design, ever varied in its beautiful 
 
 adaptations. 
 
 56. Blossom of an Orchis, consisting of 
 a perianth i 
 lowest bearing a spur 4 The pouches 
 containing the pollin masses 1. A spot 
 corresponding to tho stigma 2. The 
 twi-te<i ovary or seed-vessel 3 sup- 
 porting the flower with a bract- 6 at its 
 attachment to the common flower-stalk 
 7. The pollen masses magnified 5. 
 
 THE PISTIL. 
 
 We have now reached the centre of the flower, 
 or rather the important organ the pistil, which 
 occupies the centre, and has for its office the 
 development and maturation of the fruit or seed. 
 As in the stamen we found filament and anther, so
 
 ESSENTIAL OEGANS OF BE-PEODTJCTION. 55 
 
 in the pistil we find Pigs. 57, 58, 59 1 The 
 style, crowned by the stigma 2. But besides 
 
 58. Section of bloseom of 
 common Crocus, shewing 
 long style 1 with three- 
 cleft stigma 2 and ova- 
 ry, or seed vessel placed 
 far down the tube of the 
 perianth 3. 
 
 59. Section of common 
 Primrose, the corolla re- 
 moved, shewing the parts 
 of the pistil. The style, 1 
 the stigma, S the ov- 
 ry, or seed vessel 3. 
 
 60. Capsule, or seed ves- 
 sel of common Poppy, 
 shewing the rayed stigma 
 2 placed close down, or 
 tessile upon the ovary 3. 
 The style is absent. 
 
 these two parts, we find a third 3 the ovary, or 
 seed-vessel ; the receptacle of the young seeds, or 
 ovules, as they are named before they have been 
 subjected to the fertilizing influence of the pollen. 
 The pistil, then, usually consists of ovary, style,
 
 56 WILD FLOWEBS. 
 
 and stigma; usually we say, for the style is not 
 always present. As an example, in the common 
 poppy, the stigma Fig. 60, 2 is close upon 
 sessile upon the top of the seed-vessel. Contrast 
 this with the long thread-like style of the common 
 crocus Fig. 58 andyou will easily comprehend how 
 many variations in the form of this part of the pistil 
 you must meet with in your botanical investigations. 
 Very varied, too, will you find the stigma ; at times 
 scarcely to be distinguished from the supporting 
 style, whilst in some plants it is extremely well 
 marked. The campanulas offer us the stigma in 
 three divisions Pig. 57 and the crocus has like- 
 wise a trifid stigma Fig. 58 but of a different 
 form. In the willow herbs the part is four-cleft, 
 in the primrose it is a little knob, which makes 
 the style and stigma combined bear a resem- 
 blance to a xjommon pin. As already adverted to, 
 the stigma, or rather stigmas, in the poppy are 
 radiated or star-like ; in the grasses and some other 
 plants the organ is often feathery. One special 
 peculiarity of the stigma only however to be dis- 
 covered by close observation is the absence of the 
 skin or epidermis, which covers every other part of 
 the plant, its place being supplied by a sticky cover- 
 ing, to which the grains of pollen adhere, as they fall 
 from the anther. From these pollen grains, whatever 
 be the length of the style, the fertilizing influence 
 must be transmitted to the ovules, if the seeds and 
 seed-vessel are to attain maturity, if the former are
 
 ESSENTIAL OBOANS OF BE-PBODUCTION. 57 
 
 to possess the capability of continuing the succes- 
 sion of their being. After the pollen of the anther 
 has been ripened and shed upon the stigma, the office 
 of the blossom is over, it withers and dies ; or rather 
 we should say, after time has been given for the 
 process of fertilization, the blossom withers. If that 
 process has been perfected, as the flower disappears, 
 the seed-vessel and its contents become more con- 
 spicuous, as they verge towards the maturity of the 
 perfect fruit ; but if no fertilization has taken place, 
 the abortive seed falls with the withering blossom : 
 the hopes of all who till the ground, of the culti- 
 vator of the rich fruits of the garden, or of the 
 grains that furnish man with bread, must alike be 
 disappointed, should anything interfere with this 
 most important process of pollen fertilization. 
 
 Knowing this, we may cease to wonder at the 
 various provisions made by Creative Wisdom for 
 securing the fulfilment of this all-important effect. 
 These provisions are more especially manifest when, 
 as we frequently find them, the stamens and pistils, 
 instead of being developed in the same blossom, or 
 on the same part of the plant, are separated, or when 
 they are the productions of different plants of the 
 same species. "We cannot doubt, that the abundant 
 production of the pollen is specially designed to 
 render as free from hazard as possible the fertiliza- 
 tion of the seed ; and equally certain is it, that the 
 bees, and insects generally, are most active agents 
 in the conveyance of this precious powder to its
 
 58 WILD JLOWEKS. 
 
 special destination. Of plants which have their 
 stamens and pistils developed on different blossoms 
 in the same plant, many of our trees furnish 
 instances. Such we find to be the case with the 
 oak, the hazel, the beech, the alder, the box, &c. 
 But we also find the same arrangement prevailing 
 among such smaller plants as the sedges Fig. Ill 
 the nettle, the arum, or cuckoo pint Fig. 82, &c. 
 Of those which bear their stamens and pistils on 
 different individuals of the same species, the willows 
 are the most important ; the hop, the yew-tree, the 
 poplar, and others, fall under the same category. 
 Notices of many of these are scattered through- 
 out our wild flowers of the months. Of course, a 
 blossom or a tree, which bears only stamens, pro- 
 duces no fruit it is barren hence, by botanists, 
 such blossoms or trees are called the male or barren 
 flower or plant ; the pistil, or seed-bearing, being 
 called the female. 
 
 "We have spoken of the style and stigma, as if 
 always but one simple pistil belonged to each 
 blossom. This, as in the pea tribe and others, is 
 often the case ; but in many plants, such as those 
 belonging to the ranunculus tribe, as, for instance, 
 in the columbine Fig. 62 and others, there 
 are a number of distinct pistils, . or carpels, as 
 they are often called, aggregated in the centre of 
 the blossom, each of course having a distinct style 
 and stigma. In Fig. 61, the withered styles are 
 seen still adhering to the summits of the carpels.
 
 ESSENTIAL OBGANS OP BE-PBODTJCTION. 59 
 
 In other cases we find, that instead of the pistils 
 forming separate carpels, as in the case of the 
 
 61. Seed-vessels, carpels 
 or follicles, of common 
 Columbine ; withered 
 styles 1 still remaining. 
 
 62. Seed-vessel 1 two- 
 celled capsule of Speedwell 
 the calyx ; 2 persittent 
 a bract 3. 
 
 columbine or ranunculus, they are combined, fused 
 as it were, into one compound ovary or seed-vessel. 
 In the veronica or speedwell seed-vessel Fig. 62 
 we have a combination of two pistils to form a 
 two-celled capsule, as the fruit is called ; in the 
 poppy Fig. 60 we have a combination of many 
 pistils forming a one-celled seed-vessel. More- 
 over, as from the rayed stigma or stigmas of the 
 poppy, and also from other marks, we can gene- 
 rally discover indications of the compound origin of 
 ovaries, which, though perhaps apparently simple, 
 are yet made up of many different pistils. 
 
 When the ovary or carpel is matured or matu- 
 ring, it becomes the fruit, in many cases retaining
 
 60 WILD FLOWEBS. 
 
 the form and appearance which first characterized 
 it, and shewing only increased size. Very often, 
 however, the ripened fruit is vastly different from 
 what it was when we first made its acquaintance 
 in its baby condition in the blossom. Some parts 
 which when first developed were green and leaf-like, 
 become thick, fleshy, and laden with rich juice, 
 as in the apple, pear, or peach ; some assume a 
 covering of impenetrable hardness, whilst others 
 develop all sorts of beautiful contrivances for the 
 dispersion of the seeds. Again, in some plants, 
 where the pistils presented us with two, three, or 
 four incipient fruits, when the blossoms fell, we can 
 find but one at the time of gathering. This occurs 
 in the acorn, the hazel nut, &c. In such cases, the 
 one seed has usurped the places of the others, 
 gradually attracted the nourishment to itself, and 
 pushed its brethren into obliteration; in other 
 words, strangled them, very much after the fashion 
 in which oriental princes dispense their brotherly 
 favours to those who might claim with them a 
 share of the good things. 
 
 That the varieties of fruitage are very numerous, 
 we need scarcely remark: these many varieties, how- 
 ever, have been reduced by botanists to the order of 
 a definite classification. The principal features of 
 that classification are lightly, but perhaps sufficiently 
 for our readers, sketched out in the concluding 
 papers of our Monthly Wild Flowers, and to these 
 we refer. To the beginner in botanical science,
 
 ESSENTIAL OBGANS OF BE-PBODT7CTION. 61 
 
 or to those who wish to acquire no more than such 
 a slight acquaintance with its general principles 
 and features as may enable them to appreciate 
 intelligently the characteristics of plants or of wild 
 flowers, the study of fruits and seeds seldom, at 
 first at least, presents much attraction ; and yet we 
 can recommend it to all who would add one more 
 province to the domains of natural science which 
 lie open before them. 
 To those who would 
 
 " Trace in Nature's most minute design, 
 The signature and stamp of power Divine," 
 
 every fruit, every seed-vessel, every tiny seed that 
 requires the aid of the microscope to exhibit to the 
 eye the beauties of its carved coverings, bears that 
 " signature and stamp." 
 
 Let us take a brief review of what we have learned 
 about plant-blossoms. We find that a perfect 
 flower, such as there is in the wall-flower, in the 
 ranunculus, in the strawberry, &c., is composed of a 
 series of circles, or, as botanists call them, whorls 
 Fig. 63 one within another, to the number of four. 
 Of these, the calyx, either in one piece or in several 
 sepals, forms the outermost circle. "Within it, in 
 one or more pieces petals the corolla forms the 
 second circle; within this again are ranged the 
 stamens, and in the centre of all the pistil, which 
 includes the ovary or seed-vessel. Moreover, we 
 find that when a flower is regular in its formation, 
 its various divisions ought to alternate with each
 
 62 WILD FLOWEBS. 
 
 other, as shewn in the diagram. But we find that 
 all flowers are not perfect in the above sense, and 
 
 63. Diagram of a perfect symmetrical flower, shewing the 
 various circles or parts alternating with each other. The 
 outer circle or whor], the calyx 1. The next circle its 
 parts alternating with those of the calyx, the corolla 2 
 within that the stamens 3 anil, occupying the centre of 
 all, the pistil-4. 
 
 that some of the four circles are either deficient in 
 their usual development, or are entirely absent. 
 Either the calyx or corolla, in their usual forms, are 
 not to be found, or stamens only and no pistil are 
 present, constituting a male or barren flower ; or 
 we have pistils and no stamens, forming fertile or 
 female flowers ; these unisexual blossoms being 
 either the production of the same individual plant, 
 or of separate individuals of the same species. 
 Lastly, we have found flowers in their simplest 
 forms Fig. 51 and consisting of little more than
 
 ESSENTIAL ORGANS OF BE-PBODUCTION. 63 
 
 the single essential stamen, or single pistil, in- 
 closed by an insignificant-looking scale. All these 
 things should you mark in your study of and in your 
 wanderings among the wild flowers : much true 
 botanical science may be possessed without the 
 knowledge of many and difficult names, if it be 
 cultivated by the practical observation and appre- 
 ciation of plant characteristics as they meet the eye 
 in the fields. " Nature never did betray the heart 
 that loved her :" then try and love her. If the heart 
 has been betrayed, and the mind harassed, in the 
 needful strivings of everyday life, in the toil and 
 turmoil of the city ; 
 
 " Go forth into the country, 
 
 From a world of care and guile," 
 
 seeking rest, without ennui ; be assured that you 
 will best find that rest which is most beneficial the 
 rest of gentle, pleasurable excitement if you take 
 with you on your country tour, an interest which 
 will tempt you to wander in search of plants. The 
 man who has a keen perception of the beautiful, 
 has of course much of fresh interest when he ex- 
 changes the scenes of the town for the country, 
 or even the scenery of one district for that of 
 another ; but he who also delights in plants, who 
 takes an interest in marking the varied vegetation 
 of different tracts of country, has his pleasure 
 doubled ; he is less likely to be overcome with 
 weariness. His botanical pursuits keep him always 
 on the qui vive ; on bank and brae,
 
 64 WILD FLOWERS. 
 
 " Up the airy mountain, 
 Down the rushy glen," 
 
 his eye is ever wandering in search of some new 
 plant. There, up on that rock, he spies a blood-red 
 blossom, and is almost sure it is the bloody cranesbill 
 ( Geranium sanguinem) ; at all events he will make 
 sure, and up he goes, exhilarated by the interest of 
 a good climb for his prize, whilst his non-botanical 
 companion remains quiet below. Our botanical 
 friend is the gainer any way. Whether he is 
 right as to the plant or not, he at all events gets 
 the exciting exercise ; mayhap he not only finds 
 the plant he sought for among the rocks, but some 
 other equally good or better. Scarcely has he 
 descended, when down in the hollow, far beneath 
 the mountain path, his botanical eye catches the 
 gleam of some milk-white blossoms scattered star- 
 like over the dark green moss. Off he is in a 
 moment, leaving his companion in amused wonder- 
 ment as to what new " weed" his friend is by this 
 time so busy gathering. Our botanist had been 
 expatiating to his companion all morning upon the 
 beauty of the grass of Parnassus (Parnassia 
 palustris) of our hills, and now he returns with 
 his hands full of the blossoms, ready, as soon as he 
 regains breath, to point out its perfections. 4 ~We 
 will not follow our botanist on his walk, his ups 
 and downs, his jump over the hedge for a specimen 
 of the brilliant hemp-nettle, or his plunge up to 
 the knees in water to pluck the flowering rush or
 
 ESSENTIAL GECKO'S OF EE-PEODUCTION. 65 
 
 the arrow-head : but we will ask our reader whether 
 a walk thus enlivened with ever-recurring sources 
 of interest is not a pleasant one. It is a regular 
 sporting tour, full of excitement, and its game, 
 
 "Each plant or flower the mountain's child."
 
 66 
 
 FLOWER-BUDS AND FLORAL METAMORPHOSIS. 
 
 " There's not a blossom fondled by the breeze, 
 There's not a fruit that beautifies the trees, 
 There's not a particle in sea or air, 
 But nature owns thy plastic influence there." 
 K. MONTGOMERY. 
 
 WE have already remarked that in the leaf-bud 
 the contents are always arranged in a certain defi- 
 nite manner in different plants ; a parallel arrange- 
 ment, known to botanists as the aestivation, do we 
 find in the flower-bud. The calyx varies in its bud 
 arrangements, but the corolla still more so. In 
 some plants, as the wood sorrel, the gentians, or the 
 mallow, it is spirally twisted ; in others, as the con- 
 volvulus, it is plaited ; in the campanula it is valve- 
 like, in the geraniums overlapping, in the poppy 
 crumpled. These things we doubt not many of 
 our readers must have marked for themselves, and 
 will doubtless mark still more attentively, now that 
 their attention has been directed towards them ; 
 but, to most, probably, the subject which gives the 
 second heading to this short chapter is new, and 
 they are ready to ask what is meant by floral meta- 
 morphosis. 
 
 Did you ever, reader, gather a polyanthus or 
 primrose, with as it were one flower growing out
 
 FLOWER-BUDS, ETC. 67 
 
 of another, or with the calyx showing a tendency to 
 imitate the form of the ordinary leaves of the plant ? 
 Or did you ever see and wonder at a full-blown, rose, 
 having an ill-formed bud growing out of its centre ? 
 Or did you ever examine a rose blossom or a tulip 
 becoming double, or the flower of the beautiful 
 white water-lily, and find some of the stamens as it 
 were half petal and half stamen ? If you have 
 observed any of these, you will more readily under- 
 stand the nature of floral metamorphosis, and admit 
 the idea, that every part of the flower is but a 
 modification of the ordinary leaf ; or, in other words, 
 that every blossom is but a bunch, or more properly 
 a series, of transformed leaves arranged in a certain 
 regular order. This may seem to some persons, at 
 first, a very far-fetched and gratuitous doctrine ; but, 
 nevertheless, it is one, the truth of which is well 
 borne out by the observations of botanists in the 
 case of plant structure generally, but especially so 
 by the occasional monstrosities, as they are called, 
 which show attempts to return the flower partly 
 or entirely to the form of the original leaf. The 
 annexed figures, which represent on an enlarged 
 scale some florets of a head of common Dutch 
 clover which is peculiarly liable to this form of 
 monstrosity afford an instance sufficiently illus- 
 trative of the fact. At Fig. 64, 1, we see the 
 legume or pod alone, imperfectly formed, and par- 
 taking of the leaf character, which is completely 
 assumed in the floret Fig. 65. In Fig. 66 the
 
 68 
 
 WILD FLOWERS. 
 
 trefoil character is more completely displayed, the 
 centre leaflet bearing on its margins two or three 
 
 64. Floret of com - 
 uion Dutch clover, 
 bowing legume or 
 pod 1 but half 
 formed (magnified). 
 
 of 
 
 Bii. Floret 
 Hutch clover, show- 
 ing a leaflet 1 
 occupying the place 
 of the pod. 
 
 66. Floret of Dutch 
 clover, showing trefoil 
 leaf 1 occupying the 
 place of the port ; the 
 centre leaflet bearing 
 
 three minute leaflets 
 2 evidently corres- 
 ponding to seals. 
 
 minute leaflets 2 which evidently correspond to 
 seeds. At Fig. 67 we have again the imperfectly 
 
 developed pod, and 
 some of the calyx 
 segments tending to 
 assume the trefoil. 
 Kg. 68 shows the 
 imperfect pod of 
 Fig. 67 laid open 
 to display the seeds. 
 Thus we find that ca- 
 lyx, corolla, stamens, 
 and pistils, are all but 
 modifications of the 
 simple leaf, and that even the seeds themselves 
 
 <>7. r'ioret of Dutch clover, 
 showing half developed 
 pod 1 part of the flower 
 developed 2 and the 
 cftlyx 3 tending to be- 
 come leaf-like. 
 
 68. The half de- 
 veloped pod of 
 Kig. 67 laid open 
 to show seeds.
 
 FLOWEB-BUDS, ETC. 69 
 
 may be regarded in a similar light Fig. 66, 2 
 the carpel or seed-vessel of the pistil, being simply 
 a folded leaf joined at the margins, and bearing at 
 these margins the seed. 
 
 The subject of floral metamorphosis we have just 
 lightly touched upon, is full of interest for its own 
 sake ; worthier still is it of attention as a beautiful 
 exemplification of the simple principles which form 
 the foundations of His works, from whom both 
 works and principles alike derive their origin.
 
 70 
 
 ARRANGEMENT OF BLOSSOMS. 
 
 INELOBESCENCE. 
 
 HAVING examined the various parts of the plant 
 and of the blossom, our readers might imagine that 
 with this our remarks on descriptive botany should 
 cease ; but there yet remains for us that most 
 important subject, the form of flower development, 
 and the arrangement, so to speak, of the blossoms 
 upon the plant ; the inflorescence, as botanists 
 designate it. Many different circumstances are 
 there, as we have already seen, contributing to give 
 that charming and never-ending variety which 
 extends over the whole of the vegetable creation, 
 but none perhaps adds more largely to that variety 
 than the differences in the modes of inflorescence. 
 
 Most blossoms, or collections of blossoms, are 
 supported upon a primary stalk or flower-stem, 
 named the peduncle Figs. 69, 71, &c. In some 
 cases the flower or flowers are directly ^orne by 
 the peduncle, but very frequently this main stem 
 gives off other little stems, as in the currant, cows- 
 lip, &c. Figs. 69, 71, 72, &c., and then these little 
 stems are named the pedicels. Many plants, like
 
 AEEAKGEMENT OF BLOSSOMS. 
 
 71 
 
 the primrose, the dandelion, &c., send the flower- 
 stalk as it were direct from the ground; it is a 
 simple stem, bearing the flower alone, but neither 
 leaf nor branch, and is then further distin- 
 guished as the scape Fig. 69. When a peduncle 
 or flower-stalk bears but one blossom, the latter 
 
 69. Common Cowslip -the peduncle, in this case called a 
 scape 1 bearing the blossoms in the form of an umbel 
 2 on short pedicols 4. The leaves are crenate, and 
 are revotute or folded back 3 previous to full expansion. 
 
 is said to be solitary, as it is in the poppy: in 
 flowers borne on scapes, like the dandelion, and in
 
 72 
 
 WILD FLOWEES. 
 
 many others. A solitary flower, however, is not 
 necessarily a terminal one, does not necessarily 
 terminate the peduncle : such flowers as those of the 
 wood loosestrife Fig. 70, are solitary, but they are 
 also axillary, being developed from the axil of the 
 floral leaves. When, as in the currant Fig. 71 
 
 70. Spris of lesser Loosestrife, 
 shewing solitary axillary flowers ; 
 the pedicels 1 springing from 
 the axils of the floral leaves, or 
 bnv:ts 2. The leaves arc ovate 
 actiU' the segments of the five- 
 fxirtHf calyx 3 are tubulate or 
 awl- shaped. 
 
 H. Branch of common red currant 
 (Ribetrubrum) shewing the bios- 
 pendent. Th- pedicels 1 have each 
 a small bract 2 where thoy spring 
 from the peduncle 3. 
 
 or in the speedwell Fig. 72 there are many blos- 
 soms borne on short pedicels, a raceme is formed. 
 "When, however, these pedicels are of unequal 
 length, those near the extremity of the peduncle 
 being short, whilst those further from the extremity 
 increase in length as they descend the stem, so as 
 to bring all the blossoms nearly to a level, what is
 
 ARRANGEMENT OF BLOSSOMS. 
 
 73 
 
 called a corymb is produced, as we have it in the 
 beam tree Fig. 73. 
 
 73. Sprigof common Germander Speedwell 
 Veronicfi cJHima&trys) shewing the blossoms 
 arranged in a raceme which is erect. Tho 
 pedicels 1 have each a small bract 2 
 where they spiring from the peduncle 3. 
 The corolla 4 rotate and four-cleft. 
 
 73. Twig of white Beam tree 
 (Pyrua aria) shewing the blossoms 
 arranged in a compound corymb. 
 The leaves are deeply serrated 
 or saw-toothed. 
 
 The corymb form of inflorescence must not be 
 confounded with another which it somewhat re- 
 sembles, in which the flowers are brought up to a 
 level as they are represented Figs. 74, 69. This kind 
 of flower arrangement is the umbel, one of the most 
 important and characteristic among plants. Now, 
 compare it with the corymb ; mark, that while the 
 little pedicels of the latter spring from various 
 points of the main stem, the pedicels of the umbel
 
 74 
 
 WILD FLOWEBS. 
 
 all take their origin from the same point:' a dis- 
 tinction sufficiently plain 
 to be at once recognised 
 and remembered. The 
 umbel form of inflores- 
 cence is universal in one 
 family of plants, which 
 derive their name from 
 the fact, and are called 
 the UmbelliferaB, having 
 at the same time other 
 characteristics peculiar 
 to themselves. Other 
 plants, such as the cows- 
 lip Fig. 69 also bear 
 
 their flowers in umbels, but, not possessing the 
 other characters of true urnbellifer, do not of 
 course belong to the order. At times 
 it occurs, that when the first blossoms 
 of a plant are developed, the inflores- 
 cence is in the form of a corymb ; but 
 as these first-opened flowers are on the 
 outside of the inflorescence, and as the 
 centre blossoms continue to be carried 
 forward by the growth of their pedicels 
 as they expand, it comes to pass that 
 the inflorescence which began as a 
 corymb ends in the form of a raceme, 
 
 . , , . ^ . _ 
 
 as shown ig. 75 in the case oi 
 the common Shepherd's purse. These 
 
 ,-t n IIP p n 
 
 three well marked forms of inflores- 
 
 75. sprig of com- 
 
 on Hhepher<l B 
 
 urse showing the 
 
 growth of the (lower- 
 
 ing stem.
 
 ABEANGEMENT OF BLOSSOMS. 
 
 75 
 
 cence, the raceme, the corymb, and the umbel, 
 are, as our readers will find if they examine for 
 themselves, all liable to become compound by the 
 branching and re-branching of the pedicels or 
 flower-stems. Look at the umbels of the parsley or 
 of the hemlock, or at the corymb of the beam tree 
 Fig. 73 and you will see the fact. In the grasses, 
 the raceme form of inflorescence is commonly found 
 very compound, that is much branched, and then 
 the name of panicle Pig. 76 is given to it. 
 
 76. Stem of the common Hair 
 grass (A ira), showing the blossoms 
 arranged in a branched panicle. 
 
 77. Branch of Hazel (Coryttut 
 avtllana). Showing pendent 
 /""' 1 in this caie called 
 catkin.
 
 76 
 
 WILD FLO WEES. 
 
 Among the grasses we find another form of in- 
 florescence well marked. Gather an ear of wheat, of 
 barley, or of the common darnel grass ; observe, the 
 little heads or spikelets grow close to the peduncle, 
 or rachis, as it is called in the grasses ; they form 
 what is very appropriately called a spike. The spike 
 is not, however, peculiar to the grasses ; we find it 
 in the common plantain, in the meadow orchis, &c. 
 Indeed the catkin inflorescence Pig. 77 of the 
 hazel, or of the poplar, may be considered a spike 
 modified by the formation and posi- 
 tion of the scales or bracts which 
 take the place of calyx and corolla. 
 Now imagine a spike pressed from 
 above downwards, so as to bring 
 its blossoms all to a level, the top 
 blossom occupying the centre, and 
 the lowest blossoms the circum- 
 ference, and we have the head or 
 capitulum of the dandelion, daisy, 
 marigold, leopard's bane Figs. 78, 
 101 and others. As the umbel 
 - gi ves the name to one family of 
 pXacrc n -iT- e 8 u'pporte h a plants, so does this head form of 
 
 o-ipitulum or head 1- ~ . . 
 
 which is made up of a inflorescence furnish a designation 
 
 number of separate blos- 
 
 th^cenTre-s^constituting to one not less important, the com- 
 
 the disk. The florets of tin . . 
 
 raj-4-aro liyulatf, or pOSltffi, Or COinpOSltCS. 
 
 strap-ihapcd. 
 
 Gather one of the flowering stems 
 of the white or red dead nettle Pig. 79 the 
 flowers are gathered in clusters around the stem,
 
 ABEASTCrEHENT OF BLOSSOMS. 
 
 77 
 
 they are what is called wTiorled. The term whorl, 
 however, is applied to leaves as well as to flowers. 
 
 79. Blossoms of one of the Dead 
 nettles arranged ill a whorl 1 
 The floral leaves are amplexicaul 
 or embracing the sum. 
 
 0. Flowering tprig of common 
 Lime tree (THia Europcca), show- 
 ing the large lanes-shaped bract 1 
 partially adhering to the pe- 
 duncle. 
 
 In our examination of various plants our readers 
 must have observed in how many cases the flower- 
 stems peduncles or the ' pedicels, have, at the 
 points where they branch off from the main stem, 
 and elsewhere, leaves, either resembling the other 
 leaves of the plant, or differing from them in various 
 ways, becoming less and less leaf-like, till they are at 
 length little more than scales, such as we see in the 
 currant Fig. 71 or speedwell Fig. 72. These, cor- 
 responding to the stipules of leaves, are called floral 
 leaves or tracts. As we see in the dead nettle 
 Fig. 79 or the lesser loosestrife Fig. 70 the floral 
 leaves and the ordinary leaves of the plant do not 
 exhibit any difference. In the lime tree Fig. 80
 
 78 
 
 WILD FLOWERS. 
 
 the conspicuous bract is very different from the 
 leaf. In the currant the bracts, as above observed, 
 are simply scales. A few plants have the bracts 
 gaily coloured. In some cases, the bracts are ad- 
 ditionally distinguished according to their form, &c. 
 Thus, the bracts which surround the umbels of 
 many umbelliferous plants, are called the involucres 
 Fig. 98, &c. so are those named which inclose 
 the flower-head or capitulum of such a plant as the 
 daisy Fig. 81. The singular hood-like appendage 
 
 81. Blossom of common Daisy (RtUlt 82. Blossom of Wak"-robin or Cuckoo- 
 
 ptrftmu), showing the common invo- pint(^7Ttmiwfcw/afum),sliowinKthelarge 
 
 lucre 1 of the flower-head or capi- bract 1 in this case called a spathe, 
 
 mtum. which surrounds the reproductive organs, 
 
 the stamens 2 the pistils 3. 
 
 of the curious wake-robin Fig. 82 is a bract,
 
 AEEANGEMENT OF BLOSSOMS. 
 
 79 
 
 and gets the name of a spathe. In the carex tribe 
 the leaf-like appendages to the spikes Fig. 83 
 
 83. Sedge, or carer, showing the leaf-like bract* 
 3 which are situated at the base of the flower 
 spikes. The fertile, or pistil, or seed-bearing 
 pikes 2 the barren or stamen-bearing spike 
 
 are also bracts ; in the grasses the outer scales or 
 glumes of the spikelets Fig. 84 are bracts; in 
 the hazel and willow the scales of the catkin are 
 also called bracts. 
 
 "With the bracts terminates our description of
 
 80 
 
 WILD FLOWERS. 
 
 the parts and characters of plants, or rather of such 
 parts and characters as lie upon the surface, and 
 
 most readily meet the 
 eye of the observer. 
 Almost superfluous 
 must the remark be, 
 that in our descrip- 
 tions we have but 
 skimmed the surface 
 of our subject, we 
 have but given such 
 kind and amount of 
 information as seemed 
 best calculated to 
 
 Ki. Hpikclot of grnss, showing tli 
 or involucres 1 called Klumce in the grasses 
 which inclose the florets, these ilorctj, beini 
 made up of scales or i>alea! '2- inclosing th 
 pistils 3 ami stamens 4. In the figure th' 
 ouUr scales of the floret bear awns a. 
 
 bracts afford a good general 
 idea of the characters 
 
 which distinguish the 
 native wild flowers of 
 
 our own land, and of the principles on which 
 botanical distinctions are based. 
 
 Our next step must be to point out how the 
 vegetable kingdom is mapped out by means of 
 those plant characters which have just engaged our 
 attention : how it is divided and subdivided, and 
 its great leading classes marked off; how these 
 again are resolved into tribes, families and genera, 
 so that the skilled botanist finding a plant he 
 had never seen before, may, provided the plant 
 lias been enrolled with its brethren, as it were 
 track it down, fix it in class, in tribe, in family, till
 
 ABBANGEMENT OF FLOWERS. 81 
 
 he finds it amid its own kindred, associated with 
 the other members of its own genus, and finally 
 pounces upon it by the special mark of the in- 
 dividual.
 
 82 
 
 THE ARRANGEMENT OR CLASSIFICATION OF 
 PLANTS. 
 
 " Happy who walks with Him ! Whom what he finds 
 
 In nature, from the broad majestic oak 
 
 To the green blade that twinkles in the sun, 
 
 Prompts with remembrance of a present God." 
 
 COWPER. 
 
 WHEN we reflect that somewhere about eighty 
 thousand different kinds or species of flowering 
 plants are now known to botanists, and that, in 
 addition to this large number, there exists an im- 
 mense variety of vegetable productions which bear 
 no flowers, we may well believe hovr hopeless would 
 be the task of acquiring any definite or useful 
 knowledge of the vegetable kingdom as a whole, 
 unless its various component parts were reduced to 
 some kind of arrangement or classification. Indeed, 
 when not above a tenth part of the plants now 
 known had been discovered, the necessity for some 
 order amongst them was manifest, and the natural 
 affinities which so obviously gather certain plants 
 into tolerably well-defined groups, began to engage 
 the attention of the first cultivators of the science 
 of botany. 
 
 Certain families of plants, such as the umbel- 
 bearers or hemlock-like tribes Fig. 98 the labiates
 
 ABBANGEMENT OF PLANTS. S3 
 
 or mint-like tribes Fig. 106 the grasses Fig. 
 113 'present so strong a family resemblance, one 
 to the other, that they naturally, as it were, group 
 themselves. But as very many plants, even though 
 closely allied, are not so obviously linked together, 
 the attempts at arrangement were found to be 
 attended with great difficulty and confusion ; so that 
 it has only been of late years that the Vegetable 
 Kingdom has been mapped out into anything like 
 order, after the laboured and long-continued exer- 
 tions of the most illustrious botanists. 
 
 Before botany was cultivated scientifically, the 
 first attempts at classification arranged plants as 
 trees, herbs, and shrubs, further dividing them ac- 
 cording to their medicinal or economical, their 
 poisonous or harmless properties. As the limits of 
 the subject extended, such vague arrangements 
 were of course found useless, and many attempts 
 were made to introduce some more serviceable 
 method. It would be unprofitable here to enume- 
 rate all the plans of classification which have been 
 propounded. The first, perhaps, of any account, 
 was that of Tournefort, founded upon the form of 
 the corolla ; but this, even in the early stage of 
 the science, was found impracticable in application. 
 Nothing, in short, was effected, until the celebrated 
 Linnaeus appeared upon the stage, and brought for- 
 ward his beautiful though artificial system, which, 
 from the middle of the last century, until the last 
 fifteen or twenty years, was principally used by 
 
 G2
 
 84 WILD FLOWEES. 
 
 botanists. Being an artificial system, however, it 
 has necessarily been superseded by that extended 
 knowledge of science which has enabled botanists 
 to construct the natural system of the vegetable 
 kingdom, according to the natural affinities of 
 plants. Linnaeus himself was well aware of the 
 superiority of a natural classification over an arti- 
 ficial one, and left behind him the plan of such a 
 system ; but he saw, probably, that the state of 
 botany as it was in his day, would not admit of 
 the better method being advantageously carried 
 out ; he therefore gave us an artificial system, which 
 has never been rivalled. He reduced the immense 
 chaos of botanical knowledge to something like 
 order, and placed it in a condition to be modelled 
 into better shape, as extended knowledge required 
 different, and gave opportunity for more scientific 
 arrangement. In. one respect, the Linnsean arti- 
 ficial classification is attractive to a beginner, it is 
 the easiest at first. By it a learner may perhaps 
 very readily find out the (Linnaean) class and order, 
 and the name of a plant ; but when he has done 
 this, he has acquired comparatively little real know- 
 ledge. By the study of the natural system, on the 
 other hand, much true knowledge is gained when 
 the place of any particular plant in the system has 
 been ascertained : for that place is not a mere arbi- 
 trary one assigned by man ; it is, we may say, the 
 position fixed for it by the Creator in the system of 
 nature, and that in which it is, as it were, sur-
 
 ABRANGEHENT OF PLANTS. 85 
 
 rounded by its family connexions, by other plants 
 having with it many characters, and perhaps quali- 
 ties, in common. Moreover, when the first few 
 steps in the study of the natural system have been 
 overcome, the subsequent ones are rendered all 
 the more easy by the knowledge which has been 
 already acquired. This is by no means the case in 
 the classification of Linnaeus : we would, therefore, 
 whilst counselling our readers not to neglect the 
 latter, to devote themselves principally to the ac- 
 quisition of a knowledge of the natural arrange- 
 ment of vegetables to get a general outline of 
 the great principles and leading divisions which 
 mark out the symmetrical whole of this most im- 
 portant section of material creation. Of these 
 principles and divisions we shall endeavour to give 
 a general idea ; but, previously, must devote a short 
 space to the consideration of the Linnaean system 
 of classification. 
 
 Linnaeus founded his system upon characters 
 afforded by the essential re-productive organs of 
 plants, the stamens and the pistils ; forming twenty- 
 three classes of plants which have flowers, or 
 at least stamens and pistils ; and a twenty -fourth 
 class, the Cryptogamia, including plants, such as 
 the ferns, which are destitute of floral organs. 
 The first eleven classes of the Linnsean system 
 depend simply upon the number of the stamens ; 
 the twelfth and thirteenth partly on the number of 
 the stamens, and partly on their relative position,
 
 86 WILD 
 
 to other parts of the flower. The fourteenth and 
 fifteenth classes are regulated by the relative 
 lengths of the staminal organs ; the sixteenth, 
 seventeenth and eighteenth by the connexion of 
 their filaments ; the nineteenth by that of their 
 anthers ; and the twentieth by the relative position 
 of the stamen and pistil. The next three classes 
 depend upon the separation of the stamens and 
 pistils in separate blossoms, or on different plants ; 
 th'e twenty-fourth, as stated above, on the absence 
 of these organs altogether. The above classes are 
 subdivided into orders, in accordance with characters 
 chiefly derived from the pistils. But, probably, the 
 reader will obtain the clearest idea of the system 
 at large, and of its divisions, from an inspection of the 
 annexed synopsis, which is taken from the " British 
 Flora" of Sir AVilliam Hooker and Dr. Arnott,* 
 a work formerly arranged according to the system 
 in question, but now adapted to the natural classi- 
 fication. 
 
 * Those who desire seriously to acquire a good knowledge of our British 
 plants, will find this well known work their best assistant.
 
 87 
 
 CLASSES AND OEDERS 
 
 THE LINN^EAN SYSTEM OF BOTANY. 
 
 C1.VS8. 
 
 1. Monandria . 
 
 2. Diandria . 
 
 3. Triandria 
 
 4. Tetrandria 
 
 5. Pentandria . 
 
 6. Hexandria 
 
 7. Heptandria . 
 
 8. Octandria 
 
 9. Enneandria . 
 
 10. Decandria 
 
 11. Dodecandria 
 
 12. Icosandria 
 
 13. Polyandria . 
 
 14. Didynamia 
 
 15. Tetradynamia 
 
 16. Monadelphia 
 
 1 stamen in each flower. 
 
 5 5> 
 
 6 
 
 ' j> 
 
 8 
 
 >? 55 
 
 10 
 
 12 to 19 in each flower. 
 
 20 or more stamens inserted 
 
 on the calyx. 
 20 or more stamens inserted 
 
 on the receptacle. 
 4 stamens 2 long and 2 
 
 short. 
 6 stamens 4 long and 2 
 
 short. 
 
 Stamen filaments united into 
 one set.
 
 88 
 
 WILD FLOWEBS. 
 
 17. Diadelphia . 
 
 18. Polyadelphia 
 
 19. Syngenesia . 
 
 20. Gynandria 
 
 21. Monoecia 
 
 22. Dioecia . 
 
 23. Polygamia . 
 
 24. Cryptogamia 
 
 Stamen filaments united into 
 two sets. 
 
 Stamen filaments united into 
 three or more sets. 
 
 Stamen anthers united 
 flowers compound. 
 
 Stamens inserted on the 
 pistil. 
 
 Stamens and pistils on sepa- 
 rate flowers on the same 
 plant. 
 
 Stamens and pistils on sepa- 
 rate flowers or different 
 plants. 
 
 Stamens and pistils separate 
 in some flowers, united in 
 others, either on the same 
 plant, or on two or three 
 distinct ones. 
 
 Destitute of true flowering 
 organs. 
 
 THE OEDEES. 
 
 The orders in the first thirteen classes are 
 founded on the number of styles in each flower : 
 Monogynia, 1 style ; Digynia, 2 ; Trigynia, 3 ; 
 Tetragynia, 4 ; Pentagynia, 5 ; Hexagynia, 6 ; 
 Heptagynia, 7 ; Octagynia, 8 ; Decagynia, 10 ; 
 Polygynia many styles.
 
 CLASSES AND OEDEES. 89 
 
 The orders of the 14th class are two : 
 
 1. Grymnospermia... Seeds 4, apparently naked. 
 
 2. Angiospermia ...Seeds contained in a dis- 
 
 tinct seed-vessel. 
 The orders of the 15th class are two : 
 
 1, Siliculosa... Seeds in a short pod or pouch. 
 
 2. Siliquosa ...Seeds in a long pod. 
 
 The orders 16, 17, 18, are founded upon the 
 number of the stamens in each set Triandria 
 Pentandria, &c. 
 
 The orders of the 19th class are three, and are 
 founded on the structure of the flower, which is 
 compound : 
 
 1. -3qualis ... All the flowers perfect. 
 
 2. Superflua ... Florets of the disk perfect, of 
 
 the ray with pistil only. 
 
 3. Frustranea. Florets of the disk perfect ; of 
 
 the ray with neither stamen 
 nor pistil. 
 
 The orders of the 20th class are founded on the 
 number of the stamens, Monandria, Diandria, &c. 
 
 The orders of the 21st and 22nd classes are 
 founded on the number, union, and situation of the 
 stamens, Diandria, Monadelphia, &c. 
 
 The orders of the 23rd class are three : Perfect 
 flowers. Fertile pistil-bearing flowers. Barren 
 stamen-bearing flowers. On one plant, Monoecia 
 on two different plants, Dioecia on three different 
 plants, Trioecia. 
 
 The orders of the 24th class are founded on 
 natural orders ferns, mosses, &c.
 
 90 
 
 PART II. 
 
 CLASSIFICATION OF PLAXTS 
 ACCORDING TO THEIB NATURAL ORDERS. 
 
 ALTHOUGH we may assume that there is actually 
 but one perfect, natural arrangement of the vege- 
 table kingdom, we may also perhaps assume that 
 the recognition of its perfection can never come 
 within compass of the human mind. A perfect 
 arrangement must be devoid of classification alto- 
 gether ; it can have no divisions, it must be the 
 perfect whole, compacted of diverse parts : it can 
 thus be viewed only by the Maker of all things. 
 That man may be enabled with his finite intelli- 
 gence to grasp the subject, he must introduce 
 divisions, classifications, something of his own 
 mind; and as men's minds vary, and each looks at 
 things in its own way, we cannot wonder if classi- 
 fications, even when founded upon the natural 
 arrangement, but propounded by different autho- 
 rities, have differed considerably in detail, although 
 agreeing in general principles. The arrangement 
 of Dr. Lindley, in his great work, " The Vegetable 
 Kingdom," might well have been our guide here; but
 
 CLASSIFICATION OF PLANTS. 91 
 
 the somewhat different system adopted in the 
 " British Flora" of Hooker and Arnott, is perhaps 
 more in accordance with the plan of our short 
 exposition. 
 
 Under the natural arrangement, the vegetable 
 kingdom is first divided into three great classes. 
 The first, Dicotyledonous or Exogenous plants the 
 second, Monocotyledonous or Endogenous plants 
 the third, Acotyledonous plants. The plants of 
 the first and second classes bear flowers, those of 
 the third do not. 
 
 The plants of the first-class are most generally 
 found in the temperate zones, those of the second 
 and third in warm climates. 
 
 DICOTYLEDONOUS OB EXOGENOUS PLANTS. 
 
 The character of a dicotyledon most easily recog- 
 nizable is the branched or reticulated veining of the 
 leaf, and next to that the formation of the stem, which 
 consists of central pith, of wood, and bark, and 
 increases in size, by means of a layer of new sub- 
 stance being every year deposited between the two 
 latter. This mode of growth gives a section of the 
 stem of an exogenous plant a ringed appearance, as 
 any one may see who examines a newly-cut tree ; 
 the number of the rings corresponding to the 
 number of the years of growth. These rings, more- 
 over, are crossed at intervals by straight lines the 
 medullary rays which diverge from the central pith
 
 92 WILD FLOWERS. 
 
 and connect it with the bark. To the above cha- 
 racters is added that derived from the seed, which, 
 possessing two seed-lobes, or cotyledons, gives the 
 name di-cotyledon. The two-lobed character is very 
 conspicuous in such large seeds as those of the 
 bean, lupin, &c., but in many minute seeds it is 
 ascertainable only by careful examination. This, 
 however, is of comparatively little import to the 
 general observer, as the veining of the leaf, and the 
 formation of the stem, are in most cases obvious, 
 and for him at least sufficiently trustworthy guides. 
 In the system we have adopted as our guide here, 
 the dicotyledonous plants are subdivided into four 
 main sections. The fourth section is characterized 
 by the presence of only one floral envelope, which is 
 called neither calyx nor corolla, but perianth. The 
 three first sections derive their characters partly 
 from the position of the stamens, and partly from 
 the divisions of the corolla. The sections themselves 
 are again divided into lesser sections, so as to facili- 
 tate the arrangement of the natural families or 
 orders which comprise the genera,* and species. By 
 a species is meant an individual plant, or kind of plant 
 which, possessing certain definite and sufficiently 
 well-marked characters peculiar to itself, transmits 
 these characters unaltered to succeeding genera- 
 tions of plants which spring from it. Thus, if we 
 take a seed of the common wall-flower, and sow it, 
 we expect, and with certainty, that a plant will 
 
 * Latin plural of genus.
 
 CLASSIFICATION OF PLANTS. 93 
 
 spring up similar to that from which the seed was 
 gathered similar, but we cannot say in every 
 point exactly the same. There may be a different 
 shade in the colouring of the flowers, or other minor 
 differences ; but these are not sufficient to constitute 
 a difference in species, they are too inconstant. 
 
 By a genus is meant a collection of such species or 
 kinds of plants, each possessing certain marked and 
 permanent individual characters, but all agreeing 
 in certain other general characters which link them 
 together as one race or genus. No better example 
 can we find than the genus Kanunculus, which com- 
 prises twenty species, natives of Britain. Fig. 84, 
 the Ranunculus auricomus, or wood crowfoot, affords 
 an example of one of the prettiest of the collection 
 from it and from the following figures we may derive 
 some idea of the general characters of the genus, 
 and perhaps something more. The chief characters 
 of the ranunculus genus are, calyx of five sepals, 
 not prolonged at the base Fig. 86 petals 5 
 Fig. 84 with a nectary at the base Fig. 85 
 achenes Figs. 84, 86 without awns.* All these 
 characters we find in the wood crowfoot ; but we 
 also find them in the nineteen other British mem- 
 bers of the genus ranunculus ; consequently, if we 
 are to distinguish the wood crowfoot as a species, 
 we must find out some characters which it possesses 
 distinct from all the rest. Let us see what cha- 
 
 * Hair-like prolongations from the apex.
 
 ---3 
 
 84. Sanunculiuauricomu*, or wood Crowfoot, an examp'c of t:.e natural order Jlunun- 
 lutacea. The five petals of the Uossom, 1 the numerous stamens, 2 the fruit, 3 
 consisting of m;.ny carpels or nchcnes, nml th divided haves, are all characteristics of the 
 order. The flower (rives an example of the p ..lypetalous corolla, that is of one divided 
 Into a number of distinct petals. The vciiieil leaves are distinctive of the great dicotyle- 
 donous rt, vision of the vegetable kingdom. The radical or root leaves 4 are reniforni 
 or kidney -shaped in their Rcneral outline, and are a (rood example of a three-parti< leaf ; 
 the stem leave* 5 being much divided into linear segments.
 
 CLASSIFICATION OF PLANTS. 
 
 95 
 
 85. Petal of a But- 
 tercup showing nec- 
 tary 1 at its base. 
 
 86. Section of blossom of common Buttercupr- 
 1 petals of which there are five 2 portion of 
 calyx sepal 4 numerous pistils or carpels 
 (achenes) 5 numerous stamens. 
 
 racters it has of its own. Its leaves are divided, this 
 at once distinguishes it from the five ranunculus 
 spearworts ; its flowers are yellow, and the colour (a 
 good distinction in this genus) separates 
 seven species of white-flowered ranun- 
 culus. We have now but eight species 
 to distinguish among, but three of these 
 have warted or prickled achenes or 
 seeds, and annual roots, neither of which 
 characters our wood crowfoot possesses. 
 Of the five species we are now reduced 
 to, but two have smooth leaves, the 
 wood crowfoot, and the celery-leaved 
 crowfoot ; but in the latter, besides 
 other characters, the calyx is smooth, 
 whereas in the wood crowfoot it is covered with 
 down. 
 
 Having now hunted down, as it were, our species, 
 
 87. Stamen of 
 wood anemone. 
 2. The anther 
 adnate with its 
 two lobes.
 
 96 WILD FLO WEBS. 
 
 some persons may remark, " We could have told 
 that this was different from any other ranunculus, 
 without all this trouble." Possibly so : many per- 
 sons can detect the general difference of aspect 
 which distinguishes, in the majority of instances, 
 one plant from another ; but none perhaps, without 
 botanical training, could sit down and write a 
 description of a plant which would convey to another 
 individual any accurate idea of the plant, hence 
 the vague and generally useless descriptions given, 
 by non-botanical travellers, of the vegetation of 
 newly traversed countries. On the other hand, when 
 a botanist gathers a plant perfectly new to him, a 
 glance tells him to which of the three leading divi- 
 sions of the vegetable kingdom it belongs ; a more 
 careful examination fixes its family or order, per- 
 haps its genus ; a little further, and by reference to 
 published descriptions of plants, he perhaps finds 
 that the species has been already described and 
 named by some prior discoverer ; but if not, and 
 if the finder has reason to believe that a plant is 
 perfectly new, and hitherto undescribed, his task 
 must be to detect in the species some marked 
 character or characters, which may distinguish it 
 from every other of the eighty or ninety thousand 
 species already known and described. "We may well 
 imagine how, but for the classifications and divi- 
 sions, this would be an impossibility. Now perhaps, 
 the reader may understand, how from class to order,
 
 CLASSIFICATION OP PLANTS. 97 
 
 to section or alliance,* thence to family and genus, 
 a botanist may carry a plant, till at last, as species, 
 he separates the individual. 
 
 We have examined the genus ranunculus as made 
 up of various species, we must now look at it the 
 whole genus as but one member of a larger com- 
 munity, the natural order or family of the Bauun- 
 culacese, which contains, besides the genus ranun- 
 culus, thirteen other genera, natives of Britain. The 
 anemones, the globe-flower, the columbine, the aco- 
 nites, &c. are all examples of the natural order in 
 question ; for, though by no means bearing the same 
 general palpable resemblance that the species of 
 a genus such as ranunculus do to one another, 
 they have certain common points of character, which 
 enable botanists to throw them into a group or 
 family albeit, the eyes of the superficial or non- 
 botanical observer will now afford him but little 
 help ; the connecting links lie deeper than mere ex- 
 ternal resemblances. The ranunculacea3 are remark- 
 able, chiefly, for their acrid and poisonous qualities. 
 In the case of some of the aconites and hellebores 
 these are developed in an intense degree ; but many 
 even of the common buttercup or crowfoot genus 
 are remarkably acrid. In the Hebrides the lesser 
 spearwort (Ranunculus flammulaj) and the celery- 
 leaved crowfoot (Ranunculus sceleratus) are said 
 to be employed as blisters, producing their effects 
 very rapidly, but often too violently. The presence 
 
 * Dr. Lindley makes certain divisions under the name of alliances. 
 
 H
 
 98 
 
 WILD FLOWEES. 
 
 of the plants belonging to this family usually 
 characterize a cold damp climate, and, indeed, the 
 name is derived from the latin rana, which signifies 
 a frog, from the nature of the localities in which 
 the plants principally abound. 
 
 But let us take another natural order, the Cruci- 
 ferae Fig. 88 more important by far than the 
 ranunculacese as regards useful products, and con- 
 taining thirty-three British genera. Like the ranun- 
 culacese, the cruciferous family, which includes such 
 plants as the wall-flower, the cresses, the rockets, 
 the wild mustards, &c., has the corolla divided into 
 separate pieces ; but in this instance, the prevailing 
 number is four Fig. 89 and the petals are placed 
 in a cross-like or cruciform arrangement ; the calyx 
 sepals also are four. The stamens are, as in the 
 
 to. Blossom of common Wall flower, cross-like, 
 or cruciform in shape 1, peduncle or flower-stem 
 2, calyr or flower-cup in four iiistinct parts or 
 epals 3, 3, petals, four in number, composing 
 the corolla 4, stamens 6, pistil. , 
 
 90. Essential re-productive 
 organs of common Wall-flower 
 (the cnlyx and corolla being 
 removed). 1, l,thc stamens 
 2, the pistil.
 
 immon Water Cress (Nasturtium qfficinale),aua 
 example of the natural order Cruciferse. The blossoms 
 being first developed as corymbs 1 subsequently 
 becoming racemes bv the growth of the peduncle. The 
 fruit a pod or siliqua. The leaves placed alter- 
 nately on the stem, and with branching veins. 
 
 H2
 
 100 WILD FLOWERS. 
 
 ranunculaceae, inserted upon the receptacle at the 
 base of the pistil, but instead of being numerous, are 
 of the definite number of six Fig. 90 four being 
 long and two short. Cruciferous plants have but 
 one pistil Fig. 90 which ultimately developes 
 into a seed pod, or pouch Fig. 88. The leaves 
 are alternate, and the flowers are generally first in- 
 floresced in the form of the corymb Fig. 88 but 
 ultimately develope into racemes. The family of 
 the crucifers yields us many plants which are so 
 developed and ameliorated, by cultivation, as to 
 take place among our most esteemed vegetables ; it 
 is sufficient to name the turnip, the cabbage and all 
 its tribe, the sea-kale, &c. ; also the various cresses, 
 the radish, the mustards, &c., the water-cress, and 
 the scurvy grass. The repute of the latter plants 
 as anti-scorbutics is popular. The seeds of many 
 cruciferse, such as rape or mustard, yield oil in 
 large quantities. The geographical distribution of 
 the order is chiefly in the temperate zones ; very 
 sparingly indeed in hot climates. 
 
 Few, if any natural orders, are more important 
 than the next we examine the Leguminosae or pod- 
 bearers, or pea tribe ; none have their general cha- 
 racters more strikingly marked. The corolla, it is 
 true, is still composed of a number of pieces, as in the 
 case of the ranunculus, or of the cruciform ; but how 
 differently are these pieces arranged Fig. 91 not 
 in a circle around the essential re-productive organs, 
 but in the elegaut form which we all recognise as
 
 91. Portion of Wood Vetch ( Vlcia, fylvatica), an example of the natural order 
 Leguminosse. The blossoms, composed of five petals 1 are papilionaceous. 
 The fruit 2 is a legume or pod. The leaves are placed alternately on the 
 stem, are compound and furnished with tendrils 3. At their junction with the 
 stem are stipules 1.
 
 102 
 
 WILD FLOWEKS. 
 
 peculiar to the pea tribes, and which has so well 
 been named papilionaceous, or butterfly like. 
 Moreover, we find both corolla and stamens fixed, not 
 upon the receptacle but upon the calyx ; the fila- 
 ments of the stamens, which are generally ten in 
 number, being either completely united into a 
 tube Fig. 93 or nine of them joined into one 
 piece, whilst one, the superior stamen, is left free. 
 The pistil of the leguminous plants is single, con- 
 stituting, when in fruit, a pod or legume Fig. 91 
 
 92. Wii.ged stem of Vck-h. 
 
 93. Stamens and 
 pistil of common 
 Gorse or Whin, the 
 petals of the corolla 
 being removed. The 
 stamens 1 are 
 united by their fila- 
 ments into a tube 
 through which passes 
 the pistil -2. 
 
 The leaves are alternate on the stem ; generally 
 compound ; often furnished with tendrils, and have
 
 CLASSIFICATION OF PLANTS. 103 
 
 stipules at the base. " The leguminous order is not 
 only one of the most extensive known, but is also one 
 of the most important to man, whether we consider 
 the beauty of the numerous species, which are 
 among the gayest coloured and most graceful plants 
 of every region, or their applicability to a thousand 
 useful purposes. The acacia is not less valued for 
 its airy foliage and elegant blossoms, than for its 
 hard and durable wood. The logwood and rose- 
 woods of commerce ; the laburnum ; the furze and 
 the broom, both the pride of the otherwise dreary 
 heaths of Europe ; the bean, the pea, the vetch, the 
 clover, the trefoil, the lucerne, all staple articles of 
 culture by the farmer, are so many leguminous 
 species. The gums arabic and tragacanth, the senna, 
 and various other drugs, not to mention indigo, the 
 most useful of all dyes, are products of other 
 species."* Many species of leguminosse, however, 
 are poisonous ; such is the case with the common 
 laburnum. 
 
 In some respects our fourth natural order, the 
 Bosacese or rose tribes, appear to resemble the ra- 
 nunculaceae. The divisions, both of calyx and corolla, 
 are mostly the same ; the stamens are numerous, 
 but their attachment to the calyx Pig. 96 instead 
 of to the receptacle is a perfect distinction. In the 
 rose tribes the carpels or seeds are numerous, but 
 differ considerably in their arrangement. In the 
 
 * Lindley's Vegetable Kingdom.
 
 94. Common Wild Strawberry (Fragaria tetca), an example of the natural 
 order Rosacese. The calyx 1 in this instance ten-cleft. The corolla consisting 
 of five petals 2. The stamens numerous. The seed or carpels borne on a fleshy 
 receptade 3.
 
 CLASSIFICATION OF PLANTS. 
 
 105 
 
 rose itself they are contained in a cup, or ovary 
 which is partly composed of the calyx ; in the straw- 
 
 95. Section of Rosebud, show- 
 ing the calyx- 2 adhering 
 to and forming part of the 
 ovary and seed cup. 3. 
 
 96. Section of calyx of a roa- 
 ceous plant, with the numerous 
 stamens fixed upon it. 
 
 berry, on the other hand, a true rosacean, the car- 
 pels are borne on the receptacle Figs. 94, 97 
 
 which, when enlarged 
 becomes what we call 
 the fruit. The leaves 
 of the rose tribe 
 plants are alternate, 
 and, like the pod- 
 bearers, have stipules 
 at the base of the 
 leaf stalk. 
 
 97. Section of a Strawberry blossom. The 
 receptacle 1 which enlarges and becomes the 
 " uit. 
 
 leat staiK. 
 Almost is it unnecessary to refer to the floral
 
 98. Rough Chervil {Cherophylium temulentum), an ex- 
 ample of the natural order Umlv llif< r.v. The bloEsoms are 
 borne on umbels 1 in this instance compound and with 
 partial involucres 2. The leaves are alternate, compound, 
 and sheathe the item at their bate 3.
 
 CLASSIFICATION OF PLANTS. 107 
 
 beauty of many of the rose-tribe. The strawberry 
 and raspberry likewise belong to it, also the apple, 
 the pear, the peach, and many others. The latter, 
 however, are scarcely considered to belong to the 
 true roses, and are ranked in a sub-order. Many 
 of the last named plants yield prussic acid largely 
 from the leaves, flowers, or kernels of the fruit, 
 whereas the prevailing principle of the true rosacese 
 is astringency. 
 
 Another tribe, the Umbelliferse or umbel-bearers 
 Fig. 98 have we with five petals to the 
 corolla, but in all respects very different from 
 those tribes which have already engaged our atten- 
 tion. These plants derive their name from the 
 arrangement of their blossoms in the form of the 
 umbel ; but, at the same time, other characters 
 besides this are essential to constitute them true 
 members of the order. The seed, or rather fruit 
 Pig. 100 is peculiarly characteristic. It con- 
 sists of two carpels, or achenes, combined, and at- 
 tached, near the apex, to a central axis, from which 
 
 99. Blossom of an umbel- 
 bearing plant, having five 
 
 petals 1 each with an in- 100. 2, magnified view of the fruit of an um- 
 
 flected point five stamens, belliferous plant 3 section of the same fruit, 
 
 and a pistil with two styles. showing vittie.
 
 108 WILD FLOWEBS. 
 
 they usually separate when ripe. Thus each sepa- 
 rate little " caraway seed" is one of these carpels; 
 albeit it is not truly a seed, but a seed-vessel, for the 
 real seed lies within. The fruit of the umbelliferous 
 plants is usually strongly marked by longitudinal 
 ribs and ridges Fig. 100 and in the interstices 
 between these, in the substance of the carpel, lie 
 minute channels named vittae, which contain the 
 peculiar essential oil, so commonly met with in 
 these seeds. Each blossom of an umbel-bearing 
 plant contains two styles, which crown the young 
 carpels, and also five stamens, placed alternately with 
 the five petals Fig. 99. These petals have often 
 what is called an "inflected point" as represented, 
 and are sometimes very unequal in size. The 
 umbels are often compound, and with involucres. 
 Fig. 98. The leaves are compound, often ex- 
 tremely so, and sheathe the stem at the base 
 Fig. 98. 
 
 The natural order of the umbel-bearers is a most 
 extensive one, and includes species possessed of very 
 different characteristics. Some, like the hemlock, the 
 dropworts, &c., are virulent poisons ; whilst others, 
 such as the well-known caraway, the dill, the anise, 
 fec., afford us some of our most valued aromatics. 
 "What are called gum-resins, such as assafoetida, gal- 
 banum, &c., are also yielded by this family ; and from 
 it, under the influence of cultivation, we derive the 
 carrot and parsnip, celery, parsley, &c. The blos- 
 soms of umbellifers vary from white their most 
 general colour in this country to yellow, as in
 
 f 
 
 101. Michaelmas daisy (Aster tripolium), an example of the natural order Co; 
 positce. The florets co..ected into a head or capitulumI surrounded by 
 involucre;;.
 
 110 
 
 WILD FLO WEES. 
 
 the pepper, saxifrage, and parsnip ; to pink, as in the 
 hedge parsley ; or to blue, as in the sea-holly. 
 
 The Composite or compound headed plants con- 
 stitute an order which yields to none, either in 
 extent or importance. The generality of people 
 are in the habit of confusing the flowers of this 
 family with the double blossoms of cultivated plants ; 
 from which, however, they are perfectly distinct. The 
 head of a composite see Figs. 101 103 is made 
 up of a number of small blossoms or florets, many or 
 most of which are complete in themselves, possessing 
 calyx, corolla, stamens, and pistil Fig. 102. The 
 
 102. Blossoms or florets of common Daisy. B, 
 one of the yellow tubular florets of the central 
 disk 1, its stamens and style 2, the seed. C, one 
 of the white strap-shaped florets of the ray, without 
 stamens 1, the style 2, the seed. 
 
 103. Composite blossom of 
 Leopards'-bane. The capitu- 
 lum or head 1, florets of 
 the disk 3, florets of the 
 ray 4, Liyulate or strap- 
 shaped. 
 
 green covering Fig. 101 which people so often 
 confound with the flower-cup of other blossoms, is
 
 CLASSIFICATION OF PLANTS. 
 
 Ill 
 
 no calyx at all, but a general involucre or envelope 
 to the flowers within. The corolla of the composite 
 florets occurs in two forms, either tubular Fig. 
 102, B or ligulate, or strap-shaped Fig. 102, c. 
 Many plants, such as the daisy, have two forms of 
 the corolla to complete the flower-head. The dis- 
 tribution of the stamens and pistils among these 
 florets is subject to considerable variation. In some 
 cases all are perfect, in others many of the florets 
 are deficient as regards the essential organs of 
 re-production. The fruit of the composites, like that 
 of the umbel-bearers, looks like a seed, but is 
 actually a seed-vessel or achene, within which the 
 true seed is contained Fig. 104. It is generally 
 beaked, and often crowned with a 
 feathery appendage called the pappus 
 Fig. 104. This is in fact the calyx, 
 which surrounded the floret corolla 
 in the stage of blossoming. The 
 stamens of the composites are five, 
 and are united into a tube Fig. 102, 
 B through which the style passes, 
 the style itself being bifid, or cleft. 
 Moreover, the composite order, is 
 the first we have come to with the 
 corolla in one piece monopetalous. 
 So extensive is the natural order of 
 the composites, that it is con- 
 veniently subdivided into tribes. In 
 the first of these, the chicory com- 
 
 104. Seed of Dande- 
 lion, v ith stalked pap- 
 pus.
 
 112 WILD FLOWEBS. 
 
 posites, the florets of the flower-head are all strap- 
 shaped, and in form resemble the white florets of the 
 daisy Fig. 102. To this tribe belong the goats'- 
 beards, the sow-thistles, the dandelion, and the let- 
 tuces. In the next tribe, which includes the various 
 thistles, the burdock, &c., the florets are all tubular 
 Fig. 102. In the third tribe there is, in addition 
 to other distinctions, an intermingling of tubular 
 and strap-shaped florets, as we find in the daisy 
 Fig. 102 or in the leopards' -bane Fig. 103. 
 Although the composites yield us some vegetables 
 used as food, such as the lettuce, and the Jerusalem 
 artichoke the properties of the plants which con- 
 stitute the order, adapt them for medicinal rather 
 than for nutritive purposes. The lettuce, even when 
 ameliorated by cultivation, is narcotic, and strongly 
 so when growing wild. The well-known chamo- 
 mile- yields a powerful bitter along with its aro- 
 matic oil. The dandelion is a valuable remedy 
 in derangements of the liver. Nor must we forget 
 the well-known and powerfully bitter and aro- 
 matic wormwoods. Moreover, from the compo- 
 sites we derive some of the gayest ornaments of the 
 garden. First comes the well-known dahlia, then 
 have we the asters, the cinerarias, the chrysanthe- 
 mums so beloved by the Chinese, and many others. 
 Albeit, some of our native composites are by no 
 means wanting in beauty. The purple goats'-beard, 
 the leopards' -banes, the golden-rod, the corn blue- 
 bottle, are well-favoured plants ; the thistles are
 
 CLASSIFICATION OF PLANTS. 113 
 
 many of them handsome, so is the familiar burdock, 
 with its large telling foliage. Even the dandelion 
 would be more thought of were it less common ; 
 though, common as it is, the daisy is always a 
 "bonny gem" to all true flower lovers; and well 
 may the composites, even the stateliest, be glad to 
 claim it for their own. 
 
 Our next order, the Scrophulariacesa, or figworts, 
 although it contains such familiar plants as the 
 veronicas or speedwells, the digitalis, the toadflax, 
 &c., is less likely to attract notice by any outward 
 marked family resemblance among its members, 
 than the orders which have hitherto engaged us. 
 Indeed, our naming the speedwells and the digitalis 
 in the same order, would illustrate the remark, 
 without adverting to a figwort itself, Scrophularia 
 aquatica Fig. 105 a species of the genus which 
 gives its name to the family. The figworts have 
 the, generally irregular, corolla in one piece Figs. 
 50, 72 the calyx in four or five lobes Fig. 62 
 and persistent, that is, continuing along with the 
 fruit. The stamens are seldom only two in number, 
 as they are in the veronicas Fig. 50 more gene- 
 rally they are four, two long and two short, or, as 
 it is called botanically, didynamous. The style is 
 one, with a two-lobed stigma ; the fruit is a capsule 
 with two cells Figs. 105, 72. The leaves are 
 opposite. 
 
 The natural orders we have hitherto presented
 
 f 
 
 105. Water Figwort ( Scrophttliria tofuatica) an example of the natural order 5cro- 
 phulariacese. The corolla 1 of one petal and irregular. The seed 2-a capsule, the 
 IwtTOT bppodte.
 
 CLASSIFICATION Or PLANTS. 115 
 
 to our readers' notice, have all possessed so well 
 marked a general family resemblance, that they may 
 have been tempted to think this natural classifica- 
 tion an easier business than they had been led to 
 believe. The figwort family is only one among a 
 vast number of others, in which it requires the 
 educated botanical eye and mind to detect the 
 deeper-seated links which bind its genera and 
 species together, and it is sufficient illustration to 
 cite the names of such different looking plants, as 
 the foxglove, the speedwell, the eyebright, or the 
 toadflax; the yellow rattle, the mulleins, and the 
 figworts themselves, adding to them the well-known 
 exotic calceolaria. 
 
 The Labiatse, labiates, or lipped plants, form an 
 order extensive as it is well marked, one, moreover, 
 noted for the beauty and fragrance of many of its 
 members. Lavender, thyme, marjoram, the mints, 
 are all labiates, so are the sages and salvias. The 
 large-flowered hemp-nettle (Galeopsis versicolor) 
 Pig. 106 is the handsomest, perhaps, of our British 
 species, and very characteristic. The monopetalous 
 corolla Figs. 106, 107 is in one piece, and two 
 lipped ; the calyx tubular ; the stamens are, as in 
 the figworts, two long and two short. The fruit 
 consists of four achenes, which are like four seeds 
 lying at the bottom of the calyx, and indeed were 
 formerly considered to be naked seeds ; the leaves 
 are opposite, and the stems square. The cha- 
 
 i 2
 
 li>8. Large flowered Hemp-nettle (Ualeopsit versteolur) an example 
 of the natural order Labiatse. The corolla 1 in one piece, mono- 
 petalvui, irregular. The calyx 2 tubular. The leaves opposite ; the 
 ittm square.
 
 CLASSIFICATION OF PLANTS. 117 
 
 racters of labiate plants are too apparent to be 
 easily mistaken, in many cases their very fragrance 
 betrays them, as it arises from the 
 numerous little cells somewhat like 
 those in the rind of the orange 
 which are filled with essential oil, 
 and distributed over the plant. 
 
 MONOCOTYLEDONS. 
 
 At our next step in classification, 
 we leave the net- veined foliage of the 
 107. Biosom of a dicotyledons for the parallel-veined 
 
 labiate plant. 1 the * * , - 
 
 th r e egu [yx c - r 3 Ila 7he leaves of the monocotyledons, well 
 MflSE 01 *! represented by the well known and 
 
 inclosing the four sta- - - _ . . - , . 
 
 meu ,_s_of which handsome Orchidaceae, or orchis 
 
 two are longer than 
 
 family. In the small white butterfly 
 orchis (Habenaria albida) Fig. 108 we have the 
 straight-veined alternate leaves, the flowers arranged 
 in a spiked raceme, the knobbed root. The orchis 
 blossom, now called perianth, we see in six pieces 
 Fig. 110 supported by the twisted ovary, and 
 bearing in its centre the combined re-productive 
 organs, the stamens contained in their little cells or 
 pouches. Few, if any, families of plants can boast 
 of as great a variety of beautiful, and, we may add, 
 extraordinary form as the orchids. Some of our 
 readers may have seen in conservatories the splendid 
 orchis blossoms of tropical climates, few can be 
 ignorant of the " king cups " of our meadows, the 
 beautiful purple orchis of early summer, and others
 
 108. Small white Butterfly Orchis 
 Habenaria allidii an ixoxnplc of tb-.- 
 Dutural order Urchldaica?. Tho blossom- 
 niigid ID a s, ike. '1 he rout having 
 3.-Thc leiivn with pr
 
 CLASSIFICATION OF PLANTS. 
 
 119 
 
 may have met with the curious bee-orchis or spider- 
 orchis, either in its wild state or cultivated ; these 
 last good examples of the curiosities of form which 
 we find displayed among the members of this 
 interesting family. Some of the orchids as the 
 habenaria Fig. 108 are extremely fragrant. Beauty 
 is the characteristic of the orchis family ; their 
 known uses, economical or medicinal, are but small. 
 The tubers of some of the species yield a peculiar 
 nutritive gum, which forms, when properly prepared, 
 a mucilaginous jelly, like arrow-root. 
 
 109. Eoot of the Spotted Orchis, with 
 palmated tubers or knobs. 
 
 110. Blossom of an Orchis, the 
 perianth in six pieces, the lowest 
 bearing a spur 4. The pouches 
 containing the pollen masses 
 1. A spot corresponding to the 
 stigma 2. The twisted ovary 
 3 supporting the flower and 
 having a bract 6 at its attach- 
 ment to the stem 7. The pollen 
 masses magnified 5. 
 
 Another family of monocotyledons, the Cyperaceae 
 or sedge order, devoid of gay colouring, differ
 
 111. ryperui-like sedge Carex pseudo Cyi.rus-an example of the natural order 
 Cyperactie. The flowers collected on spikes, 1 consisting of scales, 3 inclosing the 
 pistil, or 3 inclosing the stameni. The Item triangular, the leaves with parallel veins 
 Mid sheathing at the base. The bracts 41. ng nd folia, u m , r leaf-like.
 
 CLASSIFICATION OF PLANTS. 121 
 
 greatly from the orchids, but, nevertheless, are in 
 their own way sufficiently handsome. Our example 
 Eig. Ill is by no means the plainest of the 
 family. This tribe of plants, like the grasses, has 
 the essential organs of re-production, the stamens 
 and pistils, inclosed simply by scales, or as they are 
 called glumes. In the sedge tribes, these glumes 
 are imbricated, laid over one another, like the tiles 
 
 112. Sedge, or carex. The leaMike bracts-3 
 situated at the base of the flower sp;kei. The 
 fertile or pistil or seed-bearing spikes, 2 the 
 barren or stamen-bearing spike, 1.
 
 122 WILD FLOWEBS. 
 
 of a house, and are arranged upon or around a 
 central axis Fig. Ill forming a spikelet, either 
 of barren, stamen-bearing, flowers Fig. 112 or 
 of fertile flowers Kg. 112 or of both on the 
 same spike Fig, 111. The leaf-like bracts, the 
 triangular stems, and the sheathing leaves, are all 
 further characteristic of this distinct order. What- 
 ever useful properties the cyperacese possess are of 
 a mechanical kind ; they yield little in the way of 
 medicine or of .bod, either to man or animals ; 
 mats, ropes, &c., may be made from some of the 
 species of the family. The ancient Egyptian 
 papyrus, or paper, was the product of one of its 
 members. 
 
 In many respects similar to the sedge tribes, 
 but in many different, the Graminese, or grasses, 
 are a family at once, most distinct in their 
 characters, most extensive in their number and 
 distribution over the earth's surface, and most 
 important to man. Like other monocotyledons, the 
 grasses have the straight-veined leaf which sheaths 
 the stem before leaving it Fig. 113 the stem 
 itself being cylindrical, generally hollow, and in- 
 terrupted at intervals by knots. The grass blossoms 
 are arranged upon a central stem or rachis, and 
 consist, generally, of three stamens, with versatile 
 anthers, and two styles with feathery stigmas 
 Fig. 114 inclosed within the glumes, scales, or, as 
 they are sometimes called, valves, which answer to 
 the floral envelopes of flowers generally. No order
 
 113. Rushy Sea-wheat Grass (Triticum Juriceum), an example of the natural order 
 Grarnine. The blossoms 1 consisting of scales arranged in spikelets, which are sup- 
 ported by a common axis or rachis 2. The stem round, jointed; the leaves parallel- 
 veined and sheathing at the base.
 
 124 
 
 WILD FLOWEKS. 
 
 or family of plants is more truly natural than that 
 of the grasses, none perhaps is so important and 
 necessary to man's comfort, and even existence. 
 
 In every latitude are 
 grasses found, from 
 the shores of the 
 Arctic Sea, to the 
 tropics, where they 
 often attain the 
 height of trees. 
 
 The study of the wild 
 grasses is interesting, 
 but that of "the 
 distribution of culti- 
 vated grasses is one 
 
 114. Spikelet of Grass. Th- (involucre, some- Q f ^he mOSt interest- 
 times called the calyx 1, the scales or palese of 
 
 the perianth, sometimes called ., corolla 2, the / _ii ,,!- -4.,, 
 
 /eathrn stigmas-3, the vertatil. stamens-^ the lUg 01 all SUDjeCtS ; 
 
 it is determined, not 
 
 merely by climate, but depends on the civiliza- 
 tion, industry, and traffic of the people, and often 
 on historical events." 
 
 ACOTYLEDONS. 
 
 With the acotyledons we arrive at the third 
 great division of the vegetable kingdom, of which 
 the members do not possess true seeds, do not 
 produce true flowers, and are for the most part 
 destitute of the fibres and vessels which enter into 
 the structure of the higher classes of plants. Among 
 acotyledons, or cellular plants, the ferns, the club
 
 CLASSIFICATION OF PLANTS. 125 
 
 mosses, and the horsetails* hold the highest place, 
 the first, especially, approaching in many respects 
 the flowering plants. The great mass, however, of 
 the cellular division, is made tip of vegetable pro- 
 ductions low in the scale. Such are the lichens, 
 the fungi or mushroom tribes, the sea-weeds, and, 
 lower still, those simplest forms of vegetable life, 
 which are little more than simple cells or vesicles. 
 
 Vast, indeed, are the domains of the kingdom of 
 vegetables, and varied as vast. The arctic voyager 
 beholds the snow reddened by the presence of a 
 microscopic vegetable cell, which there finds a con- 
 genial habitation ; scarcely a decaying substance is 
 there, whether animal or vegetable, which does not 
 form the site for a crop of the minute fungoid 
 moulds; how soon does the lichen almost incor- 
 porate itself with, and cover with bright warm 
 colour, the " cold grey stone," and these are but 
 the beginnings, which end in the magnificence of 
 the forest oak, counting its age in centuries. 
 Between the lichen and the oak, how many thou- 
 sands of 
 
 " Blessed form and dyes" 
 
 are there ! How these thousands and ten thou- 
 sands are classified, and constituted into orders and 
 families, we have endeavoured to illustrate by a 
 few, a very few, instances. To some readers, perhaps, 
 our faint outline sketch will afford just such a 
 
 * See supplementary chapter to floral months.
 
 126 WILD FLOWERS. 
 
 general view of this great and important, this most 
 beautiful section of God's creation, as they desire : 
 to others it may be but the guide-post pointing to 
 explanations replete with the interest, to domains 
 of knowledge 
 
 ' Where every bush and tufted tree 
 Warbles sweet philosophy " 
 
 to pursuits which bring health to the body, pleasant 
 thoughts to the mind, and pure affections to the 
 heart.
 
 PART III. 
 MONTHLY ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 OF 
 
 BRITISH WILD FLOWERS. 
 A BOTANICAL EXCURSION. 
 
 HITHERTO, our botanical lessons may have taken 
 our readers no further than their reading table or 
 easy chair ; but now we must beg them to change 
 the slippers for walking shoes, and good stout ones 
 withal, and go forth with us into the fields in 
 search of our practical experiences. Many a pleasant 
 ramble will they have, if their experience should 
 be similar to the author's ; and, if they are in life's 
 spring-time, many a pleasing reminiscence for its 
 after-time will they lay up for themselves, many 
 a green sunny spot in life's chequered landscape 
 to look back upon. Few scenes in life will 
 better bear retrospection than a happy botanical 
 day spent in congenial company. But such recol- 
 lections, perhaps, press more strongly upon those 
 whose early botanical life was intermingled with 
 that of many others, as in the case of fellow 
 students at a university. The University of Edin- 
 burgh has for many years been known as the
 
 128 WILD FLOWEBS. 
 
 " Alma Mater " of many enthusiastic botanists ; nor 
 has it, under the rule of the present respected pro- 
 fessor of the science, lost any of the prestige which 
 it acquired when the manly, frank, Professor Robert 
 Graham, so successfully stimulated his students to 
 the cultivation of botany. The success of the 
 Edinburgh system of botanical teaching, is perhaps 
 greatly owing, first, to the circumstance, that 
 whilst the lecture-room is not neglected, neither 
 are the fields, and the Saturday excursions give 
 force and interest to the lessons of the past week ; 
 and second, to the almost unrivalled opportunities 
 for botanical exploration which exist in the en- 
 virons of the beautiful capital of the north. Let 
 the first parts of our little work be to our readers 
 as the lecture in the class-room, and our following 
 " Monthly Illustrations," stand as the Saturday 
 ramble the latter the practical exposition of the 
 former, and, therefore, at times it may be involving 
 some repetitions both of matter and of illustration. 
 
 "We have said so much about these students' 
 botanical excursions, that we must give a sketch of 
 one of the best ; moreover, that this very excursion 
 is pleasingly remembered by others than the author, 
 he has evidence, from recently meeting with a notice 
 of it in a Madras Journal, now edited by one of the 
 merriest and most enthusiastic of those who took 
 part in it. 
 
 The rendezvous for one of the Saturdays of July, 
 1835, had been fixed at the village of Currie, six
 
 THE EXCURSION. 129 
 
 miles from Edinburgh, not then of course, as now, 
 a railway station ; and, as botanists do not ride, it 
 was walking distance. The trysting time at the 
 inn eight o'clock, and breakfast ready ; six, there- 
 fore, must be the time to start from town. As 
 bright a July morning as ever dawned it was as the 
 author with one friend, now the Madras editor, 
 Dr. Alexander Hunter, started for the meet. Parties 
 of twos, threes, and fours soon gathered, all tending 
 towards the same destination, and before the quarter 
 after eight had elapsed, upwards of fifty young men 
 were gathered in the large room of the inn, eagerly 
 looking for the advent of the rolls, the eggs, and all 
 etceteras which were to satisfy appetites sharpened 
 by a six-mile walk. Fearful would have been the 
 consternation of our host, had this inroad come 
 upon him unprepared ; but two days' notice, and a 
 previous knowledge of botanical appetites by no 
 means vegetarian, however had served to allow 
 ample provision, testified by the clothes-baskets 
 heaped full of rolls, the huge wickers of eggs, the 
 beef and the hams. 
 
 Almost we hear now the merry laughter of that 
 breakfast table, almost see the air of bonhommie, 
 with which our good professor, after himself diving 
 to the kitchen, re-appeared with another basket of 
 eggs, when all were thought to be exhausted ere 
 appetites were satisfied. Almost can we see the 
 grave humour beaming in the genuine Scottish face 
 of " old Macnab," known far and wide in Europe
 
 130 WILD FLOWERS. 
 
 as the skilful manager of the Botanic Gardens, the 
 professor's lieutenant, and whose walking powers 
 of three-score could tire out many, if not most, of 
 the younger limbs then present. Now and then 
 would the laugh become doubly hearty as some 
 laggard straggled in late, and looked ruefully around 
 at the almost cleared board. But, breakfast over, 
 then came the start for the hills and moorlands 
 which were to be the scene of the day's explorations. 
 Most of the band were really practical botanists, 
 were well shod for the purpose, wore the light 
 shooting-jacket and light cap, and carried boxes 
 which would hold good store of plants ; not a few 
 with good stout hand-spades slung to the waist or 
 button-hole; some only evidenced their novitiate 
 by appearing in white trousers and natty boots, of 
 whom more hereafter. 
 
 A short two miles, and the first exploring ground 
 is reached, an extensive bog, where grew not only 
 most of our common bog-plants, but a few rarer 
 species ; one, more especially, of the orchis family, 
 the spurless coral-root, found only in a very few 
 situations in Scotland. No sportsman can feel more 
 eager interest than the enthusiastic botanist in 
 search of a rare plant the plant was soon found, 
 but well was that bog searched over, and more than 
 once did eagerness or ignorance lead some to venture 
 on treacherous surfaces, to find themselves, without 
 warning, sunk up to the middle in the black 
 bog-water. To the men of strong shoes and rough
 
 THE EXCURSION. 131 
 
 trousers this was but a small calamity; but woe 
 betide the well-cut boot and white inexpressibles, 
 whose luckless owner had the laughs of the entire 
 party to meet. By high noon, the bog having been 
 exhausted, the hills had to be breasted, and more than 
 one covey of grouse whirred off from among the 
 patches of the mountain cloudberry (Rubus cham- 
 mcemorus), to reach which formed the outside limit 
 of the excursion. Then, along the dry open moor- 
 lands, gathering on our way the small white butter- 
 fly orchis, (the Hdbenaria albidcf) the curious little 
 fern moonwort (jBotrychium Lunaria) and many 
 others, till we come to, in a small hill bog, the 
 thread-like stems of the cranberry (Vaccinium 
 Oxy coccus) resting on the surface of the white 
 sphagnum moss, and bearing its rose-coloured blos- 
 soms and berries together. But the sun of this July 
 day has shone fiercely, and by three o'clock, thirst 
 oppresses many who have not had a sip from a 
 pocket flask of cold tea or wine and water. There, 
 on the side of " the black hill," a line of fresh green 
 tells that a spring rises no far way up, and sure 
 enough we find it, clear and pure as only these hill 
 streams are cold too almost too cold for safety ; 
 but many a thirsty one drinks from the " diamond 
 of the desert" notwithstanding. Thirst quenched, 
 e'er long something tells that the stomach has long 
 since disposed of the ample supplies of the morning. 
 Some had been careful enough to provide a biscuit, 
 or to pocket a roll from the breakfast-table, and
 
 132 WILD TLOAVEBS. 
 
 some were happy enough to own such a provident 
 friend willing to share with them ; but the supplies 
 were sadly scanty. 
 
 There is the professor his tall handsome form 
 was ever distinguishable striding off to that hill 
 farm steading or rather on Scottish ground " farm 
 town," and soon his hearty call is heard. He has 
 bought up the whole of the good wife's dairy store, 
 and milk, food and drink together, is there for the 
 whole party. "We wonder if the good woman ever 
 had her milk pans so thoroughly cleared before 
 they were then. 
 
 Another stretch across the moorland, a search down 
 the narrow glen of the bonny burn which makes its 
 way through it, in alternate stream, cascade and pool, 
 stream and cascade again, and seven o'clock in the 
 evening finds most of the party some few had de- 
 serted early in the day at the scene of the morning 
 breakfast. But, alas ! our host had not calculated 
 upon an evening foray as well as a morning raid, 
 and the late furnishing of comestibles was but scant 
 compared with the early actually there was not 
 enough. One of the party we detected we almost 
 think it was our friend of Madras laying violent 
 hands on somerather musty beef bones in the pantry, 
 which the host had been ashamed to bring out. 
 
 Then came the dispersion. Some, unused to the 
 exertion, must stop at the inn, some lagged on the 
 road, some stopped at the half-way village ; and a 
 few only, with the professor and his veteran lieu-
 
 THE EXCUESION. 133 
 
 tenant, marched into town at ten o'clock, well tired, 
 but well satisfied, and one at least of the party to 
 remember the day as one of the green spots in life's 
 retrospect, which, like a thing of beauty 
 
 "Is a joy for ever." 
 
 But now the shade. Ere the next summer flowers 
 were blossoming, some of the merry laughers of 
 that excursion were laid low by fever caught in 
 the study of their profession in the hospital wards ; 
 another year or two and all were dispersed on their 
 several roads of life. Short roads to some, very 
 short. A "West Indian appointment with one led 
 to yellow fever and an early grave ; one, at least, 
 fell in the Khyber Pass under the knives of the 
 Aflghans ; consumption and other diseases have 
 claimed their victims, and Graham and Macnab fill 
 respected graves ; yet many live engaged iii the 
 successful exercise of their profession, and may 
 sometimes lighten anxious thought by a recall of 
 the botanical rambles of student days. 
 
 Perhaps our readers will accept our narrative as 
 a practical exposition of the uses and pleasures of 
 botanical pursuits. True, those engaged in the 
 expedition were most, if not all, destined for the 
 medical profession ; but why should not a band of 
 young clergymen do the same ? gather health and 
 strength and pleasant thoughts, aye and good illus- 
 trations, too, for their sermons, amid the glorious 
 works, the beautiful material revelation of the
 
 134 WILD FLOWERS. 
 
 Creator, whose other revelation it will be the 
 business of their lives to carry forth to men. Nay, 
 if we must add to the argument, did not He who 
 gave us that revelation illustrate his own sermon 
 tlie Sermon by a reference to flowers ? 
 
 " Flowers ! when the Saviour's calm benignant eye 
 
 Fell on your gentle beauty ; when from you 
 
 That heavenly lesson for all hearts he drew, 
 
 Eternal, universal as the sky. 
 Then in the bosom of your purity, 
 
 A voice He set as iu. the temple shrine ; 
 That life's quick travellers ne'er might pass you by, 
 
 Unwarned of that sweet oracle divine. 
 And though too oft its low celestial sound 
 By the harsh notes of work-day care is drowned, 
 
 And the loud steps of vain, unlistening haste ; 
 Yet the great Ocean hath no tone of power, 
 
 Mightier to reach the soul in thought's hush'd hour 
 Than yours, meek lilies, chosen thus and graced." 
 
 MRS. HEMANS. 
 
 But we hear some reader remark, Why are these 
 pleasures to be enjoyed only by young medical men, 
 or young clergymen? Surely others may band 
 together for the like purposes ? And surely they 
 may. "We would see the school class, the natu- 
 ralist's club, the association of any kind, pro- 
 moting alike their health, their good fellowship, 
 their knowledge of the useful and of the beautiful 
 in God's created works, by practically searching 
 them out not flowers only, not one department of 
 the kingdoms of Nature, but all. The formation of 
 the earth, its rocks and stones and shells, as well as 
 its plants and trees, its birds and its insects. The
 
 THE EXCUESION. 135 
 
 study of these will give real improvement to the 
 mind, quicken, as no other studies perhaps can, the 
 powers of observation and of accurate perception. 
 They will exercise the memory ; and they ought to 
 call forth, not only the intellectual but the reflective 
 faculties, ascending till they reach the highest 
 veneration for the Supreme Being. Thus will the 
 mind ascend from Nature to Nature's God. Like 
 the angels in Jacob's vision, the thoughts first 
 "ascending," will then "descend" laden with 
 blessings. Most unaccountable has been the neglect 
 hitherto of the natural sciences as a part of the 
 system of education in this country. The cry has 
 been, " cui bono ?" "What profit are these things?" 
 The remark, " It is all very well for medical men to 
 learn them as a part of their profession ; but the 
 future clergyman must keep to his classics and 
 mathematics, the intended merchant to his double 
 and single entry." The time for such arguments 
 has passed away never to return. Now it can be 
 seen that the acquisition of a knowledge of classics 
 and of natural science is not incompatible ; nay, it 
 is pretty well acknowledged, that some of the long 
 dreary years which it has been the custom to devote 
 to Greek and Latin, may be allotted to the studies 
 we advocate, with greater advantage to the general 
 cultivation of the mind ; that the intellectual edu- 
 cation is no loser, the heart education has great 
 gain. Moreover, it is every now and then found 
 out that a good knowledge of natural science may
 
 136 WILD FLOWEBS. 
 
 become a source of profit pecuniarily to the merchant, 
 or to the traveller, whom it enables to take advan- 
 tage of circumstances which are hid from the eyes 
 of the ignorant. Enough, let us turn to our 
 "Monthly Illustrations." As might be expected, 
 the first months of the year offer but slight matter 
 in the way of wild flower blossomings ; advantage, 
 therefore, has been taken of this, to give a few 
 requisite directions respecting the collecting and 
 preserving of plants ; and, in like manner, in the 
 concluding months of the year, when 
 
 " The dead leaves strew the forest walk, 
 And withered are the pale wild flowers." 
 
 We have chosen the time to tell our readers some- 
 what of the fruits and seeds, which are alike the 
 harvest of the fowls of the air which sow not, reap 
 not, nor gather into barns, and the great storehouse 
 whence He, who made them, raises the " blooming 
 wonders" of another summer.
 
 137 
 
 MONTHLY ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 JANUARY. 
 
 " Lo ! when the buds expand, the leaves are green, 
 Then the first opening of the flower is seen ; 
 Then come the humid breath and rosy smile, 
 That with their sweets the willing sense beguile ; 
 But as we look, and love, and taste, and praise, 
 And the fruit grows, the charming flower decays ; 
 Till all is gathered, and the wintry blast 
 Mourns o'er the place of love and pleasure past. " 
 
 CRABBE. 
 
 THE changes described by the poet are indeed full 
 of interest and beauty, from the time when " the 
 buds expand," and the "leaves are green," till the 
 once bright foliage falls brown and withered before 
 the " wintry blast." Few, perhaps, are so dull of 
 mind as to be totally insensible to these changes in 
 their general manifestations ; but few, too few, have 
 their minds awakened to the succession of beautiful 
 and varied form, which year by year adorns our 
 fields and woods, our rocks and moorlands, nay, even 
 our hedgesides and ditches ; too few of those who 
 have ample opportunity and leisure, know, even by 
 sight, much less by name, our commonest wild 
 flowers, and yet there is not one of these, from the 
 humblest weed that grows, that will not yield 
 abundant scope for study, that does not exhibit 
 perfection and beauty of structure that tell of its
 
 13 S WILD I-LOWEES. 
 
 Divine Creator. Nothing, perhaps, astonishes an 
 individual more, when first commencing the search 
 for and study of our uncultivated plants, than to 
 find, even in the most common-place walk, what an 
 immense variety of different kinds species, as they 
 are called botanically he has, day by day, perhaps, 
 trodden under foot, without an idea of their exist- 
 ence. Interest succeeds astonishment ; he finds a 
 new source of pleasure opened up, and one which 
 gives not only pure and healthy thoughts to the 
 mind, but health to the body, by affording induce- 
 ments to exercise, and adding to the latter that 
 excitement which gives it a tenfold value. 
 
 Few pursuits in which the mind can engage, are 
 purer, or have more tendency to afford innocent and 
 happy thoughts, than the study of flowers generally, 
 and though it may be some advantage to possess 
 gardens and conservatories well stocked with the 
 gorgeous natives of other climates, the mere con- 
 templation of these can never bring half the plea- 
 surable excitement which the search after the wild 
 denizens of our own country affords to the zealous 
 collector and student. The former are the privi- 
 leges of the rich, the latter are open to the poorest 
 in the land ; they are 
 
 " A blessing given 
 E'en to the poorest little one, 
 That wanders 'neath the vault of heaven." 
 
 And now the blessed facility of the railway, 
 affords, even to the dweller in the heart of the
 
 JANUARY. 139 
 
 Great Metropolis itself, opportunity, if lie will, of 
 practically studying one branch at least of natural 
 history, which few who take up ever entirely 
 abandon, and which many cultivate with the utmost 
 zeal. Moreover, no other department of study 
 requires such simple means for its prosecution, such 
 trifling outlay in money. A magnifying glass, and a 
 couple of long needles will open up much that is 
 beautiful and wonderful, and if the observer desires 
 to preserve the objects of his study, a few sheets of 
 paper, a board, and a heavy stone, is all the appa- 
 ratus required. As in the present month January 
 any notice of flowers must necessarily be extremely 
 short, advantage has been taken to make the above 
 general remarks ; and as February is not much 
 more prolific in subjects, we shall give under the 
 head of that month along with the flower list a 
 few plain directions on the mode of collecting, pre- 
 serving and drying plants. 
 
 As, however, the mere collecting and drying of 
 wild flowers can only be considered an amusement 
 yielding comparatively little profit to the mind, the 
 botanical learner ought, as a first step to more 
 extended knowledge, to acquire the power of dis- 
 tinguishing plants from one another with accuracy 
 and certainty, even though these plants have been 
 previously unknown to him. To enable a person to 
 do this, some knowledge of the organs of plants 
 Botanical Organography as it is called and also of 
 botanical terms Terminology is requisite ; but
 
 140 WILD FLOWERS. 
 
 sufficient for the purpose may quickly be acquired 
 by a little attention. We do not, of course, recom- 
 mend that any one should rest content with so 
 superficial an accomplishment as the mere power 
 of distinguishing one plant from another by name ; 
 but it is a beginning, which, once made, will be the 
 means of enticing many to a more extensive study 
 of a most interesting science. The power of dis- 
 tinguishing plants, of making out their names, and 
 thus of learning more about them, is given by a 
 book, usually called a " Flora," that is, a book con- 
 taining a classified list of the wild plants of any 
 country or district, described according to certain 
 rules. Such a work, therefore, is indispensable to 
 those who wish to prosecute their botanical studies 
 properly. Various floras of Britain have been 
 published ; the best, probably, is that of Hooker 
 and Arnott, though there are others at less price. 
 Some information respecting the classification of 
 plants, and of the rules according to which it is 
 conducted, our readers will derive by reference to 
 Part ii. in the present volume. 
 
 Again, it is repeated, the study of botany, and 
 particularly of the wild flowers, is the branch of 
 natural history most generally accessible to all. 
 That it may be cultivated successfully even by those 
 who apparently have no facility for it whatever, is 
 evident from the well-known fact, that some of the 
 most zealous botanical collectors in the kingdom 
 are to be found among the working-men of Man-
 
 JANUARY. 141 
 
 chester. One word is here necessary to prevent 
 misapprehension. In using the word flower, it is 
 not meant to indicate those plants solely which 
 attract and delight the eye, but all uncultivated 
 plants, from what are classed as the meanest weeds 
 upwards. There is not one which does not become 
 to the careful examiner interesting and beautiful, 
 which does not tell of Him who 
 
 " Might have made enough, enough, 
 
 For every want of ours, 
 For medicine, luxury, and for toil, 
 And yet have made no flowers." 
 
 Wild flowers of January ! What shall we, what 
 can we say of them ? The cold and ungenial month 
 gives, indeed, but little encouragement to the 
 intending and inexperienced collector and observer 
 of wild flowers, although \o the confirmed botanist 
 it yields many objects of interest amid the lower 
 tribes of vegetable existence ; many of these, such 
 as the lichens, being now gathered in perfection. 
 
 Even in January, however, especially if the 
 weather is open, a walk may be gladdened by the 
 sight of one or two flowers which seem at home in 
 every month of the twelve. Best and longest 
 known of all, the "modest, crimson-tipped flower," 
 the daisy, rears its blossoms in all seasons, and in 
 almost every situation, on " hill and dale, and desert 
 sod." Pluck it, and look at it ; it is not one flower, 
 but many; it belongs to the composite flowers, that 
 is, its head or blossom is composed of numerous
 
 142 
 
 WILD FLO WEES. 
 
 115. Composite head of common 
 Daisy 1, general involucre. 
 
 florets inclosed in one green envelope, or, as it is 
 called, involucre Fig. 115, 1 which resembles the 
 calyx, or green cup of single 
 flowers, but yet is not a 
 true calyx. Do not, how- 
 ever, confound the com- 
 pound flower of the daisy 
 with the double flowers of 
 cultivation ; these, such as 
 the rose, are not composed 
 of florets, but of leaves, or 
 rather, as they are called, 
 petals, and their green cup 
 is a true calyx. The bo- 
 tanical name of the daisy, Bellis perennis, is 
 derived from the Latin, expressive of prettiness, 
 and its French name, >" Marguerite," like our 
 Margaret, from the word for a pearl. The com- 
 posite class of plants to which the daisy belongs is 
 a very numerous one ; of it, the common dandelion 
 is another most familiar example, likewise the hawk- 
 weed, also the groundsel, familiar to bird-fanciers, 
 which, like the daisy, may often be found in blossom 
 in January. Get a head of groundsel, compare its 
 structure with that of the daisy, and although you 
 may not quite understand the science of the matter, 
 you will at least see the resemblance, the relation- 
 ship between the two, and thus begin, even in 
 January, lessons in practical botany. Moreover, 
 when you have got home from your winter's walk,
 
 JANUARY. 143 
 
 and doffed the thick botanical shoes we recom- 
 mended a few pages back, take up our little volume, 
 and refer to what is said of the natural family of 
 the composites ; one of the greatest families is it, 
 indeed, of the vegetable world ; for it is said to claim 
 about one-tenth of the known flowering plants for 
 its own. 
 
 But we have not done with our January Mora ; 
 the gay golden blossoms of the gorse will often 
 attract the eye most pleasantly on the banks, gene- 
 rally indeed few and far between, but now and then, 
 in some sheltered sunny nook, in a thickly-clustered 
 mass. The gorse flower is very different from the 
 composite blossoms above-named; it belongs to the 
 pea tribes, as the slightest examination will show. 
 There is the form which has given the designation 
 of papilionaceous, or butterfly-like, to these plants, 
 and which is exhibited more fully developed in the 
 common pea. These plants, too, are further dis- 
 tinguished by bearing their seeds in pods, whence 
 they are also named " leguminous " plants. The 
 " order" of the Leguminosce yields to man some of 
 the most valuable productions of the vegetable 
 kingdom, which are used either for food or medicine, 
 or in the arts.
 
 144 WILD FLOWERS. 
 
 EEBEUABY. 
 
 ' ' Bring flowers ! " * 
 
 " They speak of hope to the fainting heart, 
 
 With a voice of promise they come and part, 
 They sleep in dust through the winter hours, 
 They break forth in glory bring flowers, bright flowers?" 
 
 MRS. HEMA.N* 
 
 The shortness of our floral calendar allows us 
 space for preparatory remarks which will guide the 
 botanical explorer, when the warmth of spring, and 
 the showers of April, have " decked the earth with 
 flowers," and given him practical field-work to learn 
 and do. As we have said in the paper for January, in 
 the term " wild flowers," is included what people 
 generally call weeds ; for every one, even the low- 
 liest, however apparently insignificant, will be found 
 really and truly a flower of beauty. "With these, 
 therefore, as being generally the most accessible, the 
 collector will probably begin his labours. Not that 
 we would confine him to the less ornamental and 
 attractive ; but let him not wait the latter qualities 
 in the objects of his care : he should seize on the 
 first blossom, whether it be chick-weed, or daisy, or 
 any other take lens, and dissecting-knife, and 
 needle, in hand and he will quickly find, that in 
 the close examination even of a weed, the compa- 
 rative familiarity which perhaps has induced con- 
 tempt, is soon lost in the new interests awakened.
 
 FEBEUAEY. 145 
 
 It is of course impossible, in the allotted space 
 for these papers, to include mention of all the wild 
 plants which grow and blossom within the shores of 
 the United Kingdom ; sufficient if they fulfil their 
 intention of furnishing general indications of the 
 many flowers, which, month after month, bloom 
 unseen where they ought to be seen, and noted and 
 recorded in the minds of both young and old, as 
 characteristic of locality and indicative of season. 
 
 "We have just used the words " characteristic of 
 the locality." They lead to a consideration as to 
 how plants are distributed over the earth their 
 geography. This, in its wide sense, is a most in- 
 teresting department of botanical science ; but, even 
 in the most confined limits, the young plant col- 
 lector will quickly become alive to the effect of 
 situation in altering the kinds of vegetation he 
 meets with. The plants of the rich meadow, 
 and of the river side, he will soon see are very 
 different from those of the upland field, or of the 
 moor-land ; those of the moist wood from those of 
 the exposed rock or of the sea-shore. Of course, 
 the extent to which these observations will be made, 
 must vary with the district in which the observer 
 resides, or with those which he visits ; but they are 
 to be made most interestingly in all. Again, there 
 are some plants so common that they are found 
 nearly in every situation ; others very commonly in 
 similar situations ; and others only in particular dis- 
 tricts ; while some are known to grow only in one 
 
 L
 
 146 WILD FLOWEES. 
 
 or two localities. These are the " rare plants " 
 sought after by enthusiastic botanists. There are 
 few districts in Britain in which some rare plants 
 do not occur ; the search for them will always form 
 a pleasing excitement when the collector has become 
 familiarized with the commoner vegetation. 
 
 Botanists speak of the place of growth of a 
 plant as its "habitat." The habitats of many 
 unusual plants have been known and regularly 
 visited for many years. 
 
 We will now suppose the observer for the first time 
 preparing for his floral campaign. If he aspire to 
 something of science, he may have attained some 
 knowledge of botanical matters, and procured to 
 himself one of the Floras mentioned in January, 
 and added, perhaps, a lens, or small microscope : 
 but let not those whose means, inclinations, or time, 
 forbid this extent of preparation, be discouraged 
 from collecting, for even in it they will find great 
 bodily good, and no little mental pleasure and profit. 
 Soon will they learn to see plants they never saw 
 before, and to see differences they could never pre- 
 viously detect. They will not call every umbelli- 
 ferous plant hemlock, and every composite one 
 dandelion ; but they will see that there are many 
 varieties possessing a general family likeness, which 
 are nevertheless essentially -different. This very 
 seeing is a good exercise for the mind, and gives 
 quickness and accuracy to the eye : it is most bene- 
 ficial to the young especially, and in after-life makes
 
 FEBBUA.BY. 147 
 
 the distinction between " eyes and no eyes." Per- 
 haps, had such pursuits been more attended 
 to, many travellers would furnish less meagre 
 accounts of foreign lands than they do. Again, 
 the plants collected have to be brought home and 
 preserved : here is another exercise requiring care 
 and neatness. Being dried, they are to be mounted, 
 and, if possible, named. If the collector cannot do 
 this himself, he may, possibly, get some one to do 
 it for him, and then, his dried garden of wildlings, 
 his "hortus siccus," or "herbarium," will be, even 
 though he is otherwise ignorant, a book of reference 
 and comparison, and study ; and not only that, if he 
 has noted places and dates of gathering, it will be 
 a diary of the past, its review by the fireside of 
 winter will carry the mind to the green fields and 
 leafy woods of summer, to pleasant walks with plea- 
 sant friends for plant-collecting is a sociable em- 
 ployment and mayhap, in long after years, the 
 sight of the dried wild flower will bring vividly back 
 to the mind the faces and forms of those in whose 
 company it was gathered, but who have long been 
 parted from the gazer in the varied paths of life, or 
 who are sleeping, it may be, beneath the daisy-sod 
 of Britain, or haply under the shade of foreign trees. 
 Few who have botanized in youth cannot moralize 
 in maturer age over the dried forms of their favour- 
 ites, and few, who have once engaged in collecting 
 plants, ever lose the recollection of their study, or 
 the interest it inspired. These may lie dormant 
 
 L2
 
 148 WILD FLOWEBS. 
 
 under the load of business and worldly cares, espe- 
 cially if the lot be cast in a large town ; but let 
 the once botanical collector escape but for a day into 
 the fields and woods, and he has an interest and 
 a pleasure in renewing his old associations and 
 acquaintances that others have not. We would say, 
 therefore, observe, collect, arid preserve the wild 
 flowers, scientifically if your means and time per- 
 mit, if not, observe and collect them as beautiful and 
 interesting objects of study, as an exercise for the 
 eye and mind. Preserve them as an exercise for 
 the hand ; and to the young, preserve them as a 
 pleasing record of times, of scenes, of " old familiar 
 faces," which they will recall when age 
 
 " Looks 
 All ways, and ponders on the past." 
 
 We have made a digression, not, it is trusted, 
 quite unprofitably ; but we must not forget that our 
 incipient botanist is waiting to make his preparations. 
 Now, as we suppose that he wishes to preserve 
 the wild flowers, for which he may have searched 
 many a bank and walked many a mile, there 
 ought to be some preparation for doing so before 
 the gathering. For this purpose there is required 
 paper, one or more stout boards, according to the 
 extent of the collector's intentions, and weights to 
 press the plants. As to the paper, those who can 
 afford it, and desire to have things of the best, should 
 provide themselves with the grey absorbent paper
 
 FEBRUABY. 149 
 
 used by botanists ; but as a good deal is required, 
 and thus it comes expensive, a very good substitute 
 may be found in old newspapers, and in these many 
 a good herbarium has been dried. Provide them as 
 largely as possible. Next, as to the boards : 
 properly, these should be about eighteen inches 
 long by eleven broad, and half an inch thick, the 
 ends being formed by cross pieces like a drawing- 
 board, to prevent warping ; most, however, will be 
 content with simple boards, which, if they are pro- 
 cured new, should be of the dimensions above stated. 
 Indeed, one board of the thickness mentioned will 
 suffice for the uppermost, and intermediate thinner 
 boards maybe employed. Paper and boards being pro- 
 cured, the weight, such as one or more heavy stones 
 or bricks, is an easy matter, indeed any weight is 
 sufficient, and is much preferable to the screw press 
 at times used. The home preserving apparatus 
 being ready, the field accoutrements require atten- 
 tion. Certainly, the hand, or handkerchief, or the 
 hat, will do to carry a plant ; the latter, especially at 
 a pinch, is not an unusual receptacle ; but those who 
 really wish to preserve their plants, should get a 
 ' botanical box ' Fig. 
 116 that is a box 
 similar to what are called 
 sandwich-boxes, only on 
 a larger scale. These 
 
 116. Botanical box, made of 
 japanned tin, for carrying plants. boX6S, made of japanned 
 
 tin, are procurable in any large town. It is a mis-
 
 150 WILD FLOWERS. 
 
 take to get this box too small; botanists have it 
 eighteen inches in length, and it is of little use if 
 less than a foot, unless, indeed, it be a small pocket 
 box for small plants. The width of the large box is 
 from six to eight inches, and its depth four. It 
 should be convex as represented, the door fastening 
 by a sliding bolt of wire. In addition to the box, 
 botanists carry a portfolio, or light boards contain- 
 ing drying paper, for preserving some plants which 
 easily shed their blossoms, this is useful. For 
 getting plants up by the roots, a stout large knife 
 at least should be used ; but where the equipment 
 is complete, a short " digger," or hand " spud" of 
 the form represented Fig. 117 is carried. Such 
 are the few simple prepa- 
 _ rations by means of which 
 
 many a beautiful tenant of 
 the wild may be gathered 
 in perfection, carried 
 safely home, and pre- 
 served, a record and a re- 
 ference for years. As the 
 nature of the vegetation 
 
 137. Botanical digger, or hand- ,111,1 ?j i 
 
 spade, for getting up plants by kept DaCK Dy the COldWlUdS 
 
 of March will yet permit 
 
 of space, in the article for that month the methods 
 of collecting, preserving, &c., will then be gone into 
 further. 
 
 The flower list for February, although somewhat 
 more extended than that for the previous month, is
 
 FEBETTAEY. 151 
 
 still necessarily scanty ; but even greater dearth of 
 floral ornament might be atoned for by " The early 
 herald of the infant year," the elegant snow drop. 
 Well known and gladly welcomed by all as the 
 earliest real spring flower of the garden ; it is also 
 found growing wild in many places. Observe its 
 pair of straight-veined, pale-green leaves, its true 
 bulb, its bell-shaped flower composed of six pieces, 
 three in each row, enclosing the six stamens, which 
 bear the " pollen" or flower-dust. The snowdrop 
 affords us a good specimen of the characteristics of 
 one of the great divisions of the vegetable kingdom 
 the Monocotyledons which includes the palm tribes, 
 the grasses and grains, and many others most 
 important to man. Of all these, one great external 
 feature is the parallel veining of the leaves, in con- 
 tradistinction to the branch and cross-veined leaves 
 of such plants as the daisy, the ivy, &c., and of the 
 trees generally of this climate. A garden flower 
 like the snowdrop, and like it a doubtful wildling, 
 the yellow winter aconite, a member of the ranun- 
 culus tribe, appears this month, and the mezereon or 
 Daphne mezereum makes the border gay with its 
 thickly-covered flower branches and pink blossoms. 
 It is said to occur in a wild state, but this is 
 doubtful. Not so, however, with regard to the less 
 brightly-coloured but more elegant Daphne lau- 
 reola, or spurge laurel, which is not uncommon in 
 woods, and flowers in this month. When most 
 other shrubs and trees are leafless, this little shrub
 
 152 
 
 WILD FLOWERS. 
 
 presents a most pleasing contrast to their naked 
 branches, with its deep green, palm-like tuft of 
 leaves situated at the extremity of the few branching 
 stems, and covering the pale-green pendent flowers. 
 Count the stamens within, you will find them eight 
 in number, thus placing the plant in the Linnsean 
 class Octandria. If the spring be a mild one, 
 perhaps some early "catkins" of the hazel, as the 
 pendent blossoms of that well-known tree are named, 
 may be found to afford us a 
 specimen of flowers which do 
 not bear fruit of barren, or, 
 as they are also called, male 
 flowers. A little examination 
 will show that the cylindrical 
 wavy catkin Fig. 1 1 8 which 
 drops its yellow gold-dust all 
 around, consists of stamens 
 only, each set of eight being 
 covered by its scale. The 
 germs of the future nut must 
 be sought elsewhere. Look a 
 little along the branch, and you 
 will see Fig. 118, 2 what 
 might be mistaken for a bud, 
 were it not that from its ex- 
 tremity there protrude a num- 
 ber of brilliant crimson fila- 
 ments. At the base of these 
 lie the future nut germs, which 
 
 118. Blossoms of common 
 hazel. 1, the catkin, or pen- 
 dent spike of barren blos- 
 soms 2, the fertile blos- 
 soms bearing the nut.
 
 FEBBUABY. 153 
 
 in due time will be ready for the hands of the 
 gatherer. The hazel offers us an excellent example 
 of a plant bearing barren and fertile, or as they are 
 often called, male and female flowers, on the same 
 plant, but different in situation, and most different 
 in appearance. The common blue periwinkle, so 
 common in our gardens, sometimes occurs in the 
 woods, and presents its bright blue flowers even 
 thus early in the year, and in some sheltered situa- 
 tions we may find an adventurous sweet violet 
 (Viola odor aid). The dingy hellebores, with their 
 green purple-edged flowers, are seen in gardens, and 
 occasionally on heaps of rubbish near houses. "With 
 these we might conclude the list of February wild 
 flowers. There however remains the common red or 
 dead nettle. This plant, like the daisy, may be 
 found blossoming in almost every month of the 
 year. It should now be examined as a specimen of 
 a large family of plants, the Labiate, or labiate 
 plants, so called from the shape of the flower or 
 corolla, which presents the appearance of an under 
 lip. If one of the " irregular" flowers of the red 
 nettle Fig. 119 be compared with those of the 
 periwinkle, how different they are ; and yet the same 
 essential parts appear in each. In the dead nettle 
 the corolla (4), with its lip (1), is irregular, the 
 stamens, four in number (3), rise to the top of the 
 hood. Two of these organs in labiate flowers 
 generally, are almost invariably longer than the 
 other two, and hence is derived a valuable distinctive
 
 154 
 
 WILD FLOWEES. 
 
 mark of this " order" of plants. Eising into the 
 open part of the flower, along with the stamens, 
 may be found the " style" cleft at the top. Next 
 
 examine the green 
 "calyx," or flower-cup, 
 of the dead-nettle (2) ; 
 it will be found like 
 the corolla, irregular, 
 and enclosing the four- 
 lobed seed-vessel which 
 lies at its base. The 
 above are instances of 
 the distinctive marks 
 selected by botanists to 
 distinguish plants from 
 one another, and, com- 
 mon weed as the one 
 chosen for description may be, it is a good example 
 of the order of plants to which it belongs. It does 
 not, however, display one very common property of 
 labiate plants, the essential oil, which in the mints, 
 lavender, &c. &c. renders them so useful to man. 
 Our February wild flowers are not, it is true, 
 numerous ; but, as we have just seen, much may be 
 learned from them, it will be well for the novice in 
 botanical matters to learn from them all he can, 
 before he is overwhelmed with the profusion of the 
 summer months, now fast coming on. 
 
 119. Blossoms of common Dead- 
 nettle, showing the labiate corolla. 
 4, the calyx 2, the stamens, two 
 long and two short.
 
 MONTHLY ILLUSTRATIONS. 155 
 
 MARCH. 
 
 ' The bloom is in the bud, and the bud is on the bough, 
 And earth has grown an emerald and heaven a sapphire now ; 
 The snowdrop and the daisy wild are laughing everywhere, 
 And the balmy breath of opening buds steals softly through the 
 
 air." 
 
 # * * * # * 
 
 " What promise in the verdant plains what hope is on the wing, 
 A blessing on thy balmy breath, thou merry month of Spring." 
 
 " The merry month of Spring," is rather a time 
 of promise to the expectant botanist, than of actual 
 floral abundance. There are, it is true, days of 
 bright and often of warm sunshine, when the fields 
 are "emerald" with the fresh green of the newly- 
 springing grass, when the clearness of the " sap- 
 phire" sky tells of approaching summer days, and 
 when " the busy hum of insect crowds, all full of 
 life and joy," speaks of animated nature reviving 
 from the torpidity of winter; but there are also 
 many days when cold winds and sleety showers 
 forbid the ramble, and check the incipient vegeta- 
 tion. Nevertheless, the list of plants which now 
 blossom has considerably increased since last month, 
 and we must haste, ere we are overwhelmed with 
 the bounties of Flora's cornucopia, to complete the 
 remarks on 
 
 COLLECTING AND PBESEEVING. 
 
 It must here be impressed upon the mind of the 
 reader, that to collect plants and to collect flowers,
 
 1.56 WILD FLOWEBS. 
 
 are two very different things. It is surprising, even 
 in the collections of those who have made consider- 
 able advance in botanical lore, to see how often 
 miserable fragments of plants are presented as spe- 
 cimens. There is, perhaps, a single flower, with one 
 or at most two leaves attached, but guiltless of any- 
 thing like stem, root, stem and root-leaves, seed- 
 vessels, &c., which go to make up a perfect plant. 
 Such specimens are nearly useless, and as it is almost 
 waste of time preserving them at all, those who 
 desire to have a really interesting collection, should, 
 from the commencement, seek both to avoid the 
 error pointed out, and to get the plants on which 
 they bestow their trouble as perfect of their kind as 
 possible. Thus, unless actually prevented by its size, 
 the entire plant should be taken dug up from the 
 roots. In the case of plants which are rarely met 
 with, the botanist must ofben content himself with 
 the specimen as he finds it ; but amid the commoner 
 species, he ought to pick and choose, to select an 
 example as perfect in every way as he can ; the 
 leaves should be well grown and not marred by in- 
 sects or other causes, and, if possible, the same 
 plant should have buds, full-blown flowers, and 
 formed seed-vessels. One of the greatest points of 
 interest, and indeed of use to the mind, connected 
 with the study of plants, is the detection and com- 
 parison of those minute differences in which the 
 distinction of species are founded ; and, obviously, 
 this cannot be done by means of half-perfect speci-
 
 ilAECH. 
 
 157 
 
 mens. For instance, one species of ranunculus is 
 specially characterized by possessing a bulbous 
 root : how wanting in character must a specimen of 
 the species be which has been simply pulled from 
 the ground, the bulb being left behind. Such ex- 
 amples might be greatly multiplied. Neither is it 
 the root alone which is involved in the question ; for 
 if it be not taken up, the root-leaves are almost 
 necessarily left behind, and they are often eminently 
 characteristic. One instance will suffice that of 
 the common blue-bell, or hair-bell, which derives its 
 specific botanical name of Botundifolia, from its 
 root-leaves, which are round, whereas the stem- 
 leaves are long or 
 linear. Unless the 
 round root - leaves 
 are preserved, how 
 inapplicable must the 
 name " round-leaved 
 hair-bell" appear! 
 These root - leaves, 
 however, must not be 
 confounded with the 
 seed-leaves, or first 
 leaves of the young 
 plant, which appear 
 in Spring, and of 
 which examples may 
 every where be found 
 this month. These 
 
 30. Seedling of common Goose-grass. Seed leaVBS, developed di- 
 leaves 1 Regular leaves of plant 2.
 
 158 WILD PLOWEBS. 
 
 rectly from the seed lobes, are, as it were, the 
 nursing mothers of the young plants, and the 
 observation of their various forms will afford a 
 pleasing diversification to the botanical walk. The 
 annexed cut Fig. 120 which represents the seed 
 leaves 1, 1 and incipient plant 2 of the com- 
 mon goosegrass, offers a characteristic example. 
 
 After a plant- specimen has been gathered, it is of 
 course transferred to the box, in which it is kept 
 fresh and cool. This effect of the close box is, 
 perhaps, of less consequence in the early months, 
 but in the heat of summer it is almost necessary, 
 to keep the plants in anything like good order for 
 drying. Indeed, during a long walk on a hot day, 
 it is often well, if the box is not tolerably filled 
 with fresh specimens, to line it with grass sprinkled 
 with water. Moreover, specimens are not, after 
 being gathered, to be consigned to safe keeping 
 without some preparation ; withered leaves should 
 be trimmed off, and the roots cleaned, and if 
 gathered in muddy places they should be washed. 
 When it is necessary to mingle plants of all sizes 
 in one box, some arrangement should be made, so 
 that the minuter species be not lost ; for these, 
 however, it is better to have a smaller pocket-box. 
 As already mentioned, those who desire to collect 
 in the most perfect manner, ought to carry boards 
 containing paper, into which plants of which the 
 flowers, or as they are called botanically, the corollas, 
 easily fall off, may be transferred at once. 
 
 After plants have been collected, they ought,
 
 HABCH. 159 
 
 with as little delay as may be, to be submitted to 
 the drying process. For this purpose, from three 
 to six sheets according to the thickness and suc- 
 culence of the plants of the drying paper described 
 in the February article, are to be laid down first, 
 and on the top sheet, the plant, or plants, if there 
 is room for more than one, are to be arranged. 
 The root being placed towards the operator, the 
 various parts of the specimen are to be laid evenly 
 down, while another sheet of paper is placed on the 
 top. To do this well, practice is of course required, 
 and the great art is, to display the plant the form 
 of its leaves, flowers, &c. without artificial arrange- 
 ment, apparent or actual. The specimen being laid 
 down, another set of sheets of paper is to be placed, 
 before a fresh plant is put, and so on until from 
 four to ten layers of specimens, according to their 
 thickness, are arranged. A board is then to be 
 put on the top of all, and on that the weight. (See 
 February.) 
 
 In the course of twelve, twenty-four, or eight- 
 and-forty hours, it will be necessary to change the 
 sheets which have become damp with the moisture 
 of the specimens, for dry paper. This is very 
 simply done, and in the process, opportunity may 
 be taken to correct any deficiencies in the arrange- 
 ment of the specimens ; indeed, as these have now 
 become limp and have lost the springiness of life, 
 such may at this stage often be more easily effected 
 than at first. This changing of the moist paper for
 
 160 WILD FLOWEBS. 
 
 dry, will require to be done at intervals, as above- 
 named, until the specimens are thoroughly dried. 
 In the case of some plants, such as grasses, which 
 are long and slender, the stem may be bent and 
 re-bent upon itself, in such a way as to bring it 
 within the compass of the paper ; each bending 
 being kept in place by insertion in a slit in a slip 
 of paper. When the plants are thoroughly freed 
 from moisture, they may be transferred to the 
 collection, but if this be done too soon, the 
 specimen shrivels, and becomes comparatively 
 useless and unsightly. To know when a plant 
 is quite dry requires some little experience ; 
 but it may generally be judged to be so, if the 
 leaves or other parts snap through when slightly 
 bent. Of course, some plants require much longer 
 time to dry than others ; indeed, some, such as the 
 grasses, ferns, &c., scarcely require more than once 
 changing ; others which are thick and succulent, 
 take weeks to dry, and some, such as the stone- 
 crops, will actually grow between the drying sheets, 
 unless first killed by immersion for a few seconds 
 in boiling water. In the case of thick woody or 
 fleshy stems, or of bulbs, &c., it is advisable to slice 
 off the back half, to facilitate drying. The paper 
 which has become damp by the moisture of one set 
 of plants, is of course to be dried for the next 
 change. There is, perhaps, no better plan, than to 
 hang it during the night on cords stretched across 
 a kitchen or warm room.
 
 MAECH. 161 
 
 During the first two months of the year, few and 
 far between are the flowering^plants which dare to 
 show their blossoms, and to expose them in all their 
 delicacy and beauty to the nipping frosts ; but 
 now, in March, there are really flowers for the 
 gathering : not many perhaps, but sufficient to 
 interest and to instruct, and to exercise the powers, 
 both of observation and of manipulation, of the 
 incipient botanist. 
 
 One of the most conspicuous of the March wild 
 flowers, particularly where lime prevails, is the 
 common coltsfoot ; no good sign of the land cer- 
 tainly ; but its bright yellow blossoms, in some 
 places almost carpeting the soil, are very pleasing 
 to the eye. The plant is remarkable in so far that 
 its blossoms precede the heart-shaped leaves, which 
 do not show themselves until the former are dying 
 off, and are replaced by the down-crowned seed. 
 Examine the flower-head of the coltsfoot, and you 
 will find it similar in composition to the daisy and 
 dandelion ; that is, composed of a number of sepa- 
 rate florets, each having at its base a seed, from 
 which the feathery down extends upwards, forming 
 to the floret the calyx, and to the ripe seed that 
 feathery parachute so well known to every child, 
 whose would-be time-piece to mark the fleeting of 
 the summer's day is the ripe seed-head of the 
 dandelion. Its seeds, like those of the coltsfoot, 
 are dispersed by means of these downy or feathery 
 appendages, called in botanical language, the 
 
 M
 
 162 WILD FLOWERS. 
 
 pappus. The annexed cut Fig. 121 will perhaps 
 bring the above parts more 
 clearly before the mind. 1, 1 
 are a few of the ripe seeds 
 of the common dandelion, 
 which is now found commonly 
 in blossom attached to the 
 common seed-head or recep- 
 tacle 4. This is marked by 
 the depressions left by seeds 
 which have become detached, 
 and which have floated off in 
 the atmosphere by the aid of 
 their pappus. The divisions of the common invo- 
 lucre or wrapper 3 of the flower-head, are reversed 
 when the seed is ripe, having protected it closed 
 over it during its progress to maturity. These 
 are simple lessons from common plants, but they 
 are within the reach of all, and not the most mag- 
 nificent production of the vegetable kingdom can 
 show more clearly the care and skill of the Almighty 
 Artificer, than the seed of the humble dandelion or 
 coltsfoot in its progress to mature perfection. The 
 flowers of the coltsfoot are a favourite domestic 
 medicine for coughs, and in many parts of the 
 country a wine is made from their infusion. The 
 under surface of the leaf is covered with a woolly 
 down which may be used as tinder. 
 
 Another of our March flowers, the common 
 butter-bur, or Petasites vulgaris, is, like the colts-
 
 MARCH. 163 
 
 foot, characterized by the appearance of the flower- 
 heads before the leaves. In wet meadows and 
 by the river sides, the conical spike-like heads of 
 flesh-coloured flowers sent up by this plant, are 
 commonly-met with, but perhaps few connect them 
 with the broad, large leaves which cover the ground 
 in summer, supported on stalks about one or two feet 
 high, and well known to children as " umbrellas." 
 Few plants native to Britain bear leaves so large 
 as the butter-bur, and its early blossoms afford wel- 
 come food to the bees. The coltsfoot and butter- 
 bur, the dandelion, groundsel, and daisy, are our 
 list of composite flowers thus far in the year. Per- 
 haps, early in March, the eye will be attracted by a 
 bright blue flower almost hid amid the other plants, 
 under the shelter of some hedge; the blossoms 
 resemble in general form those of the common red 
 or white dead nettles ; like them they spring at 
 intervals from the stem, which in this case is trail- 
 ing, and at the base of each set of flowers are a 
 couple of scallop-edged leaves placed opposite each 
 other. This pretty plant is the " ground ivy," or 
 Nepeta glechoma. When well dried it makes a 
 pretty specimen it should be compared with the 
 red nettle described in the February paper. Another 
 very wee blue flower may be found not far off", it is 
 the ivy-leaved veronica its flowers are very small 
 and delicate, and its stems lie close to the ground, 
 so that it may easily escape observation ; we shall 
 speak of veronicas again. Another, the blue flower 
 
 M 2
 
 164 WILD FLOWERS. 
 
 of Spring, the sweet-scented violet, so characteristic 
 of the grassy lane-sides of England, though asso- 
 ciated in name with March, is much more an April 
 flower, and next month we shall find it companioned 
 with others of its family. On the earthen tops of 
 walls, on thin-soiled rocks, on thatch, the little 
 white-flowered whitlow-grass, the Draba verna, now 
 shews itself in pleasing profusion, giving us an 
 example of a cruciferous plant, so named from the 
 cross-like arrangement of the petals flower-leaves 
 of this numerous family. This arrangement will 
 be better seen in the blossoms of the common wall- 
 flower, now frequently to be met with. In this, as 
 in other cruciferous plants, mark 
 the calyx in four pieces, the petals 
 in four pieces forming a cross-like 
 corolla ; and then pulling these 
 away note the six stamens Fig. 
 122, 1, 1 two short and four 
 long, surrounding the centre pistil 
 2 which ultimately becomes 
 developed into the seed-pod ; the 
 mind will thus carry away a very good general idea 
 of the leading characters of a most important section 
 of the plant kingdom- that from whence we derive 
 our mustard, rape, cabbage, radishes, &c. 
 
 In March, flowers that singular plant the mistle- 
 toe, too well known to those in whose neighbour- 
 hood it grows to require description, and well 
 known in town and country, when its transparent
 
 MABCH. 1G5 
 
 berries form a part of the Christmas decorations. 
 The common Mercury this month puts forth its 
 flowers, though many would not call them flowers, 
 for they are green and not conspicuous. They are 
 remarkable for their stamens and pistils, consti- 
 tuting male and female blossoms, being developed 
 on different plants. This plant grows about a foot in 
 height, often among loose stones, and forms thick 
 patches of deep green. In drying, the leaves almost 
 always turn black, or nearly so. Like the Mercury, 
 the willows also bear their barren and fertile flowers 
 separate, and every boy knows the " pussy-cats" of 
 the willow. These are the barren or male flowers, 
 which, when fully developed, shed showers of pollen 
 or flower-dust on all around. In some country 
 places, the willows are called palms, from their 
 having been used in former times in the religious 
 ceremonies of Palm Sunday. 
 
 The association of flowers with the religious fes- 
 tivals of the church is not by any means uncommon. 
 Thus, we have the guelder-rose at Whitsuntide, 
 the hair-bell for St. George's day, and the St. John's 
 wort, as its name implies, dedicated to St. John. 
 The alder and poplar both flower in March, and in 
 many respects will be found to resemble the hazel 
 described last month. The yew and the elm may 
 be added to the catalogue. The gay crocuses and 
 narcissus, though occasionally found wild, rather 
 belong to the garden border than to the field ; they 
 are, however, good examples of the same form of 
 plants the Monocotyledons as the snow-drop.
 
 166 WILD FLOWEBS. 
 
 The butcher's broom is a curious shrub ; it flowers 
 in March, but its tiny blossoms are developed where 
 few would look for them on the lack of its stiff 
 pointed leaves. 
 
 The broad-leaved wood-rush with its hairy leaves 
 may now be gathered in woods, and the hare-tail 
 cotton grass, which in summer ornaments the barren 
 moor with its fleecy looking heads of cotton wool, 
 also blossoms in March. These may not attract 
 the eye at first sight, but they will repay an atten- 
 tive examination, for 
 
 Not a flower 
 
 But shows some touch in freckle, streak, or stain, 
 
 Of His unrivalled pencil. 
 
 There is not one but 
 
 " Seems as it issues from the shapeless mould , 
 
 An emanation of the indwelling life 
 
 A visible token of the upholding love 
 
 That are the soul of this wide universe." 
 
 APEIL. 
 
 " The little brooks run on in light, 
 As if they had a chase of mirth ; 
 The skies are blue, the air is warm, 
 Our very hearts have caught the charm 
 That sheds a beauty over earth." 
 
 MABY HOWITT. 
 
 APEIL. Showery, sunshiny, "proud pied" April, is 
 upon us. March yielded a few early blossoms spite 
 of its cold winds ; but this month we have flowers 
 in earnest, and the botanist and collector must 
 begin in earnest, otherwise he will be overwhelmed
 
 APEIL. 167 
 
 with the rapid succession of "bells and flowerets of 
 a thousand hues" that almost now force themselves 
 upon his attention : mayhap, before that attention 
 was awakened, he passed them by unheeded. A 
 few short precepts must be added to the directions 
 given last month for collecting and preserving. 
 The first is from the golden rule Do as you would 
 be done by. If you find a plant that you have 
 reason to think is uncommon, take of it sufficient 
 for specimens for yourself, and if need be for friends, 
 but do not be greedy over it ; do not strip a habitat, 
 but leave a few specimens for other collectors, and 
 some for seed. Never, if possible, delay longer 
 than twenty-four hours in putting your collected 
 plants to dry. They will, certainly, if it is neces- 
 sary as when Sunday intervenes keep longer 
 than the above time fresh, either in the tin collecting 
 box, or in water, but delay is better 'avoided when 
 possible. Remember always to keep a fresh speci- 
 men for examination, if the plant is a new one to 
 you, and make a point, if you can, of ascertaining 
 its name, and noting this down, along with the time 
 and place of gathering. These are little points 
 which, unattended to at the time, are apt to be 
 neglected altogether, and, at some future time, to 
 be regretted. 
 
 After plants have been dried they require mount- 
 ing and arranging. The way in which they are 
 mounted, must of course depend partly upon the
 
 168 WILD FLOWEBS. 
 
 pecuniary means of the collector. To be so in the 
 best manner, each species should be placed sepa- 
 rately upon half a sheet of white paper, the same 
 size as that recommended to be used for drying. It 
 is usual to place one, or at most two specimens of 
 the same species of plant, on the single half-sheet ; 
 but to put different species together is better 
 avoided, unless indeed the expense of paper is a 
 great object. The plants are attached to the paper, 
 either by light touches of strong gum mucilage on 
 various parts of the stem and leaves, or by strips of 
 paper gummed down over them. The latter plan is 
 the more troublesome, but so far preferable that, if 
 need be, it permits the specimen to be removed 
 uninjured. The kind of paper used, of course, will 
 depend upon what can be afforded, but the size 
 ought not to be less than that mentioned above. 
 During the botanical season that is, while plants 
 are being gathered and preserved the collector may 
 be content with transferring them when dry to their 
 clean paper, along with their names, places of growth, 
 &c., leaving the completion of the mounting, and 
 the arrangement, to the time when 
 
 " The pomp of groves and garniture of fields," 
 
 has given place to the cold barrenness of winter. 
 For the next six months at least, the wealth of 
 summer flowers will amply occupy both our space 
 and our readers' leisure, if they betake themselves
 
 APRIL. 169 
 
 to the pastime, or scientific pursuit, whichever 
 they like to call or make it, of collecting and 
 examining the wild flowers of their native soil. 
 
 Primroses : how many a hedge-bank and burn- 
 side is made gay with these " earliest nurslings of 
 the spring !" " The rathe" (early) primrose, as 
 Milton calls it. They have been blooming sparingly, 
 on sheltered banks, perhaps for weeks, but now the 
 thick tufts of their blossoms give real " evidence 
 that spring is come" at last. The primrose is an 
 excellent example of a plant with a regular mono- 
 petalous corolla, or, in simple language, of a sym- 
 metrical flower all in one piece, in contradistinction 
 to those, like the wall-flower, in which the petals 
 of the flower are separate ; or to those, like the dead 
 nettle, fox-glove, &c.. in which, although in one 
 piece, the flower is irregular. The blossoms of the 
 primrose, apparently scattered among the leaves, all 
 spring from one point in the centre of the tuft ; and 
 if we can imagine the various flower-stalks or 
 peduncles, uniting before reaching the base of the 
 tuft, so that they should form a common foot-stalk, 
 we should have a raised umbel of blossoms, like the 
 cowslip or oxlip which last, indeed, may almost be 
 considered as a cross between the former and the 
 primrose. Moreover, the polyanthus of our gardens, 
 which has its blossoms elevated on a common foot- 
 stalk, is simply a variety of the primrose. The 
 primrose makes a pretty dried specimen at first ; 
 but in the course of time the flowers will turn per-
 
 WILD TLOWEES. 
 
 fectly green ; and the same occurs with the cowslip, 
 which is now coming forward in profusion in English 
 pastures; in Scotland it is much less frequent. The 
 primrose affords such an excellent example of a 
 perfect flower, that we may take advantage of it to 
 consider the arrangement of the various parts. At 
 Fig. 123 is represented the section of a primrose 
 blossom. 1. Is the ex- 
 panded limb of the corolla, 
 
 which in this case ends in 
 - .^ 
 
 a tube 2. This tube 
 encloses the seed-vessel 
 6 from the top of which 
 arises the style, capped by 
 its globular stigma 4. 
 Within the tube are the 
 five stamens 5 the 
 whole being surrounded 
 by the calyx 3 and sup- 
 ported on the flower-stalk 
 or peduncle. 7. Pull to 
 pieces the first primrose flower you meet with, and 
 compare the parts ; do the same with the first 
 cowslip. 
 
 Companions of the primrose, " gleaming like 
 amethysts in the dewy moss," the sweet-scented 
 violets, the most welcome flowers, perhaps, of an 
 English spring, are now, where they do occur, 
 scattered in lavish profusion, not only gleaming blue 
 like the amethysts, but in many places white. The 
 
 Fig. 123.
 
 APB.IL. 
 
 171 
 
 Fig. 124. 
 
 flower of the violet Fig. 124 contains the same 
 parts, but differently arranged and not less beau- 
 tiful, as the symmetrical primrose. The five divisions 
 of the violet blossom are dis- 
 tinct from one another, and 
 differ in shape one from the 
 other ; the lower one present- 
 ing 1 what is called in 
 botany, a spur. The stamens 
 will be found connected to- 
 gether, and two of them with 
 curious spur-like appendages. 
 On the flower-stem of the 
 violet, we have an example 2 
 of what are called bracts. 
 Although we have eight species of British violets, 
 none are odorous but the one, the sweet-scented 
 Viola odorata. The dog violet, or Viola canina, 
 which rapidly succeeds the sweet-scented, has per- 
 haps a handsomer flower ; it is larger, lighter blue, 
 and more transparent-looking. It makes a very 
 pretty specimen. The hairy violet resembles, in some 
 degree, the sweet-scented, but its leaves are quite 
 rough with hairs. The marsh violet is a very pretty, 
 transparent-looking plant ; as its name indicates its 
 habitat is in the bogs, of which, at this season, it is 
 a great ornament, especially in Scotland, as, later in 
 the year, the yellow violet Viola lutea is to the 
 moorland heaths. The Viola tricolor, with its varied 
 colour, the origin of our garden pansies, may be
 
 172 
 
 WILD FLOWERS. 
 
 gathered in bloom almost the whole year round, in 
 waste corn-fields. Primroses and violets outside the 
 wood, and at its margins, but anemones all through 
 it, make a perfect spring picture. 
 
 Who does not know the wood anemone, or wind- 
 flower, with its pendent blossom rising from the 
 triple circlet involucre of beautifully cut leaves ? It 
 is beautiful when growing, beautiful when well- 
 preserved. In getting it up, however, for a speci- 
 men, be careful to get the characteristic root and 
 root-leaves. The pasque-flower, purple anemone, is 
 so comparatively rare, that few perhaps of our 
 readers may meet with it ; those who are fortunate 
 enough to do so, will secure a great ornament to the 
 herbarium. The anemones belong to the ranun- 
 culus tribe, and are good exemplifications of the 
 leading characteristics of that important family. 
 Compare the structure of their flowers with that of 
 the common ranunculus, or buttercup, and the simi- 
 larity will at once be evident. As we see it in Fig. 
 125 which exhibits one of the buttercup flowers 
 
 with two of the 
 
 petals and some of 
 the stamens of the 
 flower removed, to 
 permit the parts to 
 be seen, so in the 
 centre of the ane- 
 mone, as of the ra- 
 nunculus, is a col-
 
 APEIL. 173 
 
 lection of seed-vessels 4 surrounded by numerous 
 stamens 3 which have their attachments just 
 below the seed-vessels ; external to these are the 
 flower petals 1 in five distinct pieces ; the whole 
 being enclosed by the five calyx pieces or sepals 2. 
 These distinctions will again be referred to when 
 the rose -tribes, which in some particulars resemble 
 the Hanunculacece, are treated of. The distinction 
 is one of practical value ; for whilst the Rosacece are 
 known for the many articles of nutriment, and for 
 the fruits which they yield, the Ranunculacece are 
 for the most part acrid and irritating, and include 
 such plants as the aconites, &c. Even the innocent- 
 looking buttercup is powerfully acrid ; its flowers, 
 if chewed, excite distressing vomiting, and the 
 bruised leaves of this and others act on the skin like 
 a mustard-plaster. In most places the Ranunculus 
 Ficaria, or lesser celandine, or pilewort, is abundant 
 this month, distinguishable by its smooth heart- 
 shaped leaves, its one-flowered stem, and peculiar 
 root, consisting of a bundle of elongated tubers. 
 This must not be confounded with the bright 
 golden, showy Caltha, or marsh-marigold, which is 
 so ornamental to the sides of places where there is 
 water. It cannot be overlooked. Examine, and 
 you will find it has the ranunculus family likeness. 
 As we are about the water, we may now find another 
 member of this large family, the white water ranun- 
 culus, with its leaves often so variously cut, and 
 sometimes not cut at all ; and, almost certainly, in
 
 174 WILD FLOWERS. 
 
 the next moist meadow, must there be plenty of the 
 pale, lilac, " wan-hued " lady's smock, or Cardamine 
 pratensis ; it may happen that by the brook-side, 
 the handsome Cardamine amara, with its white 
 flowers and dark stamens,is to be gathered. Butwhat 
 is this queer-looking thing in the shaded thicket 
 a green, square head, topping a slender stalk ? Very 
 likely an incipient botanist would consider it an odd 
 production, not at all like his idea of a flower. It 
 is the little moschatell, or Adoxa. Its square head 
 is composed of four little green flowers placed back 
 to back, with a fifth covering the four. The plant 
 is so peculiar, it cannot be mistaken ; perhaps it is 
 nestling under some wild gooseberry or currant 
 bush, the blossoms of which our readers may find 
 and examine for themselves. We must not leave 
 the stream-side without a look for the broad-leaved 
 garlic, Allium Ursinum, for its umbels of white 
 flowers are really handsome, and so are its broad 
 leaves, somewhat like those of the lily of the valley; 
 but its odour ! one can scarce have the heart to 
 put it in the same box with the violets, though it 
 does belong to the lily tribes. We will contrast 
 with the pure white of the garlic, the splendid 
 purple of the early orchis, the Orchis mascula, 
 having its broad leaves marked with dark brown 
 spots; almost certainly must it grow in the meadow- 
 grounds. Make sure, in taking your specimens of 
 this plant, of the two-lobed root it is character- 
 istic. Perhaps you may gather at the same time
 
 APRIL. 
 
 175 
 
 and place, the pasture lousewort, or Pedicularis 
 sylvatica. It is a pretty, though common plant, 
 with its rose-coloured flowers, something of the 
 shape of the dead nettle, and with its deeply divided 
 leaves. Those who live near the localities, may in 
 such meadows come upon the graceful Fritillaria. 
 If they do, they will get a plant worth preserving. 
 
 Before exploring this well-wooded hill-side, we 
 have work to do in the bank at the foot ; it is 
 covered with the bright blue-bell hyacinth, with its 
 graceful drooping bells and delicious 
 perfume. Mind you do not spoil 
 specimens for the trouble of digging 
 deep down to find the bulbs. You 
 will want your trowel also, to reach 
 the tuber of the arum cuckoo-pint 
 which is showing its handsome 
 spathe amid its dark-green spotted 
 leaves. What a mysterious-looking 
 floral arrangement there is within 
 that protecting hood Fig. 126. 
 The beginner would puzzle some 
 time ere he made out the parts 
 of the flower answering to those 
 of the primrose. In botanical 
 language the covering 1 is a 
 spathe ; the curious collection of 
 bodies within constitute the spadir. 
 At 2, are the stamens ; at 3 
 the pistils and seed-vessels, which late in the 
 
 Fig. 126.
 
 176 WILD FLOWEES. 
 
 autumn assume a brilliant red, looking almost like 
 a bunch of coral, as, amid the withering grass of 
 some hedge bottom, they attract the gaze of even a 
 careless passer-by. The bodies at 4 are considered 
 abortive germens, or seed-vessels. The tuber of 
 the arum in its natural state contains an acrid juice, 
 along with a considerable amount of starchy flour ; 
 the latter when freed from the acridity constitutes 
 a nutritious article of diet. If the top of our bank 
 is dry, there may blossom on it one of the mouse- 
 ear chickweeds, with its hairy leaves and small white 
 petalled flowers. Neither is it impossible that in 
 the wood itself we may come upon the yellow- 
 flowered "weasel snout." Belonging, like the dead 
 nettle, to the labiate plants, its blossoms have the 
 shape common to the order. A very odd-looking 
 plant is not unfrequently encountered about this 
 time of year, springing from the root of a tree such 
 as the elm ; it has no leaves, but in their place 
 fleshy-looking scales, and its flowers are of a purple 
 hue. It is often passed by as it mingles with the 
 dead leaves, which it resembles somewhat in colour. 
 If found, you cannot fail to recognize it. Its name is 
 the toothwort, or Lathrcsa, and it is a parasite like 
 the mistletoe growing upon other plants instead 
 of from the ground. Periwinkles, and lungwort, 
 or pulmonaria, the latter with its purple flowers 
 and spotted hairy leaves are almost better known 
 as garden than as wild flowers ; but they may be 
 gathered at times apparently wild.
 
 APEIL. 177 
 
 "We have been so long giving our attention to the 
 floral treasures of field and hedge-row, our eyes have 
 looked so constantly downward, that we almost 
 forget that this month many of our statelier trees 
 are offering their flowers for examination. Perhaps 
 our botanist will scarcely consider them flowers, 
 for many of them are but dull of hue. The oak, the 
 ash, the birch, the chestnut, are all now in blossom. 
 Of these all, except the ash, bear their blossoms 
 like the hazel the fertile flowers on one part of 
 the stem, and the barren ones in a drooping catkin 
 on another. Nothing can be more beautiful than 
 the pendent tassels, as we may call them, of the 
 birch, when the tree is in full bloom. The combi- 
 nation of slender drooping twigs, and of hanging 
 blossoms, is the perfection of graceful beauty, and 
 the place to see it is the side of a highland glen. 
 Should any of my readers go there to look for it, 
 they may as well go a little farther and higher, to 
 look for the crow-berry's purple flowers, which give 
 promise of abundant food in autumn to the moor 
 game which feed on its dark purple berries. The 
 very large family of willows contributes its show of 
 catkins, barren and fertile. All these it is well for 
 the young botanist to exercise himself in examining. 
 In the case of those trees which blossom before the 
 leaves appear, if the flower is preserved, the leaves 
 should be added afterwards ; and in the case of the 
 willows, care taken that the right leaves are placed 
 beside their own blossoms. The box tree, which
 
 178 WILD PLOWEBS. 
 
 is now in blossom, offers another example of barren 
 and fertile flowers ; not in this case, however, very 
 different in appearance. The wild pear, and perhaps 
 the crab (Pyrus mains), are somewhat gayer than 
 the other trees. Our readers must know them, and 
 we have perhaps introduced to them acquaintances 
 enough for one month. Albeit, in the next we 
 have a crowd of new friends coming on ; for that 
 month is 
 
 " The delicate footed May, 
 With its slight fingers full of leaves and flowers." 
 
 MAT. 
 
 " The welcome flowers are blossoming, 
 
 In joyous troops revealed ; 
 They lift their dewy buds and bells 
 
 In garden, mead and field 
 They lurk in every sunless path 
 
 Where forest children tread ; 
 They dot like stars the sacred turf 
 
 Which lies above the dead. 
 
 They sport with every playful wind 
 
 That stirs the blooming trees, 
 And laugh on every fragrant bush 
 
 All full of toiling bees ; 
 From the green marge of lake and stream, 
 
 Fresh vale and mountain sod, 
 They look in gentle glory forth, 
 
 The pure sweet flowers of God." 
 
 LYONS. 
 
 If March is " the merry month of spring," truly 
 May is the merry month of the year. 
 
 " Of every moneth in the year, 
 
 To mirthful May there is no peer."
 
 MAT. 179 
 
 says one of the many poets who have celebrated the 
 delights of May. Doubtless, the contrast between 
 the previous months and this does increase the 
 charms of the season, but there is a freshness in 
 every thing which we meet with at no other time. 
 Opening flowers and bursting buds are everywhere, 
 and we must be up and doing. Here a few words 
 on plant classification would, doubtless, be service- 
 able to our incipient botanists, but for this we must 
 refer them to our previous pages, and pass at once 
 to our extended list ; for " bells and flowerets," not 
 only of a " thousand hues," but of a thousand forms 
 await us. 
 
 Let us improve our practical acquaintance with 
 the ranunculus family. Last month introduced us 
 to some, and this we find others in store for us. 
 Our first expedition shall be a field one, and we 
 quickly encounter the upright, somewhat hairy 
 Ranunculus bulbosus, with its calyx sepals folded 
 back from its buttercup flower. Let us get the 
 bulbous root and then we shall be sure, and can 
 compare with the Ranunculus repens, or creeping 
 crowfoot, which is sure not to be far off. "We can 
 then see the likeness with a difference. In the next 
 corn-fields, it is not impossible we may find the 
 small pale-flowered corn crowfoot (Ranunculus 
 arvenis), more conspicuous later in the summer, 
 with its large prickly-looking seed-vessels. Its 
 flowers resemble in size those of the celery-leafed 
 crowfoot, which, with its divided leaves, shining like
 
 130 "WILD FLOWERS. 
 
 those of celery, grows in pools and ditches to the 
 height of one or two feet. Two other species of 
 upright water ranunculus must be sought for in 
 blossom later in the summer; but their leaves, 
 instead of being broad, cut and indented, are sharp 
 and narrow : hence they get the English name of 
 spearwort, instead of crowfoot. These latter species 
 are the Ranunculus lingua, or greater, and the 
 Ranunculus flammula, or lesser spearwort. The 
 former is a very handsome flower; its blossoms 
 being almost the size of those of the wild rose. 
 The wood-crowfoot, or Ranunculus auricomus 
 Fig. 84 is by no means an unhandsome flower. 
 It is now found in woods, shady hedgesides, &c., 
 and may be known by the great difference be- 
 tween its kidney-shaped root-leaves, and its much- 
 divided stem-leaves. One peculiarity of the petals 
 of the ranunculus flowers, is the addition at the 
 base of each of a little nectary. 
 Fig. 127, 1. PuU off a petal from 
 any one of them, and you will find 
 it at once. As we may not refer to 
 the ranunculus genus again, the tall 
 Ranunculus acris, or upright meadow 
 crowfoot, which flowers in July, must 
 not be forgotten. It derives its specific name from 
 possessing, in a marked manner, the acrid property 
 common to the family. It has happened that an 
 unwary botanist, misled perhaps by the innocent- 
 looking name of buttercup, has given himself an
 
 MAT. 181 
 
 unintentional emetic, and spoiled his day, by care- 
 lessly chewing the flower of some of the crowfoot 
 species. Intense burning of the throat and mouth 
 is the consequence. Not impossibly we may gather, 
 at the edge of some corn-field, a little flower, the 
 Myosurus, or mousetail, which, with its small green 
 flowers, would not, perhaps, be recognised at first 
 as a ranunculus connection, which it is. "When in 
 fruit, the collected seed-vessels have no distant 
 resemblance to the appendage from which it derives 
 its name. 
 
 Our morning call on the ranunculus family has 
 already been long enough for our limits ; and their 
 gay neighbours, the poppies, await us. Who does 
 not know the bright common red poppy or Papaver 
 rhceas ? The Papaver argemone having much smaller 
 petals, is less conspicuous when in flower, but gets 
 the advantage when it displays its long prickly- 
 headed seed-vessels. The opium poppy, with 
 when wild its whitish flowers, with their purple 
 base, is scarcely a British native, having usually 
 escaped from gardens. The seed-vessels of all the 
 poppies offer, from their size, facility for examining 
 this part of the plant. The projecting divisions or 
 " dissepiments," afford attachment to numerous 
 seeds, which it is worthy of remark, are so mild in 
 their properties, that in some places, as in Persia, 
 they are made into cakes and eaten, while the seed- 
 vessels, or capsules, which contain them, abound 
 with the narcotic poison known as opium. Our next
 
 182 WILD FLOWERS. 
 
 field friends belong to the cruciform order, of which, 
 in our last, the wallflower was cited as a type. 
 Among them, the bitter yellow rocket, or Barlarea 
 vulgaris, is conspicuous with its smooth furrowed 
 stem, its lyre-shaped leaves, and its corymbs * of 
 yellow flowers, which become lengthened into 
 racemes of square pods. This plant is about the 
 same height from one to two feet as another of 
 the cruciform order, popularly known as Jack-by- 
 the-hedge, which bears white flowers the leaves 
 heart-shaped. If these two are compared with the 
 common water-cress (Nasturtium officinale^) the 
 general family likeness will be detected, and at the 
 same time many minor differences. Are these 
 plants with such finely-divided leaves, and heads 
 drooping before they blossom, dying ? Surely not : 
 the plant is the earth-nut, (JBunium flexuosum) ; 
 well named, for it is one of the most slender of our 
 umbelliferae ; the few specimens which are now in 
 full blossom hold their heads erect enough when 
 they expand their flowers. If you pull up a speci- 
 men, it comes up with a long white root, but 
 without fibres ; evidently, this is not the root 
 proper. You must take your trowel when Caliban, 
 in the " Tempest " proffered his " long nails " 
 
 * Probably, in the course of these papers, various botanical terms 
 may be employed without explanations. These it will be impossible to 
 give without interfering with space required for the notice of the flowers ; 
 moreover, they are less necessary here, as most of them are explained in 
 the first portions of the work.
 
 MAT. 
 
 183 
 
 to dig pit nuts for Trinculo, it was because some 
 digging was required go deep enough, and you 
 will reach the tuber, and get a complete specimen. 
 The umbelliferous flowers of Britain are so nu- 
 merous, especially later 
 in the year, that they re- 
 quire special attention. 
 An umbel Kg. 128 
 is composed of flowers 
 borne on footstalks, 
 which all spring from 
 one point as represent- 
 ed ; it may be simple or 
 compound. The hem- 
 lock is a good example ; 
 but when we say hem- 
 lock, we mean hem- 
 lock ; many people call all the umbelliferaB hem- 
 lock, because the general family feature of the umbel 
 is so apparent to the eye ; a little time and observa- 
 tion will correct the mistake. We must recur to 
 this family next month ; in the meanwhile, the com- 
 mon Anthriscus, or beaked-parsley, will do for 
 comparison ; it is now in full flower, growing in 
 half-shaded situations. Like the earth-nut, it droops 
 before flowering, but it is a much larger plant ; the 
 leaves are much divided, but in broader segments 
 than in the other, and the stem is rough with 
 hairs. 
 
 Taking leave of the umbel-bearers for the pre- 
 
 Fig. 138. An umbel.
 
 184 WILD FLOWEBS. 
 
 sent, our next friend is really handsome, with its 
 large white flowers of five petals, especially when 
 grown to its grenadier height of twelve inches. The 
 kidney-shaped, lobed leaves, and the root composed 
 of a number of granules, or little tubers, in a bundle, 
 proclaims the white meadow saxifrage, or Saxifraga 
 granulata worthy representative of one of our most 
 interesting British genera. The ten stamens of the 
 saxifrages place them in theLinnaean class Decandria. 
 It may chance that on some dry wall, in our walk, we 
 may pick another, but much smaller, member of the 
 family, the rue-leaved saxifrage, or Saxifraga tridac- 
 tylites, so named from the resemblance of its tiny 
 reddish-looking leaves, to three little fingers. The 
 entire plant rarely reaches four inches in height. It 
 is covered with sticky hairs. We may perchance, 
 too, in its company for they love the same dry 
 soil meet with one or more of the pearlworts, 
 inconspicuous plants with narrow leaves, and with 
 the small petals of the corolla quite overshadowed 
 by the longer calycine sepals. These belong to the 
 Caryophyllacece, a large and important order, of 
 which, however, the stellarias, or stitchworts, afford 
 us a more striking example, although that pretty 
 little plant, the common chickweed, which is a 
 stellaria, almost approaches the pearlworts in ap- 
 pearance. We will choose a more brilliant repre- 
 sentative, the greater stitchwort,or Stellaria tiolostea, 
 the large, pure white, star-like blossoms of which 
 are shining underneath the shadow of that hedge.
 
 MAT. 185 
 
 Mark its ten stamens, its three styles, the sharp 
 lance-shaped leaves, its square, angular, and brittle 
 stem, oftened lengthened among the grass, and you 
 cannot mistake it. Should you find a plant some- 
 what similar, but much smaller in every way, and 
 with very much smaller but similar flowers, you 
 may know it for the lesser stitchwort, or Stellaria 
 graminea. The very pure white of the stellaria is 
 a brilliant contrast to the bright, almost heavenly 
 blue of the Germander speedwell, the Veronica 
 cbamcedrys, which frequently grows in the same 
 situations. This is truly a beautiful flower, and a 
 simple one, with its bright blue flowers, which fall 
 off so easily, each carrying with it its two stamens 
 Fig. 129. Look for its heart-shaped leaves placed 
 opposite to each other, and the lines of hairs on 
 the stem, and you cannot err. Take it, too, as a type 
 of one of the prettiest families in Flora's kingdom 
 of beauties. The members are found in field and 
 wood, on hill and in water, and 
 they are all so like in their 
 beauty, they will surely be re- 
 cognised, even though some are 
 pale in hue, and very small. One, 
 however, the Veronicabeccabunga, 
 or brook-lime, which ornaments 
 our ditches and streams, rivals 
 even the Germander veronica in the brilliant blue 
 
 * The Germander speedwell ; considerably magnified.
 
 186 WILD FLO WEBS. 
 
 of its corollas. The veronicas have a sweet little rival 
 in brightness of hue in the early field forget-me-not 
 we prefer the name to that of scorpion-grass 
 which may now be gathered abundantly on dry banks 
 and walls. Another species, the yellow and blue 
 myosotis, might perhaps be confounded with it, but its 
 flowers are paler, and before they are fully expanded 
 are yellow. The botanical name of these universal 
 favourites is myosotis, derived from the Greek, 
 signifying mouse-ear, which is applicable to the 
 form of the leaves. Properly, the name forget-me- 
 not belongs only to the large water myosotis, which, 
 throughout Europe, is assumed and named as the 
 emblem of friendship, but all the other species are 
 known as forget-me-nots, and we may say, are used 
 as such treasured as such. In Germany the 
 forget-me-not is said to derive its name from a 
 most romantic story. A minstrel of Mayence had 
 wandered forth to seek his fortune in the world, 
 leaving behind him a girl to whom he was attached 
 and betrothed ; but in a few years, having gained 
 both riches and reputation, he returned to seek his 
 bride. On the eve of their wedding, as the lovers 
 walked by the banks of the Rhine, a tuft of the 
 bright blue myosotis attracted their attention, and 
 in the attempt to gather them, the poor minstrel 
 missed his footing and fell into the river. He rose, 
 and rose again ; he felt the rapid current sweeping 
 him along ; and knew that his fate was sealed ; with 
 one last effort he cast some of the flowers to the
 
 MAT. 187 
 
 bank, and ere the waters closed over him, the 
 words '-'forget me not" mingled with his last 
 drowning cry. The story which thus tells us how 
 the pretty little flower came hy its name, also tells 
 us that the minstrel who gave it was not forgot, 
 and that his widowed bride died unwedded. 
 
 What a pity our next plant smells so disagreeably, 
 for it is really a pretty one, and a great ornament to 
 the heap of loose stones on which it grows. If you 
 preserve it well, a pretty specimen will it look on 
 paper, with its pink stem, beautifully cut leaves, 
 and pink-veined corollas. It is the Geranium 
 Robertianum, Herb Robert, or stinking cranes-bill ; 
 but pretty as it is, it is less so than its relative, the 
 Geranium lucidim, with stems clear and shining, 
 almost like those of a balsam, with their swollen 
 pink jointings, and with leaves at times nearly as 
 pink as the small pretty flowers. Should you 
 chance on some rocky bank or earth-topped wall to 
 meet with a specimen, gather carefully, for it is 
 very brittle. Some of our friends who have woods 
 to search in their district, may meet with a third 
 species of geranium, blossoming toward the end of 
 the month, the Geranium pTicsum, or dusky cranes- 
 bill, a sort of negro with geranium features, for its 
 flowers are a purple-black. Nevertheless, it is a 
 handsome plant ; and having led us into the woods 
 in its search, we will look around. How sweetly 
 at the base of the mossy stone, and under cover of
 
 188 WILD FLOWERS. 
 
 the adjoining bank, nestles that beautiful wood- 
 sorrel, with its bright, very bright, green trefoil 
 leaves, and its transparent, white-veined, and 
 slightly-drooping bells. Truly it is one of our 
 prettiest natives, the true shamrock of Ire- 
 land ; and it is difficult to imagine why the 
 Emerald Isle gave it up, with its emerald leaves, 
 for the plain creeping clover now called the sham- 
 rock. The wood-sorrel leaves contain a most 
 agreeable acid, although it is the oxalic. Its seeds 
 are each contained in a very elastic envelope, which, 
 when they are ripe, bursts suddenly, and projects 
 them to a considerable distance. Like the trefoil 
 clovers, the wood-sorrel, or Oxalis acetosella, is a 
 sleeper, and folds its leaves to rest at evening close. 
 Another sweet flower, still more prized than the 
 last 
 
 " Our England's lily of the May, 
 Our lily of the vale, " 
 
 or "lily of the valley," loves the same shady wood- 
 bank. Do not forget its creeping root in making 
 prize of it. We lose its delicious perfume in drying, 
 but our next wood friend, the Asperula odorata, or 
 woodruff, rather gains by the process, and reminds 
 one of the hay-field at all seasons. Every one 
 knows the woodruff, with its whorled leaves and 
 pure white but small flowers clustering at the 
 extremity of the angular stems. "White blossoms
 
 MAT. 189 
 
 abound with us. Here, surely, is a wild strawberry ? 
 That it is not, but it is so like one, as at one time to 
 have been called the barren strawberry, or Fragaria 
 sterilis. It is a late-flowering specimen of the 
 Potentilla fragariastrum. Compare it with the 
 specimen of the true strawberry, the Fragaria vesca, 
 of which there are plenty at hand. When the 
 fruit is ripe, you will see another difference still. 
 Both belong to the Rosacece, an order already 
 alluded to as bearing some resemblance to the 
 Ranunculacece, which includes plants of very oppo- 
 site character and properties from the former. 
 Compare a strawberry, a rose, or cherry or apple 
 blossom for they are all rosaceous with a butter- 
 cup or anemone, you will find, along with other 
 points of difference, an invariable one. In the 
 ranunculus flower, the many stamens* are fixed just 
 below the seed-vessels, and you may remove the 
 calyx without disturbing them. In the rosaceous 
 flower, the stamens are fixed on the calyx Pig. 
 130 and you cannot pull it away without taking 
 the stamens also. Remember 
 the distinction : a ranunculus 
 plant may always be suspected 
 of poisonous acridity ; a rosa- 
 ceous one is frequently the 
 bearer of nutritive fruit, spite 
 of its prussic acid in its peach 
 Fig. i3o. blossoms and kernels. We 
 
 * See Fig. 125 April.
 
 190 WILD I-LOWEBS. 
 
 have here plenty of the rosacese to verify us ; 
 for 
 
 ' ' The hawthorn's budding in the glen ; 
 And milk-white is the slae :" * 
 
 and both belong to the order. Here, too, is the 
 Pyrus aucuparia, mountain ash, or rowan tree, and 
 the various species of Pyrus, crab apple, and wild 
 service tree. Then we have the Prunus genus, 
 capable of cultivation into plum and cherry. All 
 these are rosaceous, and ornament our woods in 
 May, with their white and pink blossoms often 
 mingling in contrast with the elegant pendent 
 racemes of the great maple, or with those of the 
 common maple, which are not pendent a sort of 
 shrub-tree, with deeply-wrinkled corky bark. Tou 
 ought to find the berberry (Berberis vulgaris), dis- 
 playing its drooping yellow flowers this month. 
 You must examine it, if for no other reason than 
 that its stamens exhibit vegetable irritability and 
 movement quite as strikingly as the sensitive plant. 
 Look for a blossom in which at least some of the 
 stamens lie back against the petals, take any sharp- 
 pointed instrument, and gently irritate the base 
 of a stamen from above, it will, if the flower is fresh, 
 at once move forward, upon the central stigma ! 
 Does the plant feel ? 
 
 We may add to our list of flowering trees this 
 month, the beech (Fagus sylvatica), and the Scotch 
 
 * The sloe, or blackthorn.
 
 MAT. 
 
 191 
 
 fir, (Pinus sylvestris), 
 both of which bear bar- 
 ren and fertile flowers 
 separate, and should be 
 examined when there is 
 opportunity. The last- 
 mentioned tree belongs 
 to the ConifercB, or cone- 
 bearing tribe, which also 
 includes the juniper, now 
 showing its diminutive 
 catkins and berry-like 
 cones mingled with the 
 fruit, ripe and unripe, of 
 former years. In hilly 
 districts you will almost 
 surely find it. None of 
 our native plants present 
 a more singular aspect 
 than another denizen of many of the moist woods; the 
 Paris quadrifolia, or herb Paris Fig. 131 having 
 once seen the delineation, you cannot mistake the 
 plant, and will find it in flower towards the end of 
 May. It grows about one foot high. The pretty yel- 
 low pimpernel, or loosestrife, (Lysimachia vulgarisj) 
 cannot fail to meet your eye in the wood ; its 
 stems procumbent, its leaves smooth, ovate, and 
 opposite, with the flowers springing from their axils ; 
 and our acquaintance with the grasses may well 
 begin with the mountain or wood melic-grass, 
 
 131. Herb Paris, or Paris 
 The blossom springing from a 
 leaves.
 
 192 WILD FLOWERS. 
 
 (JMlelica nutans), one of the most elegant of an order 
 of which we have yet much to learn. 
 
 Before leaving the wood we may get a specimen 
 of the holly-flower, (Ilex aquifolium^jSmd, if it grows 
 near, of the spindle-tree's small white umbellated 
 blossoms. And now we may look to the river-bank 
 for the common comfrey (Symphytwm officinale), 
 with its yellowish or purple, drooping, bell-like 
 corollas, and its leaves continued wing-like down the 
 stem. If our river is a Scottish stream, on its 
 banks, too, we may find the tuberous-rooted com- 
 frey. These are not gay, but they are plants which 
 contrast in sober handsomeness with the bright 
 pink, fluttering, ragged-robin (Lychnis flos cucult), 
 which ornaments alike river-bank, meadow, and 
 moss a pretty flower, but one you will find difficult 
 to dry to please you. We cross the moss-ground to 
 get to the hill. Our young botanist is attracted by 
 an upright spike or raceme of white flowers for 
 flowers they are truly they are tipped delicately 
 with pink, and beautifully fringed. What a very 
 handsome flower ! and it cannot be rare ; for here 
 is a complete mass of its blossoms, and of its large 
 clover-like leaves, springing from matted roots, that 
 make the moss firm beneath the feet. What is it ? 
 The common buck-bean (Menyantlies trifoliate?), a 
 truly lovely flower, one of the gentian tribe, and 
 possessing that tribe's bitter medicinal properties to 
 a valuable extent. Unfortunately it does not dry 
 very well. Gather a few specimens of the succulent
 
 MAT. 193 
 
 little Montia fontana, from that oozy grass, if you 
 can find its wee little white flowers, and then make 
 for the hill-side, taking the brook, or rather, as we 
 seem to be now wandering north the Tweed, the 
 burn, in our way, possibly we may get the opposite- 
 leaved golden saxifrage (Chrysosplenium oppositifo- 
 lium) ; and if fortune favours, the rarer alternate- 
 leaved one. Here at least is the first, with its 
 deep-golden-looking flowers. Albeit the colour is 
 in the calyx, as you will see if you examine ; for 
 corolla there is none. The other species is like this, 
 but distinguished by the shape and position of the 
 leaves. Both plants are succulent, and of yellowish 
 green ; they are saxifrages ; and, if our hill is really 
 a hill, we shall probably find their relative the 
 purple flowered opposite-leaved saxifrage higher 
 up ; its tufts will soon meet the eye if they are 
 there. Our wandering looks so much like the 
 highlands, that we may fall in with the dark 
 green, woody, trailing azalea, and add its glossy 
 leaves and flesh-coloured blossoms to our collection. 
 What hill or burn-side is complete without the 
 broom the " lang yellow " golden broom which 
 now, and in June, looks so gay. It is more elegant, 
 though perhaps not so gorgeously rich as the 
 compact mass of golden blossom presented by the 
 whin, in England called furze or gorse ; by botanists, 
 the Ulex Europcews. Probably, few plants, native 
 or foreign, present a more splendid mass of bright 
 colour than a well grown whinbush in blossom on 
 
 o
 
 194 WILD FLOWEBS. 
 
 a Scottish moor, in a bright June day ; on Scotland's 
 southern moors, however, for the true gorse grows 
 but sparingly on the highland hills. Thus it was, 
 perhaps, that the great Swedish botanist, Linnaeus, 
 having never beheld the gorse blossom in its golden 
 glory in his own northern land, was so struck with 
 his first view of it on an English common in the 
 month of May, it is related of him, that falling on 
 his knees he thanked God for a sight so beautiful. 
 Both the plants lately mentioned, the broom 
 formerly Cytisus scoparius, now Sarotliamnus scopa- 
 rius and the gorse, belong to the leguminous 
 order : to be more particularly noticed next month. 
 On heath grounds, especially in the north, you may 
 find the sweet gale, or Dutch myrtle, a small shrubby 
 plant, with an aromatic resinous odour, and on hill 
 pastures generally, the Polygala vulgaris, or milk- 
 wort, its winged flowers varying from deep lilac, to 
 purple, pink, and pure white ; one of the prettiest 
 of our native wildlings. Less widely diffused, but 
 still common to hill grounds, the white blossoms 
 and fine leaves of the Arenaria verna, or sandwort, 
 in some places almost carpet the ground like turf. 
 Nowhere does this little plant grow in greater 
 perfection than on Arthur's Seat, near Edinburgh. 
 Almost have we overlooked the common bugle, 
 or Ajuga reptans, one of the labiates, resembling, 
 slightly, the ground-ivy, but with a much more erect 
 and stouter square stem, which is conspicuous 
 amid the grass of the moist pasture or wood, when
 
 MAT. 195 
 
 its purple labiated flowers, and purple upper leaves, 
 shew themselves towards the end of May. Tour 
 speciinen, however, will not be complete without 
 one or more of the creeping scions which the plant 
 sends out among the grass. Some of the rarer 
 species of orchis blossom this month, but they are 
 generally so conspicuous, that they are well known V $ 
 to those in whose neighbourhood they occur, and 
 our May catalogue has already extended to our 
 utmost limits. Many of the plants we have noticed, . 
 are as beautiful, nay, more so, than numbers which 
 find a place in the gay flower-border; and when 
 found, far more prized will they be, than the 
 brightest blossom offered ready to the hand from $^ 
 the bounds of cultivation. 
 
 JUKE. 
 
 " The grass is wet with shining dews, 
 Their silver bells hang on each tree, 
 While opening flower and bursting bud 
 Breathe incense forth unceasingly." 
 
 MOTHERWEIX. 
 
 P 
 
 SUMMER ! Full summer have we now in its beauty ; 
 and in its freshness : some, perhaps, of our Spring 
 friends have faded; the elongated leaves of the 
 snowdrop and primrose, the seed-vessels of the 
 violet, tell us that their reign of beauty is over for 
 another season ; but the numbers of the " past and 
 
 o2
 
 196 WILD FLOWERS. 
 
 beauteous sisterhood " are too few, their places are 
 too abundantly filled, to let us mark the change : 
 we can see only the overflowing vegetation of the 
 young Summer, the full leaf on the tree, and such 
 wealth of flowers, that not the longest of the 
 " bonny days of June," will suffice for excursions. 
 
 Last month we noticed one or two of the umbel- 
 bearing plants, or Umbellifera, which might then 
 be found in blossom ; now, in June we have many 
 more examples of this most important family. In 
 few districts can we go far "a-field," without meet- 
 ing with the true hemlock, the Conium maculatum, 
 or spotted conium ; so called from its stem being 
 marked, maculated, with dark purple spots. Per- 
 sons generally are in the habit of calling nearly all 
 umbel-bearing plants hemlock: the true hemlock 
 may be known at once, and with certainty, from its 
 being the only British umbelliferous plant with a 
 smooth spotted stem. Moreover, it is further re- 
 cognisable by its deep green, large, beautifully cut 
 leaves, and by the smell, resembling that of mice, 
 which the plant exhales when bruised. The hem- 
 lock is an excellent type of its family. Examine 
 its flowers, or those of any other of the umbelliferse, 
 which you can scarce now fail to recognise, and you 
 will find them all more or less approaching in form 
 and construction to the example Fig. 132. There 
 is a small scarcely perceptible calyx five petals, 
 often with an inflected point five stamens and 
 two styles crowning the more or less ribbed and fur-
 
 JUNE. 
 
 197 
 
 rowed carpels or seed-vessels. What a non-botanical 
 person would call the seed of an umbelliferous plant 
 Fig. 132, is composed 
 of two distinct carpels ; 
 which, when ripe, sepa- 
 rate down the central 
 line. These carpels, if 
 cut across Fig. 132, 
 will be found to contain 
 between each pair of 
 ribs, little canals, or 
 vittae, which are filled 
 with essential oil. Such 
 seeds as the caraway, the 
 rig. 132. dill, &c. &c., all belong 
 
 to umbelliferous plants, and their characteristic pro- 
 perties depend upon the oil contained in their vittae. 
 We will not attempt to enter into the distinctive 
 features of the umbelliferous plants which we may 
 encounter in our walks, for the reason that such 
 descriptions would afford but little aid ; but never- 
 theless, the botanist or collector should endeavour 
 to collect and to discriminate, if possible, with the 
 aid of a Elora, the different species he meets with ; 
 when well preserved, the umbelliferae, with their 
 beautiful divided leaves, make some of the prettiest 
 specimens of the herbarium. As a general rule it 
 is observed, that umbelliferous plants which grow 
 in damp situations as their usual habitat, are poison- 
 ous, and that those which are found in dry places
 
 198 WILD FLOWEBS. 
 
 are more generally useful aromatics. To the above, 
 however, the aromatic Angelica, used as a candied 
 sweetmeat, is an exception ; it grows in watery 
 places. 
 
 Taking leave of our umbelliferous friends, we 
 encounter this month many members of another 
 equally important, and extremely handsome family, 
 the Leguminous tribe, often called the Papiliona- 
 ceous from the fancied resemblance of its pea-blos- 
 somed flowers to the form of the butterfly. "We all 
 know the flower of the 
 common pea Fig. 133 
 with its standard 1 
 " 2 its wings 2 and its 
 keel 3 which last in- 
 closes the stamens and 
 Fig . 13a . style, that style forming 
 
 the future legume or pod. 
 
 Having selected our type of the family, we cannot go 
 far without meeting with some of the other members; 
 we shall find them all, in Britain at least, with the 
 same conformation. Let us turn to the clovers, a 
 goodly connexion in themselves. Here, at our feet, 
 is the common Dutch or white clover (Trifolium 
 repens) and not far off" the purple Trifolium arvense ; 
 towards the dry roadside we may gather one or 
 more of the bright yellow-blossomed species. This 
 species too, with its zigzag stems and purple blos- 
 soms, the Trifolium medium, you cannot mistake ; 
 look at them, and you will find them all papiliona-
 
 JUNE. 199 
 
 ceous, or pea-like ; only the flowers are collected into 
 heads, and the leaves trefoil. Close by the hedge 
 the yellow meadow vetchling or everlasting pea, the 
 Lathyrus pratensis, gives us yet another example 
 of a leguminous papilionaceous flower, and here, 
 climbing in the hedge itself, we find one of our 
 handsomest vetches, the Vicia cracca,or tufted vetch, 
 wi^h its crowded succession of bright lilac-purple 
 blossoms, which are imbricated over one another, as 
 if each sought to protect its fellow. "We have a 
 good many British vetches and vetchlings; but 
 these pea tribes, like our umbelliferous friends, have 
 so strong a family likeness, that any but a scientific 
 description would scarce enable our reader to dis- 
 criminate them. Collect all you can, nevertheless, 
 and get them named as and when you can. You 
 are certain to gather in some corn-field, where its 
 presence is often too abundant for the farmer, a 
 tiny little vetch-like plant, very slender and delicate, 
 with wee pale blue flowers. "You have the tare, or 
 Vicia Jiirsuta, its little pods containing a couple of 
 seeds; albeit, you will not distinguish this plant 
 from its twin brother, whose chief distinction is a 
 four-seeded pod. If you get on some dry gravelly 
 or hill pasture, look for a leguminous plant, with 
 its light purple flowers in a head like a trefoil, but 
 larger individually and collectively, seeming as if 
 much too large for the plant. It is the milk vetch, 
 or Astragalus very different from another plant, 
 the bird's-foot, or OrnitJiopus, which grows in similar
 
 200 WILD FLOWERS. 
 
 situations, bearing white, red-veined flowers, but 
 more distinguishable when its scurved scymitar-like 
 seed-pods are developed. The leaves of leguminous 
 plants generally are compound, that is, are composed 
 of separate leaflets, arranged on each side a central 
 stalk, as we see in the acacias, vetches, &c. ; the 
 central stalk terminating either in a leaflet, or, in 
 the climbing species, in a tendril. Few natural 
 families present us with more numerous or useful 
 articles than the Leguminos<s : we have food both 
 for man and animals, medicines, such as senna, 
 various, gums, &c.; dyes, such as logwood, and many 
 other products. 
 
 Our last step was up the hill pasture to look for 
 the milk-vetch ; if we find not that, we surely may 
 the pretty plaited-leaved Lady's mantle, or Alche- 
 milla vulgaris, growing close to the ground, with its 
 corymbs of yellow- green flowers. Properly, the 
 name of the alchemilla is not Lady's mantle, but 
 " Our Lady's mantle," the plant being one of the 
 many which were in former times connected in 
 name with the honours paid to the Virgin Mary. 
 " Lady's Slipper," " Virgin-bower," the Lady's- 
 cushion mossy saxifrage are examples of similarly 
 derived appellations. The common Lady's mantle 
 is pretty, but far handsomer is its northern sister, 
 the Alchemilla alpina, which eclipses it quite in the 
 beauty of its leaves ; these are five or six leaflets, 
 cut or serrated at the edge, and shining underneath 
 with a grey satiny lustre, rivalling the most bril-
 
 JUNE. 201 
 
 liant productions of the loom. On dry wall-tops 
 another little alchemilla, with small divided leaves, 
 and greenish flowers growing in their axils, may 
 now be found, but it is not like its handsome sisters. 
 The hill-side which yields us the alchemilla, can 
 scarce fail to offer the 
 
 " Thymy mound that flings unto the winds 
 Its morning incense." 
 
 We may rest awhile upon it, and gather some of 
 its labiated purple blossoms. Well does the sweet 
 wild thyme support the character of its family 
 LabiatcB for odoriferous properties. Do not be 
 surprised if you find some specimens covered with 
 a hoary down or pubescence. Our gathering of 
 hill plants must greatly depend on our whereabouts ; 
 but this month, and the next, we may hope for some 
 of the beautiful saxifrages to be added to our store. 
 Could we take a step to the southern Irish hills, we 
 might gather the Saxifraga umbrosa, better known 
 as London Pride or None-so-Pretty, in its native 
 wilds. Some will meet with the white flowered 
 Dryas, a rosaceous plant, its leaves covered beneath 
 with white down ; and on our Welsh or Highland 
 mountains, with the moss campion (Silene acaulis), 
 ornamenting the rocky hill-side with its purple 
 blossoms. And now we have one of Flora's special 
 beauties, a real fairy plant four inches high, springing 
 from the heath, or beneath the shadow of the moor- 
 land wood ; it is the Trientalis Europcea ; a slender 
 stem, with one or two slender leaves at intervals on
 
 202 WILD FLOWEBS. 
 
 its lower portion, at length throws out a whorl of 
 delicate green, oval leaves, from the centre of which 
 spring one, or two, or three most elegant white 
 flowers. The slender grace of the entire little plant 
 is extreme common in Scotland, it is found in the 
 North of England only. The Trientalis preserves 
 easily, and when well-dried, forms an elegant 
 specimen. 
 
 Another form of beauty, but more conspicuous, 
 have we in the bright yellow European globe flower, 
 well-known in our gardens, but only seen to perfec- 
 tion when waving, many flowers together, on the 
 moor in a breezy June day. It is a handsome 
 addition to our Hanunculaceae. Somewhere on our 
 hill ground we must meet with the stately foxglove 
 (Digitalis purpurea) to which few persons require a 
 formal introduction. 
 
 Time almost is it for us to look after some of the 
 numerous orchis flowers, which meet us in many 
 places. We can fancy our incipient botanist con- 
 siderably puzzled when he first examines an orchis 
 flower. "Where are the stamens ? Where are the 
 pistil and seed-vessel ? He can make nothing of it. 
 The Orchidece are in fact eccentric, and require 
 explanation. Fig. 134 is an orchis flower, with, 
 like the violet, a spur 4 it is supported by its 
 twisted seed-vessel, or ovary 3 -which rises from 
 a bract, 6 on the main stem 7. At 2 we have 
 a slightly moist spot, which answers to the pistil, 
 and at 1, not the stamens, but the stamen-pouches : 
 with the point of a needle open these, and you will
 
 JUNE. 
 
 203 
 
 Fig. 134. 
 
 find in each a little waxy-looking stamen, or 
 
 pollen - mass. These 
 pollen masses have the 
 appearances represent- 
 ed 5. Allowing for 
 variations, the above 
 will afford you some 
 idea of the orchideous 
 structure. You can 
 scarce fail to recognise 
 an orchis, after having 
 examined attentively 
 one or two of the family, 
 and scarcely will your 
 eye pass many of them over in your botanical 
 walks, for they are generally handsome and conspi- 
 cuous. Now, one of them at least will tell you its 
 whereabouts by another sense than that of sight 
 that of smell. The white butterfly orchis, or Habe- 
 naria bifolia, is extremely fragrant, and also the 
 smaller white Habenaria albida. Both are moor- 
 land wildlings ; many of our handsomest orchis 
 flowers, however, are found in meadows, pastures, 
 and on chalk soils ; others are found in woods. 
 
 In our woodland walks this month, we encounter 
 many plants which also ornament our gardens, 
 Monkshood is apt to stray from bounds and to make 
 itself at home, and the same may be said of the 
 Aquilegia, or columbine 
 
 " With horn of honey."
 
 204 WILD FLOWEES. 
 
 The honeysuckles, or, as they are called botanically, 
 Loniceras, are at home everywhere, so is the privet. 
 Less common, the way faring- tree, or guelder rose, 
 may occasionally be met with, especially the com- 
 moner species, or Viburnum opulus, which now 
 shows its cymes of white blossoms, and later in the 
 year its bright red-purple berries, which vie in 
 colour in the hedgerows of mid and southern 
 England, with those of the Tamus communis, or 
 black bryony, also in flower this month, and throw- 
 ing its trailing stems, and bright green heart-shaped 
 leaves, high up among the hedgerow shrubs. It is 
 a handsome climber. We may find in its company, 
 in the south, the clematis, or traveller's joy. In 
 the wood betony, we recognise another labiated 
 friend, its flowers bearing an evident resemblance 
 to those of the red nettle. The length of stem 
 between its leaves is a feature of the plant that 
 will give you some guide in making it out. Before 
 we leave the wood, gather the plant with the some- 
 what heart-shaped leaves, the small pinkish flowers, 
 and creeping root, it is the Circcea, or enchanter's 
 night-shade, and grows in shady damp places, as 
 these witching plants are said to do. And now we 
 may take our turn to the lake and the stream, col- 
 lecting, if we can find it, on the margin of the 
 former, the Hippuris, or mare's tail. Tou may 
 know it by its erect jointed stem, from one to two 
 feet high, and its whorled linear leaves eight or ten 
 together. But you must not expect the blossom to
 
 JU2TE. 205 
 
 attract your eye ; for one little stamen, and one 
 little style at the base of each upper leaf, is all it 
 has to boast of in this way. It is one of the three 
 British representatives of the first class and order 
 (Monandria. Monogynia) of the Linna3an arrange- 
 ment of plants. In similar situations to the mare's- 
 tail, we maj find one or other of the water mill- 
 foils, with their numerous fine leaves, and slender 
 spikes bearing barren and fertile blossoms, that is 
 the stamen and pistils, separately. 
 
 The bladderworts are another genus of our June 
 flowering water-plants, and not the least curious, 
 being distinguished by the presence "on their roots, 
 stems, and even leaves, of numerous membranaceous 
 reticulated vesicles, which are said to be filled with 
 water, till it is necessary the plant should rise 
 to the surface and expand its blossoms above that 
 fluid. The vesicles are then found to contain only 
 air, by aid of which the plant floats ! This air again 
 in autumn gives place to water, and the plant 
 descends to ripen the seeds at the bottom." It has 
 been observed that the bladders of Utricularia 
 vulgaris common bladderwort " have an orifice 
 closed by an elastic valve, opening inwards, and of 
 much thinner texture than the bladder to which it is 
 attached. Aquatic insects often enter these bladders 
 and are of course imprisoned."* Many of the pond- 
 weeds, or Potamogetons, blossom in June ; but their 
 comparatively dull exterior, and somewhat difficult 
 
 * Hooker's Brit. Flora.
 
 206 WILD FLOWEBS. 
 
 characters, will scarcely attract the attentions of 
 young botanists, who have so many of the gayer 
 summer beauties awaiting them. All know the 
 floating brown-looking leaves of the pond-weed, 
 which almost choke up our streams in summer. Of 
 their associates the sedges, or carices genus carex 
 we will speak next month in connexion with the . 
 grasses. We may well leave the sad coloured pond- 
 weeds, to gather the golden iris flower, the yelloW 
 water iris, though we must almost certainly get wet 
 feet in the doing it, for it generally gets deep in its, 
 we might call it, " native element." A handsome 
 flower it is. Turn up the arched yellow petal-like 
 coverings which form the pistils, and you will 
 discover the stamens underneath. Get as much of 
 the plant as you can, but you will scarce persuade 
 your herbarium paper to hold its great creeping 
 root. If our stream should be an English brook, 
 and not a Scottish burn, we may chance to add to 
 our collection the large pale-purple corollas of the 
 water violet, or Hottonia palustris, which, leaving 
 the plant leaves beneath the water, rise conspicuous 
 on their solitary stem. But if our step out of the 
 water is to the shore of a highland loch, we can 
 scarce fail to plant our foot on the green, turf-like 
 patches of the shore-weed (Littorelld) , its linear 
 fleshy leaves, and fertile or pistil-bearing flowers, 
 nestling and blossoming in the axils formed by the 
 former, with the stems or " scapes " which support 
 the stamens or barren flowers two inches higher in 
 the world.
 
 JUNE. 207 
 
 Our next marsh friend claims kindred with the 
 roses, through the family of the Potentillas ; indeed, 
 it might be mistaken for one of the latter family. 
 It is the marsh cinquefoil, or Comarum palustre, 
 and bears on its upright, branched stem, flowers of 
 a dingy purple resembling in shape those of the 
 strawberry. In the same marshy situations as the 
 last plant, we meet with another rosaceous con- 
 nexion, the water avens, or Geum rivale ; growing 
 a little better than a foot high, with drooping blos- 
 soms of a dull orange colour, you will almost surely 
 recognise the plant. 
 
 One more marsh friend, almost the prettiest of 
 all, and we return to dry ground. Look low down, 
 almost among the moss, for the sweet little pink 
 corollas of the bog pimpernel (Anagallis tenella), 
 the name almost speaks of elegance and if you 
 have the good fortune to find them, watch before 
 you gather, how prettily its slender stems and small 
 ovate leaves rest upon their mossy bed not less 
 prettily will the plants rest on the paper of your 
 herbarium, if you preserve it well, and it is worth 
 preserving. You cannot fail, either, to mark the 
 family likeness to the larger and better known 
 scarlet pimpernel of our corn-fields, which is said, by 
 closing its brilliant blossoms to give timely notice 
 of summer rain. How shall we enumerate all the 
 
 " Bright gems of earth in which perchance we see, 
 What Eden was, what Paradise inay be, "
 
 208 WILD FLOWERS. 
 
 that yet await our June wanderings. Here are the 
 grasses in scores, but these we leave till next 
 month. 
 
 The wild roses crowd the hedges, but all know 
 the roses, and their different species we dare not 
 enter upon ; neither upon the brambles ; all we can 
 say is, gather them, dry them, and have them 
 named as well as possible ; but they are often 
 puzzling, even to the discrimination of the practised 
 botanist. The potentillas are near connexions of 
 both, and belong to the family of the rosacese. 
 The creeping Potentilla reptans, with its yellow 
 flowers, long creeping stems, and palmated leaves, 
 and the Potentilla anserina silverweed, or cinque- 
 foil are the species now most commonly met 
 with in blossom. The latter has yellow flowers 
 also ; its much divided pinnate leaves are remark- 
 able for their silvery gloss on the under-side. 
 Sharing the hedges with the roses, and supporting 
 its long weak stems, rough palm-shaped leaves, 
 and white green-veined flowers, by means of its 
 spiral tendrils, we find the bryony (Bryonia dioicd). 
 Stop one moment from the pursuit of more showy 
 flowers, to examine the plantain (Plantago). All 
 know the plants : one species of which (Plantago 
 major) they gather for their pet birds, when its 
 long-spiked heads are in seed. Let us take the 
 equally common ribwort plantain, of which the 
 black cylindrical heads are now conspicuous every-
 
 JUNE. 
 
 209 
 
 where, hanging out from each little floret of which 
 the head is composed, four long stamens Fig. 135. 
 
 Examine the plant 
 closely, and you will 
 find it prettier in 
 detail than it ap- 
 pears in mass. Each 
 little floret Fig. 
 135, 1 i very per- 
 fect in itself, and 
 if you open one 
 up which is not 
 fully expanded 3 
 you will find the 
 long filaments 2 
 of the stamens curi- 
 ously doubled up in the packing, as represented. 
 Our handsomest plantain (Plantago media) is con- 
 spicuous from its long, silvery, pink-looking spikes. 
 "We must not overlook the yellow rattle (Bhinan- 
 tJius crista galli), for ere long its seeds will be 
 rattling in its quickly ripened seed-vessel. Its com- 
 pressed, dark yellow, beaked corolla, and the purple 
 spotting of its smooth stem, will introduce it to you. 
 The meadow rue (Thalictrum), and the pheasant's 
 eye (Adonis') , the one with its yellow, the other with 
 its bright scarlet flowers, again remind us ofRanun- 
 culacece, and on waste ground, especially if newly 
 turned up, as on railway embankments, we have, 
 with their flowers of mingled red and black, the 
 
 Fig. 135.
 
 210 WILD FLOWEES. 
 
 Fumitories, of which, do what you will, you will find 
 it difficult to make neat specimens, their cut and 
 doubly cut leaves are so inextricably confused 
 together. Cruciferous friends meet us in the form 
 of charlocks, wild mustard, &c. ; and we now find the 
 different species of Euphorbia, or spurges, with their 
 acrid milky juice famed as a wart remedy. You must 
 look for their stamens and pistils separate. TJnder 
 the hedge-sides, the scarlet Lychnis diurna, and the 
 white Lychnis vespertina, the latter so fragrant in 
 the evening, are commonly found, and twining above 
 them, probably, one or both of the bindweeds, 
 better known as convolvulus, whether the small 
 pink or the large handsome white. Nearly allied 
 to the Lychnis, the Silene inflata, or bladder campion, 
 is to be recognized by its blown-up calyx ; which, 
 however, is also found in the Silene maritima. 
 Neither must we forget the various geraniums, or 
 cranes-bills, alluded to more in detail last month. 
 Nor our old friends the composite flowers, repre- 
 sented by the handsome purple goatsbeard, or by 
 the numerous genus of Hieraceum, or hawkweed, 
 which so many mistake for dandelion. 
 
 But here we must stop. Many a bright wild 
 flower of "blessed form and dye," are we forced to 
 leave unnoticed, in this month of floral abundance ; 
 but that is no reason why our readers should leave 
 them to " blush unseen." Nay, let them find them 
 for themselves ; we must not tell them all, but let 
 somewhat remain for expectation.
 
 MONTHLY ILLTJSTBATIONS. 211 
 
 JULY. 
 
 " The spirit of beauty unfurls her light, 
 And wheels her course in. a joyous flight ; 
 I know her track through the balmy air, 
 By the blossoms that cluster and whiten there. 
 
 ***** 
 Still wheeling her flight through the gladsome air, 
 The spirit of beauty is every where. 
 
 DAWKS. 
 
 " ON field, and hill, and river," in wood and glen, 
 on moss and moorland, rests the " Spirit of Beauty," 
 for the flowers of July are blossoming in their 
 abundance. ISTor must we forget the sea-shore, for 
 there too may we find flowers. We begin with 
 the well known thrift, or sea pink (Armeria tnari- 
 tima,) so commonly used in some places, instead 
 of box, as an edging for flower-plots. Here it 
 meets us on the sandy downs, but its pink heads of 
 flowers also ornament the rock crevices quite down 
 to the shore. The allied family of sea lavenders, or 
 Statice, is less widely distributed than the former, 
 but its members are found in some special localities. 
 In some of these rock crevices, mayhap, too, we meet 
 with one of our umbelliferous friends, better known 
 perhaps to many of our readers as it appears in 
 the pickle bottle ; we allude to the rock samphire 
 (Crithmum maritimumJ) Its aromatic, pale green, 
 fleshy, cylindrical leaves, and umbelliferous cha- 
 racter, sufficiently mark it. Another sea-shore 
 umbel-bearer, like the last, better known on the 
 
 p2
 
 212 WILD FLOWERS. 
 
 table than in its natural condition, is the Apium 
 graveolens, or wild celery. It is found chiefly in 
 places rendered marshy by the salt water. We 
 must not, however, lead our flower gatherers to ex- 
 pect an extempore salad with their midday lunch. 
 In its uild condition the celery is very strong tasted, 
 and requires the ameliorating influences of cultiva- 
 tion to render it fit for food. You will scarce per- 
 haps give the next plant, with its compact heads ol 
 beautiful blue flowers, and its prickly leaves, credit 
 as an umbelliferous member ; but it is one, never- 
 theless, and a pretty one too, growing quite down 
 amid the sand. It is the sea holly, or Eryngium. 
 Do not, however, take the matter for granted ; but, 
 if you have the good fortune to find the plant, exa- 
 mine for yourself. Observe, further, a characteristic 
 of the stiff leaves : they are covered with a sort ol 
 blueish or sea-green bloom, being what is called 
 glaucous. This character is very common in plants 
 growing near the sea, though not confined to them. 
 You will find it too, very strongly marked in the 
 case of the yellow- horned poppy (Grlauciwn luteum), 
 a far from unhandsome ornament to our sea-shores, 
 which it makes gay where it grows, with its very 
 handsome yellow blossoms. It cannot escape either 
 notice or recognition, especially when itscurved pods, 
 more than half a foot long, are developed. Another 
 sea-shore plant, which exhibits this glaucous cha- 
 racter, is the CaJcile maritima, or sea rocket, one of 
 the cruciferous order, with pretty pinkish white
 
 JULY. 213 
 
 flowers, and almost bushy in its growth. Its fre- 
 quent companion, with tuftsof smooth kidney-shaped 
 leaves, white flowers, and globe-shaped seed vessels, 
 is also cruciferous, and possesses the dietetic and 
 partly medicinal properties of the order, whence it 
 is named the scurvy grass, or Gochlearia maritima, 
 being a near relative of our well known horse-radish. 
 The scurvy grass does not present the glaucus cha- 
 racter, but our next friend derives its name from it. 
 The Glaux maritima is common on almost every 
 shore, and is conspicuous for its rose-coloured 
 flowers, resting in the axils which its ovate, fleshy, 
 opposite leaves, form with its branched and procum- 
 bent stem. It is pretty while growing; but, like most 
 fleshy-leaved plants, loses much of its beauty in the 
 drying. Salt-marshes never look very inviting for ex- 
 ploration, and are almost necessarily connected with 
 wet feet, but we must search the first we come to, for 
 the much-branched but leafless glasswort (Salicornia 
 herbacea), with its curious jointed, cylindrical stems, 
 which look candied like a sweetmeat with saline in- 
 crustations. A somewhat similar plant, the salt- 
 wort (Salsoli kali,) we may find growing on most 
 sandy shores. These, aud sea-shore plants generally, 
 are remarkable for containing a considerable amount 
 of soda in their composition. Along with the above, 
 some of the various species of Atriplex or sea-purs- 
 lane are not uncommon, many of them noticeable 
 for the sort of mealy bloom which covers their leaves, 
 and gives them a hoary, frosted look. A species of
 
 214 WILD FLOWEBS. 
 
 plantain too (Plantago maritima), delights in the 
 grassy margins of the coast, its leaves linear and 
 grass-like. JS^ot unfrequently is it accompanied by 
 a relative, the buck's-horn plantain, or Plantago 
 coronopus, which derives its names from the peculiar 
 cutting of the leaves. Amid our sea-shore plants, 
 however, the grasses are neither the least interesting, 
 nor perhaps the least useful. One especially, the 
 sea-reed, or Ammoplrila arundinacea, deserves our 
 attention for the eminent service it performs on low 
 sea-margins, such as those of Holland, where its 
 roots matting together in the sand, form a power- 
 ful obstacle to the inroads of the ocean. We shall 
 surely find its large, thickly set heads, without going 
 far, and probably in its company, its assistant in 
 the work of sea-resistance the Triticum junceum, 
 or sea-wheat grass, with its spikelets thinly set on 
 its zigzag stems. Both grasses have the glaucous 
 hue already alluded to. Other sea-side grasses 
 might we point out, but space would fail, and we 
 rather pass on to a review of the general characters 
 of this numerous and important family, whose mem- 
 bers this month are in their full perfection. Vain 
 would it be to strive after more than a general sketch 
 of the grasses ; their distinctive marks are, for the 
 most part, so minute, that it would not be possible 
 here to give the reader any clue to the names of those 
 he gathers; nevertheless, such of our readers as desire 
 really to have a good and useful knowledge of 
 plants, ought to gather the grasses, and to preserve
 
 JULY. 
 
 215 
 
 them, which by the way is a very easy matter. They 
 make pretty specimens, and moreover admit of being 
 examined at any time, even when dry; so that if our 
 inexperienced friends are for the present too much 
 occupied with the more attractive, fleeting, and 
 easily comprehended flowers, usually so called, they 
 may well leave the grasses for the winter fireside. 
 But though we thus, in a measure, exclude the 
 grasses from the ranks of gay flowers, they are 
 nevertheless perfect flowers with calyx and corolla 
 pieces or at least with parts answering thereto 
 stamens and pistils. We need not, this month, go 
 far for a specimen in full bloom ; at all events figures 
 136 and 137 furnish us with the requisite examples 
 for the present, and will be a guide to the examina- 
 tion and comprehension of the real plants. The 
 
 flowers of grasses are 
 usually arranged in 
 spikelets, such as we 
 see in wheat, or as 
 represented Fig. 136, 
 these spikelets being 
 either closely fixed to 
 a central stem or ra- 
 chis, as in wheat, or 
 loosely hung or pa- 
 nicled, as in the case 
 of the oat. Each 
 spikelet is generally inclosed within two scales or 
 glumes, which form its common involucre. The
 
 216 WILD FLOWERS. 
 
 florets which compose the spikelet, being, whether 
 few or many, generally made up each of two un- 
 equal scales, or palese 2 within which are in- 
 closed the stamens 4, 4 and the styles 3, 3 
 which spring from the seeds or grain. The sta- 
 mens, usually three in number, are very loosely 
 attached, being what is called versatile, and hang 
 conspicuously out of the florets accompanied by the 
 two feathery styles, at the base of which is situated 
 the seed-vessel or grain many of the glumes and 
 palese of the grass flowers are marked by nervings 
 or ribs. These furnish distinctive characters, which 
 are further derived from the terminations, &c. &c. of 
 the flower scales. Thus in Pig. 137, 2, the inner palea 
 is seen to be toothed or bifid, in 
 Fig. 136, the corresponding scale 
 is not so. Again, in Fig. 136, 
 prolongations or awns are seen 
 to proceed from the backs of 
 the outer or larger pales, albeit, 
 sometimes, these appendages arise 
 from the extremities of the scales. 
 Before closing our examination of the grasses, we 
 may further remark their cylindrical, hollow, fistu- 
 lous stems, with joints or diaphragms, and their 
 straight-veined leaves, slit down the sheath by which 
 they are attached to the central stem. The exami- 
 nation of such comparatively plain vegetable produc- 
 tions as the grasses, may not at first seem to possess 
 much interest, but it will be found far otherwise if
 
 JULY. 217 
 
 entered into ; indeed many botanists will pass by the 
 gay flower for the grass. Perhaps, however, we have 
 said too much in depreciation of the grass family. 
 It is true we do not find bright and varied colours, 
 but we do find among them most elegant forms. 
 What can be more graceful than the droop of the oat, 
 or of the brome grasses, or of the wood melicas ? 
 What prettier than the silky lustre of some of the 
 smaller Avenas or oat grasses ? What more slenderly 
 delicate than the Airas or hair grasses nay, we 
 might ask, what more stately than the common 
 reed (Pliraymitis communis), which ornaments our 
 waters with its stems or culms from six to eight feet 
 in height, crowned by its gracefully drooping, many- 
 flowered, purple panicle. Enough we have vindi- 
 cated the grasses from the charge of being a plain, if 
 they are not a brilliant family. We will not, we must 
 not, enter into their individual merits, but, having 
 recommended them to notice in this their month 
 of perfection,* pass on to their equally interesting 
 if less useful relatives, the sedges carices of the 
 genus Carex Fig. 138. The sedges, although 
 bearing a general superficial resemblance to the 
 grasses, will, on examination, be found essentially 
 different instead of their stamens and pistils being 
 found together, they are separated, either on the 
 same spike, or, as in the species figured, on sepa- 
 rate spikes. In this case the spike of barren or 
 
 * Although the grasses are chiefly noticed this month, it must be re- 
 membered that some flower in May and many in June.
 
 WILD FLOWERS. 
 
 stamen -bearing flowers 1 is single, and termi- 
 nal, and there are three fertile, or pistil and seed- 
 
 bearing spikes 2 ; neither are there, as in the 
 grasses, two opposing glumes or flower scales, but 
 only one, which incloses either the two or three 
 stamens, or the seed. Moreover, the stems of the
 
 JULY. 219 
 
 sedges are not, like those of the grasses, cylindrical, 
 but are acutely angular : the leaves too are gene- 
 rally angular, and are not slit where they embrace 
 the stem. Few families of plants are more puzzling 
 and difficult to the young botanist than the sedges ; 
 but still we say collect and preserve specimens 
 when and how you can, and the time will probably 
 come when you will become interested even in the 
 difficulty of discrimination, and if it does not, you 
 will possess specimens of a highly characteristic 
 family of the monocotyledonous division of the 
 vegetable kingdom. Generally, the sedges are the 
 denizens of moist places, but some are found in 
 pastures and on hill-sides, and one is a sea-shore 
 plant, serving, like some of the grasses, to bind 
 together the shifting sand. Many carices are 
 serviceable to man, but they are much less impor- 
 tant in this respect than the food-bearing graminea?. 
 The sedges belong to an order, the Cyperacece, 
 which includes a variety of other similar plants, 
 chiefly of the rush kind; there are the club or 
 bull-rushes, the spike, and the mud-rush, and 
 others, which in our rambles we are sure to meet 
 with ; suffice it to say, that these are all included 
 under the division Glumosce ; in other words, their 
 flowers if we may call them so consist each of 
 a single glume or scale. Neither must we con- 
 found the cyperous rushes with the rush or juncus 
 proper, that is with the rush and its brethren
 
 220 
 
 WILD FLOWEBS. 
 
 from which we make the rush caps of school- 
 boy days. These and their woodland relatives, the 
 Luzulas or hairy wood-rushes, will, if examined, be 
 found to carry much more perfect-looking flowers 
 than the others Fig. 139. We fear, however, that 
 we shall not persuade many 
 in their first botanical rambles 
 to turn away from the many 
 bright petaled flowers that 
 now, for the first time, meet 
 their awakened sight during 
 
 " The long sunuy lapse of a summer clay's 
 light," 
 
 Flg . 13 a. and take up with the sober 
 
 rushes. Nevertheless, we can- 
 not let them go from the stream and the marsh, 
 even with the excuse of wet feet, till we have got 
 through some more introductions. Here then is 
 another rush : but it is one whose handsome form 
 will atone for past dulness, for it is the flowering- 
 rush, or Butomus umlellatus, carrying an umbel of 
 many bright coloured red flowers on the summit of 
 a tall 3 tapering, cylindrical stem handsome it looks 
 in the water, for it is generally tolerably off shore, 
 but it will tempt the most prudent to risk a 
 damp shoe. Rivalling in height this queen of the 
 rushes, we have the Typlia latifolia, or cat's-tail, 
 sending its cylindrical dark coloured spike or 
 spadix three or four feet above the water. Forming,
 
 JULY. 221 
 
 as it were, an underwood to these tall water plants, 
 the branched bur-reed always attracts attention, its 
 sword-shaped leaves, and the spherical heads of 
 what are its flowers, with the branching of the 
 stems, are different from all the same class of plants 
 around. Truly our water-plants are not of the 
 Peace Society, for, after the sword leaves of the 
 bur-reed or Sparganium, we encounter in some 
 places the water-soldier or Stratiotes, showing its 
 white flowers guarded by its edged leaves and stems, 
 and, probably, not far off are the beautifully-shaped 
 arrow or spear-head leaves of the arrow-head or 
 Saggitaria. The plant has also white flowers, but 
 the shape of the leaves at once tells, and almost 
 suggests, its name. More common than the last 
 plants, for they are not found in Scotland, the 
 water-plantain, or Alisma plantago, is of frequent 
 occurrence in our ponds and ditches : you may 
 know it by its broad leaves rising on long stalks 
 from the root, and by the three, pale rose-coloured 
 petals of its blossoms borne on the many-branched 
 stem. "Wash all the roots well, and we may go, 
 having been long enough in these moist places, 
 even for July. Moreover we have plenty of work 
 before us. Last month we only glanced at the 
 roses, and left them as other beauties are some- 
 times apt to be left because we scarce could 
 manage them ; and this time we must do the same 
 with their relatives the brambles genus Subus. 
 The brambles are rosaceous plants, and many of
 
 222 WILD FLOWEKS. 
 
 them the inexperienced botanist will in vain en- 
 deavour to make out some, however, are well 
 marked. None can mistake the Hubus id&us, com- 
 mon raspberry, especially when in fruit, and few 
 will pass it on a hot summer day when its berries 
 are ripe moreover, they have, though small, a 
 flavour superior to those of the cultivated plant. 
 The raspberry is found wild, very commonly in 
 Scotland, but less so south of the Tweed. It 
 delights in the northern woods, or in the stony 
 margins of mountain torrents : when in blossom, 
 and dried, it makes a very pretty specimen. By 
 the stony margins of some of the Scottish lochs 
 the \vild raspberry is found in great perfection. It 
 used to grow profusely, and may do so still, by the 
 bank 
 
 "of sweet St. Mary's," 
 
 in Selkirkshire, a lovely sheet of water, which lies 
 embosomed amid the pastoral hills of what are 
 sometimes called the Southern Highlands, and 
 which used to be a favourite haunt of Scott and of 
 "Wilson ; and was of Eliot "Warburton, just previous 
 to his last and fatal voyage. Not that we would con- 
 nect the presence of the poets and authors with 
 the fact of the raspberries, but yet we would 
 answer for it that none of them would pass by the 
 tempting fruit without stopping to gather ; though 
 we fear, not for botanical contemplation. Somehow 
 the bramble genus has not been a favourite with
 
 JULY. 223 
 
 the poets, one only that we can remember 
 Ebenezer Elliot, the "Corn-law rhymer" has 
 specially addressed the " wild bramble of the 
 brake," with, as he calls the blossom, its " small 
 white rose." Brambles and prickles are usually 
 associated, but there is a little Alpine native, which, 
 in autumn, offers its large well flavoured orange- 
 red berry, without a thorn, and which, this month, 
 ornaments the damp patches'of some of the northern 
 moorlands with its large white flowers, each little 
 plant, about eight inches high, bearing but one 
 flower and one berry it is the cloud-berry, or 
 queen's-berry : covering large patches of ground, it 
 is a favourite cover for the muir-fowl, which find 
 in it both food and shelter. Another mountain 
 bramble, the Bubus saxatilis, flourishes, as its name 
 implies, in stony places it has creeping stems, and 
 its flowers are small and inconspicuous. Having 
 apparently got upon the hills, as it is no joke 
 ascending them twice, we may search for some 
 more of their July blossoms. Happy should we be, 
 if, in the north, we can find the plant namesake of 
 the great botanist, the Linrioea lorealis. "We must 
 give its picture Fig. 140 for it is called after 
 Linnaeus, the father of botanical science, and its 
 graceful and withal fragrant bells deserve an illus- 
 tration. Scarcely less beautiful are our next moun- 
 tain friends, the Pyrolas, or winter-greens, which 
 send up their stems or scapes of white blossoms, 
 drooping with the grace of those of the lily of the
 
 224 WILD FLOWEBS. 
 
 valley, which in some degree they resemble. Next 
 come those funny little plants the sun-dews, or 
 
 140. The Linncca, or Linntea boreaZit, a northern 
 plant of much beauty, named after the great Swedish 
 botanist. 
 
 Droseras, both round and long leaved, and covered 
 with those red sticky glands which they use as fly, 
 or rather midge traps, and with so much success, 
 for they are always covered with the unfortunate 
 insects : these plants grow in the bogs. On the 
 dry rocky uplands we shall probably find the 
 Heliantliemum vulgare, or rock-rose, expanding its 
 limp yellow petals to the sun, and near it a small 
 leguminous plant, the Anthyllis^ kidney vetch, or 
 lady's fingers, bearing double heads of reddish 
 flowers. 
 
 A rapid glance through the woods for the July 
 flowers are conspicuous. "We can scarce miss the 
 yellow corollas of the Melampyrum pratense, or
 
 JULY. 225 
 
 common cow-wheat, which spring from the axils of 
 the opposite, narrow, lance-shaped leaves. Nor can 
 the true bells of the campanulas escape us, unless 
 it be those of the very small and graceful ivy- leaved 
 species, the Campanula hederacea, in the shade of 
 the wood. These are mostly July flowers, and one, 
 the best and most fondly known, our own " hair- 
 bell," will ever connect the Campanulas with this 
 month in Sir Walter's concluding lines of the C 
 
 " ^"~ 
 
 " but still, 
 
 When Summer smiled on sweet Bow-hill, 
 And July's eve, with balmy breath, 
 Waved the blue-liells* on Newark heath." 
 
 Almost sacrilege it is to pass from these to the 
 AlHums, or garlics, to whose not unhandsome flowers 
 the reader may find his way by other sense than 
 sight. Scarcely more odorous, either, are the 
 woundworts Stachys with dark purple labiate 
 flowers. Pluck the white flowers of the dog-wood 
 tree, and let us back to the fields and meadows, for 
 we shall not overtake half they have to offer us. 
 Here are all the rough-leaved members of the borage 
 family, and among them the stony seeded Lithosper- 
 mums or G-rom wells, at least the commonest, with 
 white flowers ; the AncTiusa, or alkanet, with its 
 bright blue wheel-shaped corollas ; the common bug- 
 loss, its blossoms less regular than that of the 
 other species, but also bright blue, and contrasting 
 
 * The wild hyacinth is often called the blue-bell ; but here we have 
 the great authority that these are the real blue-bells. 
 
 Q
 
 226 WILD FLOWEBS. 
 
 strangely with the very rough or hispid leaves and 
 steins of the plant which bears them. Add to 
 these the borage itself, its corollas, from their size, 
 making their azure hues most conspicuous. Then 
 again we have the Cynoglossum officinale or hound' s- 
 tongue, still bristly, but softer to the touch than 
 any of the foregoing ; smelling, too, disagreeably ; 
 its flowers of a lurid red. Nearly all these plants 
 grow amid debris, and in waste places. To the 
 same family belong our friends the forget-me-nots, 
 already noticed : even a superficial comparison will 
 show the resemblance. Members of the ranun- 
 culus family still cross our path, and the Papaver- 
 acece, or poppies, present us with the celandine or 
 chelidonium, bearing small yellow flowers, which 
 perhaps less attract attention than the beautifully 
 shaped deep green leaves. Tou break a stem, and 
 a gamboge yellow juice exudes. Long ere this 
 some of the willow-herb, or Epildbium genus, must 
 have attracted your attention. The handsomest 
 Epilobium Angustifolium, or rose-bay willow-herb, 
 you may not have met with except in gardens, but 
 the IE. Mrsutum or great hairy species, is so com- 
 mon and conspicuous in our ditches it grows to 
 the height of four or five feet that its rose-coloured 
 flowers could not be missed. Examine its four-cleft 
 stigmas the other species all bear smaller blos- 
 soms, but you will scarce fail to detect their resem- 
 blance to one another. A no less conspicuous 
 family the St. John's worts we notice next month,
 
 JULY. 227 
 
 for we must now look into the cornfields ere the 
 sickle clears the ground. Surely we find the upright 
 stem and purple red flowers of the corn-cockle, or 
 Agrostema githago, and no less certainly the bril- 
 liant blue composite heads of the blue-bottle, or 
 Centaur ea Cyanus, rivalling in bright colouring the 
 golden yellow of the corn marigold, or Chrysanthe- 
 mum segetum. Another pretty flower we may gather, 
 the common flax, or Linum usitatissimum ; most 
 know the graceful blue flowers of the lint " when in 
 the bell." The lesser species Linum catharticum, or 
 purging flax, common in most pasture ground, is a 
 pretty slender plant, and before folding its little 
 blossoms, droops them in most modest fashion. 
 Geraniums, or crane-bills, which we have not seen 
 before, but which we recognize from their relatives 
 we do know, will probably be picked up, and trefoils 
 too, also recognizable from their family resemblances. 
 Among them the hare's-foot trefoil, with its hairy 
 looking heads, in which the little flowers are almost 
 lost, and the strawberry headed, more conspicuous 
 when in fruit. But here we must stop, hoping next 
 month to make amends to some of our floral 
 favourites for our apparent neglect of them in the 
 long list for July. 
 
 Q 2
 
 228 WILD FLOWERS. 
 
 AUGUST. 
 
 " Blessed be God for flowers ; 
 For the bright, gentle, holy thoughts that breathe 
 From out their odorous beauty like a wreath 
 
 Of sunshine on life's hours." 
 
 little plant we have almost let escape us amid 
 tlie profusion of " buds and bells," one, the tiny 
 blossoms of which well repay the attentive examiner 
 it is the little Euphrasia, or eyebright, better 
 known for its reputed powers of giving cheerfulness 
 to the mind, and brightness and clear sight to the 
 eyes, than for its beauty. "We must not miss it, for 
 we would take it as an emblem of the effect which 
 we trust these monthly papers may have had, and 
 may yet have, upon the thoughts and eyes of some 
 of our readers. May we hope that weeds and wild 
 flowers are now seen by them that never were seen 
 before, and that, being seen, they are regarded with 
 different eyes and feelings than heretofore, at least 
 with greater interest. May we hope that to some 
 the " pure sweet flowers of God" have breathed 
 "bright, gentle, holy thoughts," that some have 
 learned to say and feel, " Blessed be God for 
 flowers !" and that, perchance, in some botanical 
 ramble, a few of " life's hours" have basked in a 
 sunshine that otherwise they would have missed. 
 If it has been so, our literary eyebright has greatly
 
 AUGUST. 229 
 
 fulfilled its mission. But to the flower itself: it 
 grows both on the lowland pasture and on the high- 
 land hill ; moreover, the breezy uplands seem more 
 favourable to its flourishing than the low grounds. 
 In the latter it is most frequently a small single- 
 stemmed plant, rarely exceeding three or four inches 
 in height; on the former, it rises often to eight 
 inches, and throws out many branches, on which its 
 purple-veined flowers are thickly placed. We must 
 then mount the hills for fine specimens of our eye- 
 bright, and where so pleasant as the hills and moor- 
 land-heaths in August, for they are now in their 
 full flush of beauty with the " blooming heather." 
 The heather, or as it is called in England the ling, 
 botanically, Calluna vulgaris gives its rich purple 
 colour in the landscape: now and then, however, 
 isolated plants bear white blossoms. This is like- 
 wise the case with the cross-leaved heath, or Erica 
 tetralix, which you may know by its rose-coloured 
 bells much larger and more bell-like than the 
 heather blossoms and by its hoary or pubescent 
 appearance ; the latter character distinguishing it 
 at once from the fine-leaved heath, or Erica cinerea, 
 the blossoms of which are not very dissimilar. 
 Other and rarer heaths are occasionally met with, 
 but scarce require our notice here.* On these heath- 
 grounds, you may gather a plant with rough linear 
 
 * It should be remembered that previous to putting the heaths in the 
 drying press, they ought to be plunged for a moment into hot water, 
 otherwise their leaves are extremely apt to fall off in the herbarium.
 
 230 
 
 WILD FLOWERS. 
 
 leaves, and with heads of bright blue flowers which 
 make it look wonderfully like one of our composite 
 friends ; this, however, it is not, as you will at once 
 discern on examination, for it is claimed by the 
 campanulas. Its name is the sheep's-bit or Jasione ; 
 we shall find another "bit" among the composites 
 somewhat like it. Our next is not a campanula, 
 though its four-cleft corolla is somewhat bell-shaped. 
 It is the common field gentian Oentiana campes- 
 tris a pretty plant with its numerous purplish 
 blossoms. We have other gen- 
 tians, earlier flowering, but they 
 are comparatively rare. Not so 
 their near connexion, the cen- 
 taury, or Erythraea centaurium, 
 which shows its handsome, 
 bright-rose-pink corollas on most 
 of our dry pastures. When we 
 reach the sea- shore we may find 
 some smaller species of ery- 
 thraea, which so closely resem- 
 ble the first named, except in 
 size, that it may well be doubted 
 iiow- whether they do not claim 
 
 wort. The stem pierces as it , j- i j , m J3 J 
 were the cent e of a leaf; it is in trOm it direct dCSCent. TO find 
 reality surrounded by the junc- 
 tion of two leaves at their baes. ano th er o f the gentian tribe, 
 
 the vellow-wort, or Chlora perfoliata, we must look 
 southward. It is a pretty plant, and exemplifies 
 well Fig. 141 one remarkable form of leaf, the 
 perfoliate, which appears just as if the stem passed
 
 AUGUST. 
 
 231 
 
 through a hole in one leaf, whereas it is a pair of 
 opposite leaves, perfectly united at their bases, 
 which surround the stem. This 
 form of leaf, be it remarked, 
 differs essentially from the 
 amplexicaul leaf Pig. 142 
 in which, as will be seen, the 
 junction is not nearly so com- 
 plete. The example given 
 Fig. 142 is the Lamium, am- 
 plexicaule, or henbit, or dead 
 nettle, in which the opposite 
 leaves closely embrace the 
 stem, and enclose a whorl of 
 
 ,. , - A , --,. . . n 
 
 florets 1. At Fig. 143, we 
 have another example of a leaf or leaves closely 
 attached to the stem. These are the leaves of 
 
 the stem and inclosing a 
 
 Fig. 143. 
 
 the common teazel Dipsacus sylvestris, in bota- 
 nical language they are called connate leaves. Their
 
 232 WILD FLOWERS. 
 
 union is so complete, that they form around the 
 stem a kind of cup, which you may often find 
 partly filled with water. Indeed, the plant derives 
 its botanical appellation from that circumstance ; 
 the name dipsacus being derived from the Greek, 
 signifying thirst. The common teazel is not an un- 
 common hedge-side plant in England, and you will 
 at once distinguish it by the form of the leaves 
 alone. We cannot, however, afford time to go up 
 the hill twice, so we may leave the teazel and its 
 lowland companions for a season, and return to the 
 high grounds, where one of the handsomest of our 
 moss plants, the Parnassia palustris, or grass of 
 Parnassus, awaits the gathering, its large, handsome, 
 white corollas, glancing brightly, and in beautiful 
 contrast with the dark moss amid which they blos- 
 som, and from which they are elevated about ten 
 or twelve inches by the straight upright stem, 
 which rises from the midst of the long-stalked, 
 heart-shaped leaves by which it is surrounded. 
 Beautiful at a distance, no less so is the Parnassia 
 on close examination ; the shape of the cup formed 
 of its white petals is elegant, and at the base of 
 each of these petals lies a fringed nectary, which 
 gives the plant a most beautiful appearance. From 
 the situation of its place of growth the hill mosses 
 the Parnassia is unknown to the majority of 
 people ; few can fail to be struck with its beauty at 
 first sight, or to assign it a place amid the ranks of 
 the fairest of our native Flora. The grass of Par-
 
 AUGUST. 233 
 
 nassus is more common in the north than it is in 
 England. Fair as it is, however, it must yield the 
 palm to one still more beautiful, the white water- 
 lily, or Nymphcea alba, that loveliest denizen of our 
 lakes, which, in August, 
 
 " To the light 
 Its chalice rears of silver bright." 
 
 Poets have delighted in "the beautiful" associated 
 with these flowers, for nothing can be more beau- 
 tiful than lake or loch gemmed with them, as 
 
 " Stilly and lightly their vases rest 
 On the quivering sleep of the water's breast." 
 
 Admire them while you can ; for, alas ! when dried 
 for the herbarium, their beauty is gone, and with 
 all your skill, you will make little more of the dried 
 flower than a mass of brown petals. Neither will 
 you be more successful with the less beautiful sister 
 flower, the yellow water-lily, or Nuphar lutea, which 
 you cannot fail to meet with. However, you must 
 do the best you can for good specimens, and with 
 each flower select one of the broad floating leaves, 
 of dimensions suited to your paper. This, in the 
 case of our own water-lilies, you may do ; but a 
 hopeless task it must be for the botanist in the 
 instance of their gigantic royal cousin of South 
 America, the Victoria Eegia ; a lily truly, but with 
 blossoms measuring half a yard, and leaves six feet 
 across. "We were upon the hills, nor required we 
 to descend for our water-lilies ; for though they
 
 234 WILD FLOWEBS. 
 
 ornament the still waters of rich lowland pastures, 
 they enliven, too, the dark surface of the mountain 
 tarns. Nevertheless we must descend, for time 
 advances ; but still keep to the water-side. These 
 blue, somewhat downy-looking, labiate, solitary co- 
 rollas, which spring opposite each other from the 
 axils of the leaves, belong to the Scutettaria, or 
 common skull-cap, a familiar plant by river-sides, 
 especially in England. A rarer species, with pinkish 
 flowers, is also found. The former, which is the 
 larger of the two, rarely attains a foot in height. 
 Here we have a strongly-marked plant, with its 
 square, four-winged stems, and its panicles of deep 
 blackish-purple, irregular flowers. It is the water 
 figwort, or ScropTiularia aquatica. Growing to the 
 height of three or four feet, it can scarcely escape 
 your notice, and it is common. Still more so is the 
 Scrophularia nodosa, or common figwort, a plant 
 somewhat similar to the last, but smaller, with 
 flowers more tinged with green, and with stems, 
 which, though square, are not winged like those of 
 the former species. Both delight in somewhat 
 moist situations. If they are not pretty, they are, 
 certainly, in their way, handsome plants. They do 
 not, however, stand comparison with this bright 
 purple-red spike of flowers which rises so gaily by 
 the side of the water ; the bright blossoms are in 
 thick-set whorls, six long stamens have they, and 
 six shorter ones. By these you will know the 
 LytJirum salicaria, or purple loose-strife, a truly
 
 AUGUST. 235 
 
 ornamental plant. Very like little potato blossoms 
 are the flowers of the Solanum dulcamara, or night- 
 shade, or bitter-sweet, which we often meet with by 
 river banks, or twining in the moist hedge ; no 
 wonder that they should be so like, for the potato 
 itself is a solanum. The purple petals reflexed 
 from the cone formed by the five conspicuous yellow 
 anthers, and the heart-shaped leaves, sufficiently 
 mark the plant. Neither can the shrubby white- 
 flowered and black-berried Solanum nigrum be mis- 
 taken, if the form of the blossom be remembered. 
 These nightshades must not be confounded with 
 the true deadly nightshade, or Atropa Belladonna, 
 a very different plant, bearing large, lurid-purple, 
 but not unhandsome bell-shaped drooping flowers. 
 The Belladonna, however, belongs to the family of 
 the SolanacecB, which includes two other plants 
 now to be found in blossom, the Hyoscyamus niger, 
 or henbane, and the Datura stramonium. The 
 former of these, the Hyoscyamus, like the Bella- 
 donna, seems partial to waste places near towns. 
 Its flowers of a dingy yellowish-white, are beauti- 
 fully veined with dark purple, and its branched 
 stem is closely invested with the soft leaves, covered 
 with soft hairs, which give it a clammy feel. The 
 plant exhales a heavy disagreeable odour. 
 
 The peculiar aspect of the plants just named, and 
 of others of the Solanum family, procured for them 
 the name of Luridae, from Linnaeus, who imagined 
 their dark look indicated the narcotic acrid pro-
 
 236 WILD FLO WEES. 
 
 perties common to most of them. This peculiar 
 appearance is even observable in the white-flowered 
 datura or thorn-apple. This plant, which is often 
 used smoked like tobacco as a remedy in asthma, 
 grows not uncommonly in waste places. Its smooth, 
 dark-green, rather large leaves, render it conspicuous, 
 but it is still more so when, in fruit, it displays its 
 rather large seed-vessels covered with the spines or 
 thorns from which it derives its familiar name. 
 Here, among these waste heaps grows a plant with 
 finely-cut, deep-green, and smooth leaves ; the ar- 
 rangement of its flowers proclaims it of the TJrtibel- 
 lifer<B ; and the linear, generally drooping involucre 
 leaves, disposed on one side only of each umbel, 
 distinguish it as the JEthma Cynapium, or fool's 
 parsley, a very common plant. Its small white 
 petals have the inflected point alluded to, and illus- 
 trated, in a former paper. This month furnishes us 
 with so large a number of umbel-bearing plants in 
 blossom, that our students may have abundant 
 opportunity for comparing the differences, and 
 remarking the peculiarities, as far as they can, of 
 this numerous and important family. A considerable 
 number of our August umbel-bearers are water- 
 plants. The siums,or water-parsnips, are conspicuous 
 and not uncommon ; less frequently met with, we 
 have the Cicuta virosa, or water hemlock, the latter 
 like many of this family, extremely poisonous. 
 Neither have the (Enanthes, or dropworts, another 
 water-loving family, any great reputation for whole-
 
 AUGUST. 
 
 237 
 
 someness. One, the (EnantJie crocata, a large water 
 plant, with its bundles of spindle-shaped tubers, 
 somewhat like those of the dahlia, has in several 
 instances proved fatal to individuals, who have eaten 
 its roots in mistake for parsnips. Another species 
 of (Enanthe, smaller than the last, is remarkable for 
 its very hollow brittle stems. One of the prettiest 
 of the August dry-land umbelliferae, is the burnet 
 saxifrage, or Pimpinella saxifraga, growing from 
 ten to eighteen inches high, with its deeply cut 
 leaves, chiefly springing from the root. The pepper 
 saxifrage, or Silaus pratensis, umbelliferous not- 
 withstanding its name, is distinguishable by its 
 yellow flowers. The wild original of our common 
 parsnip is not uncommon as a weed in cornfields and 
 pastures ; still more frequently met with is the 
 Daucus carota, or wild carrot. Do not expect, how- 
 ever, if you discern the plants, that you are to find 
 carrots or parsnips, pro- 
 perly so called, at their 
 roots, these are only the 
 developments of cultiva- 
 tion. The seeds of the 
 wild carrot, however, have 
 the peculiar aroma, of the 
 carrot seed generally, nor 
 do they lack the bristly 
 appendages Fig. 144 
 
 which are so charac- 
 
 144. Section of the fruit of the carrot. . . _^ 
 
 1, The style-2, the fruit covering or teriStlC. HOWeVCr, the 
 pericarp 3, the seed -i, the albumen of 
 
 nbryo or germ of the common CUTSLWaj and the 
 
 arp 3, t 
 
 et
 
 238 WILD FLOWEBS. 
 
 coriander, so well known as aromatic condiments 
 and medicines, both retain the virtues of their 
 seeds in the wild state. They belong to our 
 umbel family, are not unfrequently found, espe- 
 cially in neighbourhoods where they have been 
 cultivated, and are recognizable at least when 
 in fruit. One more umbel-bearer, and we cease 
 to try our reader's patience with this really trouble- 
 some and difficult family ; we think that you will 
 certainly make out the Heracleum spJiondylium, by 
 its great size and coarse exterior ; its large umbels 
 of flowers, which are sometimes tinged with pink, 
 its flat-winged seed, or rather fruit, and the inflated 
 sheaths Fig. 145 of its much-cut leaves. Cow- 
 
 Fig. 143. 
 
 parsnip is its English name, and truly it is strongly 
 marked perhaps as distinctly as any of our English 
 members of the order.
 
 AUGUST. 239 
 
 On a dry pasture or bank, a ray of prettily-cut 
 leaves, from the centre of which arises a slender 
 scarcely drooped spike of yellow flowers, and we 
 have the Agrimonia JEupatoria, or common agrimony 
 a common but pretty plant, which varies from one 
 to two feet in height. A member of the Rosacece, 
 it scarcely resembles others of the family we have 
 met with. Neither will its relative, the Poteriwm 
 sanguisorba, or salad-burnet, appear much more 
 like them. Its pinnated leaves resemble in some 
 degree those of the agrimony, and its heads of many 
 flowers, of a dull purple, are conspicuous in pasture 
 grounds at this season. It derives its English 
 name of salad-burnet from its being used as a salad, 
 and from the smell of its leaves much resembling 
 that of cucumber. 
 
 "We have not yet noticed any of our leguminous, 
 or pod-bearing friends, but. the bright-coloured 
 yellow-flowered Genista tinctoria, or dyer's green- 
 weed, looking almost like a dwarf plant of the 
 yellow broom, bids us not forget them. On the 
 moor ground, too, the Genista Anglica, or needle 
 furze, seems to be a first cousin of our old acquaint- 
 ance the common gorse or whin, which in truth it 
 is. Its name bespeaks its thorny character. We 
 find another thorn-bearer in the Ononis arvenis, or 
 rest-harrow, a pretty plant withal when it displays its 
 rose-coloured papilionaceous corollas, but smelling 
 disagreeably. Not improbably, growing near the 
 rest-harrow, you may, if you do not pass the plant 
 over for a trefoil, which it looks like when in flower,
 
 WILD FLOWEBS. 
 
 gather the black medick, or Medicago lupulina, its 
 blossoms collected into little yellow heads. When 
 these heads have developed their black, sickle-shaped 
 pods, or legumes which, by the way, may not 
 quite answer your idea of a pod you will be less 
 likely to miss it. You may not meet with the 
 yellow melilot, Melilotus officinalis, for it is com- 
 paratively rare ; but perchance it may be gathered 
 unwittingly by some young botanist, who, the first 
 time he changes the drying paper, will incline to the 
 idea that some "newly-tedded" hay has been sub- 
 stituted for his garnered flowers. The scent given 
 out by the plant in question is exactly like that of 
 very sweet new hay, and very powerful. The 
 leaves of our common birdsfoot trefoil, or Lotus 
 corniculatus, might rank it as a trefoil ; but its 
 well-known bright yellow flowers, which at this 
 time of the year gild the dry pastures everywhere, 
 are larger than those of any of our true trefoils, and 
 are very differently arranged. A larger species, the 
 Lotus major, which usually grows near water, bears 
 a close resemblance to the last, but is a much 
 stouter plant. In both these species, the umbellated 
 heads of flowers are borne on very long footstalks. 
 
 In our Floral Directory, that most important and 
 extensive family, the Composite, ought next to claim 
 notice, especially as many of its individual members 
 are now in full bloom ; but as next month, alas ! is 
 
 " the season when the green delight 
 Of leafy luxury begins to fade, 
 And leaves are fading hourly on the sight,"
 
 AUGUST. 241 
 
 We shall find our list wofully curtailed, so shall 
 we have more space to devote to the slighted ones 
 now. Vicing with the recently noticed lesser lotus 
 in the brilliancy of its golden yellow, and delighting 
 in even drier soils, we find the Sedum acre, or 
 yellow stonecrop, often called wall-pepper, a name 
 which indicates, in the first place, its frequent 
 habitat on the tops of old walls, and in the second, 
 its acrid properties. Its thick fleshy leaves and 
 bright yellow starry blossoms which certainly ap- 
 pear before August render it a familiar plant even 
 to the most unobservant. Very tenacious is it of 
 life, like the sedums generally, and if you consign 
 to your drying paper without first giving it a dip 
 in boiling water, you will find it, the first time of 
 changing, making itself quite at its ease between 
 the sheets, and perhaps putting forth shoots of 
 flowers. Another sedum the Sedum reftexum 
 which grows to a much larger size than the last, 
 you may probably meet with on some moss-grown 
 wall or thatched building; and in the same situa- 
 tions, that very near connection of the sedums, the 
 house-leek or house-green (Sempervivum tectorum). 
 If you do not know it, ask the first old woman you 
 meet, and if there is a plant in the neighbourhood, 
 she will tell you of it, for it is famed in the domestic 
 pharmacopoeia. Moreover, it is so difficult to kill, 
 that it almost requires cooking before it is fit to 
 dry, and then its thick, fleshy leaves, and really 
 pretty flowers, cannot make a very handsome speci-
 
 242 WILI> FLOWEBS. 
 
 men. Another sedum (Sedum TelepTtium) with 
 purple flowers, and which grows better than a foot 
 in height, you will not pass by if you corne near it, 
 for it is conspicuous and grows in patches. The 
 Sedum Rhodiola with thick fleshy root and yellow 
 corollas, you must go to the hills for ; and for the 
 bonniest of the family, the little Sedum villosum, or 
 hairy stonecrop, you must visit the sides of the hill- 
 burns, or rills, as our English readers would call 
 them. You will know it if you find a pretty little 
 plant about four inches high, with reddish stem and 
 fleshy leaves, covered with somewhat sticky viscid 
 hairs, and bearing pretty rose-coloured blossoms. 
 
 We may not close our August chronicle without 
 including the well-known St. John's worts genus 
 Hypericum with their many stamens collected into 
 separate sets or brotherhoods, giving us an example 
 of the Linn^an class Polyadelphia. All know the 
 yellow-flowered St. John's wort with the curious 
 black dottings on petals, and on calycine sepals, and 
 often on the leaves. Few of our native genera 
 constitute a handsomer brotherhood, none have a 
 higher reputation in domestic surgery. Truly our 
 composite friends cannot complain if we have left 
 them over till next month, for, with them, we have 
 left a goodly company of our August flowers. We 
 are loth to come down to the scant lists of Autumn, 
 to realize the fact that 
 
 " The primrose to the grave is gone ; 
 
 The hawthorn flower is dead ; 
 The violet by the mossed gray stone 
 Hath laid her weary head."
 
 MONTHLY ILLTJSTBATIONS. 243 
 
 SEPTEMBEE. 
 
 " The Autumn sheaves are on the hill, 
 And solemn are the woods and still, 
 
 With clustering fruits on every bough." 
 
 SEPTEMBER. Our last month of flowers ! A month 
 it may be of pleasant genial air, and of tempered 
 sunshine, but a month which to the botanist and 
 flower-seeker brings a shade of sadness. He feels, 
 that however much of interest there may be left to 
 him, the cheerful succession of bright blooming 
 flowers is over for a season ; at every step he misses 
 some vanished form of beauty, and, truly to him, 
 the words of the poetess, 
 
 " Ye are not miss'd fair flowers," 
 
 apply not. He is conscious of many a blank, but 
 ill-supplied by fruit and berry, by seed-vessel and 
 seed ; for, beautiful and interesting and useful as 
 these are in themselves, their presence tells too 
 surely of the summer passed away foretells too 
 plainly 
 
 " Of wailing winds, and naked woods, 
 And meadows brown and sere," 
 
 which so shortly must take the place of the " sum- 
 mer's sheen," and of the autumn's "rosy triumph." 
 There are, perhaps, but few of our wild flowers 
 which can truly be said to be September blossoms, 
 but many which first opened their buds in August, 
 continue to blow through the present month.
 
 244 WILD FLOWERS. 
 
 Some of these we have yet to notice ; moreover, we 
 shall find more than one little floret, overlooked 
 during the profusion of its gayer companions, to 
 be gleaned after the summer's harvest. Last month 
 we passed by a large section of our old familiar 
 friends the Composites. Some, perhaps, may by 
 this time have gone out of flower, but there still 
 remain in bloom a sufficient number to excite the 
 interest and exercise the patience of our less expe- 
 rienced readers, who must endeavour to call to 
 mind what we have said in former papers respecting 
 the floral structure of this important, but, to a tyro 
 in botanical lore, somewhat difficult natural order. 
 
 "We need not go far from town to gather a goodly 
 number of Autumn flowering Composites ; for many 
 of them delight in waste places, rubbish heaps, &c. 
 We at once get involved in a wild confusion of 
 chamomile-looking plants, a confusion too, which 
 we fear any general description will do but little 
 to unravel. As umbelliferous plants generally are 
 classed by the ignorant under the name of hemlock, 
 so are these as wild chamomile. The true chamo- 
 mile, however, so well known in our herb gardens, 
 and as a medicine, is comparatively seldom found 
 wild. The flowers of all the species we are now 
 alluding to, have, like the daisy, a yellow disk, 
 surrounded by a ray of white florets, and their stem- 
 leaves are much cut and divided, with exception of 
 those of the common feverfew, or Matricaria Par- 
 thenium, which though much divided, are so in
 
 SEPTEMBER. 
 
 considerably broader segments. "With flowers 
 somewhat similar to the last, but with disk and ray- 
 both white, the greenwort, or Achillcea ptarmica, 
 has acute lance-shaped leaves, sharply serrated, or 
 saw-toothed at the edges. It is not an uncom- 
 mon plant, but another species of the genus, the 
 common yarrow, or milfoil, (Achillaea millefolium), 
 is more frequent, indeed is common everywhere. 
 Its clustered umbels, of many small composite 
 heads of flowers, are usually white, but not unfre- 
 quently pink, and, under cultivation, often deep 
 rose colour. The plant derives its name milfoil 
 from the much divided 
 leaves. It is a celebrated 
 heal-all in domestic sur- 
 gery. The above plants 
 belong to the radiated or 
 rayed sub-division of the 
 Composites; in other words, 
 their heads of flowers have 
 a more or less distinct ray, 
 formed by the ligulate or 
 strap-shaped florets Eig. 
 146 which are arranged around the circumference. 
 To this subdivision also belong the daisy, the com- 
 mon ox-eye or horse-daisy, and the corn-marigold. 
 It comprehends, too, the family of ragworts or flea- 
 banes, botanically ranged under the genus Senecio, 
 and represented familiarly to us all in the person 
 of the common groundsel (Senecio vulgaris) albeit 
 
 146. Section of Daisy 1, the disk 2, 
 florets of disc 3, florets of raj .
 
 246 WILD FLOWERS. 
 
 perhaps the plainest of its connexion. Its ray 
 flowers fire often absent, and when present, are 
 certainly not conspicuous, but they are less obvious 
 than they would otherwise be, in consequence of 
 being rolled back, as you will find if you examine 
 the plant. This is also the case in the Senecio 
 viscosus, or stinking groundsel, which you may 
 know by its family likeness, by its odour, and its 
 covering of clammy sticky hairs, the latter character 
 distinguishing it from another strong-scented rela- 
 tive, the Senecio sylvaticus, or mountain groundsel. 
 The common ragwort (Senecio Jacdbced) is so com- 
 mon a plant, and its corymbs of bright yellow 
 flowers contrast so oddly with its really ragged 
 shabby looking leaves, that all must know it. With 
 a far handsomer and larger flower, and with more 
 appropriate looking foliage, the Senecio aquaticus, or 
 water ragwort, is by no means one of the plainest of 
 Flora's autumnal train. The flea-banes (Pulicaria) 
 the leopards'-banes (Doronicum) handsome plants, 
 but doubtful natives, flowering earlier in the year, 
 the Elacampane (Inula helenium) with its hand- 
 some solitary flowers, all belong to the rayed com- 
 posites. The complete structure of these rayed 
 flowers generally will be better understood by 
 reference to Fig. 146, which represents a section of 
 the familiar daisy-flower.* The receptacle 1 is 
 conical, and supports the yellow florets of the disk, 
 
 * In the papers for January and March, the reader will find reference 
 to the more palpable characters of the composite flowers.
 
 SEPTEMBEE. 
 
 247 
 
 2 and the ligulate or strap-shaped florets of the 
 ray 3 the whole head of florets, as pointed out in 
 a former number, being enclosed in one common 
 involucre. "We cannot have a better opportunity 
 than now, of exercising our readers' powers of ob- 
 servation, or of giving them a lesson in practical 
 botany. Take up the dissecting needles and for- 
 ceps, and the lens. You have cut your daisy- flower 
 in two to compare with the figure. Now detach 
 one of the yellow florets of the central disk. Look 
 at it through the magnifying glass, you will find it 
 a perfect little tubular corolla Fig. 147 containing 
 stamens 1 and style, with 
 its seed 2 (which is attached 
 to the conical central recep- 
 tacle) at its base. Again, in 
 the same way, examine one of 
 the white or crimson-tipped, 
 strap-shaped florets of the ray 
 Fig. 148 you will find that 
 it too has a little seed 2 
 attached to its base, but that 
 it is only at the lower end it is 
 tubular; moreover, that the 
 little tube contains a style 1 
 only, but no stamens. All the 
 florets of the daisy-flower being 
 style-bearers, are capable of bearing seeds; but those 
 of the ray having no stamens of their own that is, 
 being monoecious are dependent for their fertiliza- 
 
 Fig. 147. 
 
 Fig. 148.
 
 248 WILD FLOWERS. 
 
 tion upon the stamens which belong to the disk 
 florets. Lastly, the florets and seeds of the daisy, 
 have no pappus or feathery appendage such as we 
 find in many of the rayed and of the other com- 
 posites. From the above explanation, and from 
 those given in January and March, and in Part II. 
 the reader may derive a sufficient general idea of 
 the flower construction of this most important 
 family. He must, however, look for considerable 
 diversity in detail, although the general characters 
 remain the same. Thus, in the dandelion, the 
 lettuce, the hawkweed, &c., which constitute the 
 chicory-flowered section, the florets are all strap- 
 shaped like those of the daisy-ray, and have both 
 stamens and pistils, that is, are perfect flowers. In 
 a third section of composites, which includes the 
 thistles, bur-docks, &c., the florets are all tubular. 
 The thistles (Carduus) and the plume-thistles 
 (Cnicus) comprise some handsome species, and most 
 of them flower late, that is, after July. The musk- 
 thistle (Carduus nutans) is not one of the plainest, 
 and you will not pass by its lai'ge, handsome, purple, 
 and withal drooping heads, with their prickly 
 spreading involucre. Neither is the Carduus Ma- 
 rianus, or milk-thistle, with its handsome white- 
 veined leaves, less conspicuous, but it is much 
 less seldom met with. In a former page we took 
 occasion to remark upon the frequent connection of 
 the popular names of plants with the honour paid 
 to the Virgin Mary. The name " Marianus," was
 
 SEPTEMBEE. 249 
 
 applied to this thistle, on account of the legend 
 that the white veining of the leaves was imparted 
 by her milk. The welted thistle, and the slender- 
 flowered are both common. The plume-thistles 
 genus Cnicus will scarcely be distinguished by 
 our unscientific readers from the last, in general 
 appearance, although the minute differences are well 
 marked. The common thistle which is the real 
 Scotch thistle, is the Cnicus lanceolatus, and is 
 abundant everywhere. The Cnicus palustris, or 
 marsh plume-thistle, you may gather in most damp 
 situations ; and in similar situations northward, the 
 Cnicus Tieterophyllus, or melancholy plume-thistle, 
 its stems and its leaves underneath clothed with 
 cottony down. The real cotton-thistle (Onopordum 
 acanthium), white with its woolly covering, is known 
 to most, for it is cultivated for its handsome appear- 
 ance, and is often called and grown as the Scotch 
 thistle. The centaurys, including the bright blue 
 corn-flower, &c., have been alluded to in a former 
 paper they also belong to the thistle section, 
 and with them the familiar burdock, the scales of 
 its involucre being specially distinguished by those 
 little hooked extremities which cling so tenaciously 
 to the clothes. Last month we paid some atten- 
 tion to the form of leaves as attached to the 
 stem ; the thistles furnish us with an instance of 
 what is called a decurrent leaf, or one the limb 
 of which is continued down the stem, as repre- 
 sented Fig. 149.
 
 250 
 
 WILD FLOWEBS. 
 
 Of the chicory or lettuce flowered Composites, 
 sufficient incidental no- 
 tices have already been 
 given to render special 
 reference to them unne- 
 cessary in this place. 
 We must not, however, 
 overlook the nominal 
 chief of the sept, the 
 Cichorium intybus, or 
 chicory itself, which you 
 may probably find in 
 some stubble field, 
 making the otherwise bare extent cheerful with its 
 bright blue blossoms, and almost eclipsing some 
 lowly little plants, which you will do well to look 
 for now in the same situation. Here is one pro- 
 cumbent, its branched stems, and stiff, sharp, 
 whorled leaves lying near to the ground, and its 
 pretty, though minute, crosier-shaped, lilac blossoms 
 almost hid. It is the Slierardia arvensis, or field 
 madder. Near it we almost surely find the dull 
 looking bartsia, with its red, irregular corollas and 
 conspicuous bracteas. It is a common and not very 
 attractive looking plant, withering very quickly 
 after being gathered. It has a much handsomer, 
 but rarer relative, the yellow bartsia, found chiefly 
 on the west side of our island. Doubtless, you have 
 gathered ere this, for it is common in most pasture 
 grounds, a plant somewhat resembling in form the
 
 SEPTEMBEE. 251 
 
 creeping bugle of earlier months, but of greater 
 slenderness, and without runners ; its corollas, how- 
 ever, are much more purple, rarely white. It is 
 the Prunella vulgaris, or self-heal ; its dense heads 
 of labiate flowers being enclosed by numerous broad 
 bracteas. In a former paper, after describing the 
 sheep' s-bit, allusion was made to " another bit." 
 Here we have it with its heads of blue flowers, 
 alongside the prunella ; you get it up and look at 
 the root, but doubtfully, for you suspect a portion 
 must be left in the earth, it ends so abruptly. It is 
 all right, however; that root which seems to be 
 " bitten" off is the natural appearance, and gives the 
 name " succisa" to this scabious in botanical lan- 
 guage, and in popular phraseology has given rise to 
 the appellation " devil's bit scabious," the personage 
 in question having the repute of being the biter. 
 The plant, nevertheless, seems no way the worse. 
 There is another but rarer species, the Scabiosa 
 columbaria ; and a third plant, formerly ranked as 
 a scabious, but now known as the Knautia arvensis, 
 which you must have observed, for its rayed heads 
 of many light coloured lilac flowers have been con- 
 spicuous for some time. These last mentioned 
 plants look most suspiciously like composites, but 
 they are not of the class, only near relatives, and 
 claiming kindred with the conspicuous teazel tribe 
 or Dipsacece. The peculiar connate leaves of the 
 teazels were alluded to last month. Their cone- 
 shaped heads of flowers, prickly with the sharp
 
 252 WILD FLO WEES. 
 
 scales which, cover so thickly and regularly the 
 cone-shaped receptacles, have a remarkable appear- 
 ance. The light lilac-coloured corollas do not appear 
 all over the flower head at once, but come out, as it 
 were, in successive bands. Less like a composite 
 plant than the last, but yet one of the tribe, the 
 common golden-rod (Solidagomrgaurea) must not be 
 passed over. You may meet with its straight stem 
 clothed thickly with golden yellow blossoms, on 
 some dry bank. The whole plant has a honey-like 
 smell. Verily we shall never get clear of these 
 yellow flowered Composites, for here is the bitter 
 aromatic tanzy (Tanacetum vulgare) awaiting our 
 notice with its much cut pinnated leaves. Again, 
 there are the woolly, aromatic bitter, but not yellow 
 flowered wormwoods, genus Artemisia, and the 
 little silvery looking cudweeds, or Gnaphaliums, 
 bid us not forget them, though we cannot now stop 
 to describe their white looking flower heads, and 
 downy white leaves and stems. The star-wort, or 
 Michaelmas daisy, in its own special month we 
 cannot pass over, even if its yellow disk and white 
 or purple ray florets throw us now again upon the 
 rayed composites, which Ave thought we were clear 
 of. To find it however, we must off to its home in 
 the salt marshes, where it is not uncommon, hoping 
 at the same time to find some late rose-pink 
 blossoms of the Convolvulus soldanella, among the 
 adjacent sands. 
 
 The sea-shore is pleasant in September, and we
 
 SEPTEMBEK. 253 
 
 might linger, but we may not, if we would seize the 
 last opportunity of securing specimens of late 
 blossoms that even now are fast passing away. 
 Scarce can we hope to get specimens of the hand- 
 some Lavatera arborea, or tree-mallow, which orna- 
 ments a few of the "rocks of the ocean" around 
 our coast, but we may hope for better success in 
 our search in the salt marsh for the marsh mallow, 
 or Althcea officinalis, with flowers rose-coloured 
 like those of the last-named species, but lighter and 
 bluer in hue. The blossoms are handsome, and will 
 attract your notice ; but the entire plant, about two 
 feet in height, is well marked by the thick covering 
 of very soft down, or as it is called botanically, 
 pubescence, with which it is clothed. Take your 
 lens, and you will find the hairs stellate, that is, 
 arranged in a star-like form. The genuine marsh- 
 mallow is a medicinal plant, yielding abundance of 
 starchy mucilage in hot water ; but another species, 
 the common mallow, or Maha sylvestris, is often 
 used under the name of marsh-mallow. This plant, 
 the " cheeses " of children, we may gather in most 
 waste places ; the dwarf mallow, with much smaller 
 light-coloured pink flowers, is less common ; some- 
 what rarer still, though perhaps not very uncommon, 
 the handsome musk mallow, or Malva moschata, 
 bears its large handsome "wild rose." coloured 
 corollas, at the top of its very erect stems and much- 
 divided leaves. Examine the flower structure of any 
 of the mallows, and you will find the numerous
 
 254 WILD FLOWEBS. 
 
 stamens all united into one tube, which encloses the 
 pistil. The staminal arrangement places the mallow 
 tribe in the Linnsean class Monadelphia, of which it 
 is an excellent example. In similar situations to 
 the mallows, we ought, if we have not found it pre- 
 viously, to meet with a late flowering specimen of 
 the soapwort, or Saponaria officinalis, another pink 
 flowering plant, its blossoms somewhat like those of 
 a lychnis, its opposite leaves marked with prominent 
 veins, and at their base, approaching the connate 
 form of the teazels. Belonging to the same family, 
 the Caryopltyllacece, the pretty maiden pink (Dianthus 
 deltoides) shows its sweet little corollas even as late 
 as this month, and may perchance be gathered by 
 some of our readers ; others of this handsome genus 
 Dianthus are generally more rare. Much we fear that 
 one of our best known favourites, the odoriferous 
 meadow sweet (Spiraea ulmaria) will scarce forgive 
 us a September notice, for it has been decking our 
 meadows and moist banks since June came in. 
 But all know the meadow sweet, with its crowded 
 cymes of cream yellow, rosaceous flowers. Doubtless 
 our readers have forestalled us, and gathered the 
 plant, and perhaps its pretty relative the dropwort, 
 (Spiraea Jllipendula) . How is it, too, we have 
 neglected this tall grower, Avhich looks like a gre- 
 nadier migwionette, and proclaims itself the dyer's 
 rocket, or Reseda Luteola, for it is a tolerably 
 common, and not unhandsome plant. Taller still, 
 handsomer too, and with yellow flowers, but very
 
 SEPTEMBEE. 255 
 
 different from the last, the great Mulleins, genus 
 Verlascum, may speak for themselves ; the com- 
 monest of the seven found in Britain, the Verlascum 
 thapsus is well marked by its covering of long silky 
 wool. 
 
 Of all the "buds and bells that with changes 
 mark the hours" none speak more plainly, to the 
 botanist, of Autumn, than the mints, perhaps the 
 most decidedly September plants Labiates all of 
 them we have ; and a numerous family they are, 
 too numerous, and often too alike to be distin- 
 guished by general description ; gather them, how- 
 ever, and make them out as you best can, with 
 eyes and nose ; for well do the mints, peppermint, 
 spearmint, and pennyroyal, support the character of 
 their order for odorous essential oils. Odorous, 
 but disagreeably so, the black horehound (Ballota 
 nigra) is another labiate, still flowering on waste 
 spots near inhabited places, and, in similar situa- 
 tions the white horehound (M.arrubiwm vulgare) may 
 also be found ; almost too well known is it to every 
 old woman who prescribes for a cough, to require a 
 descriptionof its rather clumsy-looking stems, much- 
 wrinkled leaves, and thickly- whorled whitish flowers. 
 Very different in appearance, though another lipped 
 flower, is the beautiful large hemp nettle, ( Galeopsis 
 versicolor') . If you found it among the growing corn, 
 you would surely preserve it. Square-stemmed, 
 jointed, upright, and distinct-looking, its handsome 
 yellow corollas, with a large purple stain on the
 
 256 WILD FLOWEBS. 
 
 lower lip, stand boldly out. The smaller common 
 hemp-nettle ( Galeopsis tetrahit) is very abundant, 
 and has much smaller pink or white flowers. The 
 common marjoram (Origanum vulgare) has its 
 labiate purple flowers in crowded rounded heads, 
 and even now specimens may be found about the 
 hill pastures ; and on dry banks there is no 
 doubt we may find the wood germander (Teucrium 
 Scorodonia). Erect and stiff-looking, its yellowish 
 flowers contrast with the purple anthers, and are 
 borne on rather long, terminal, one-sided racemes. 
 Its opposite leaves are strongly wrinkled. There 
 are other but rarer British species of the genus 
 Teucrium. Irregular, like the Labiates, but with its 
 corolla personate, or mask-like, the great snapdragon 
 or frog's-mouth (Antirrhinum majus) is found 
 generally in suspicious neighbourhood to some 
 garden ; and that pretty little creeper, the ivy- 
 leaved toad-flax (Linaria cymbalaria) with a tiny 
 corolla closely resembling the last in form, is equally 
 open to the charge of straying from cultivated 
 ground. Of the genus Linaria, or toad-flax, the 
 large yellow Linaria vulgaris is the most common, 
 and must be familiar to all. The creeping toad-flax, 
 somewhat similar in form, but with pale, bluish 
 veined flowers, is much rarer, and, indeed, like most 
 of the other species, is not generally met with.
 
 MONTHLY ILLUSTEATIONS. 257 
 
 OCTOBER. 
 
 " FAREWELL ! farewell ! bright children of the sun, 
 Whose beauty rose around our path where'er 
 We wandered forth since vernal days begun, 
 The glory and the garland of the year. 
 Ye came the children of the spring's bright promise ; 
 Ye crowned the summer in her path of light, 
 And now, when autumn's wealth is passing from us, 
 We gaze upon your parting bloom." 
 * ******* 
 
 Sweet flowers, adieu ! 
 
 FRANCES BROWNE. 
 
 LOTH, indeed, are we to say to the flowers, " adieu !" 
 so loth, that some few late blossoms have we kept 
 for our readers, even to this tenth month of the 
 year. They may have gathered them already, per- 
 haps have made their intimate acquaintance ; if so, 
 the notice of a well-known form should not be the 
 less welcome. Here is one, a not unfrequent way- 
 side plant. It has no gay blossom to recommend 
 it ; but possibly its large, deep green, and very tri- 
 angular leaves, may have attracted attention to its 
 spikes of green inconspicuous flowers. Our friend 
 bears the honest name of Good King Henry, or 
 mercury goose-foot ; its botanical alias being Ghe- 
 nopodium lonus Henricus. The goose-foot or Cheno- 
 podium genus has already been alluded to, and 
 mention made of the powdery meal-like substance 
 which covers the leaves of some of its species. In 
 the Good King Henry this is absent, the leaves 
 
 s
 
 258 WILD FLOWERS. 
 
 somewhat resembling those of spinach in appear- 
 ance, and being at times used as a substitute for 
 that vegetable. How came we so long to have 
 passed by a plant which has been reminding us of 
 its presence many a time in the course of our flower 
 gathering an unpleasant, but withal a useful plant 
 the common nettle (Urtica dioica) for it deserves 
 some notice. Famed is it for dietetic and medicinal 
 virtues, and nettle broth and nettle juice are well 
 esteemed by the wise women of the country side ; 
 nor were the nettle fibres despised by the house- 
 wives of old, who made from them their coarser 
 household napery, and dyed their yarn with the 
 roots. But enough of economics. Gather a nettle 
 " grasp it like a man of mettle," and then it 
 will not " sting you for your pains ;" but the exa- 
 mination will repay you for them. Tinder the 
 magnifying power of the lens, each little nettle 
 flower, male or female, whichever it may be, is 
 really pretty, and having examined these, you may 
 transfer your attention to the numberless little 
 stings which arm the whole 
 surface of the plant. If the 
 magnifying power is sufficient, 
 you will observe that each 
 sting is a very sharp, almost 
 elegantly-shaped polished spine 
 Fig. 150 which is hollow, 
 and arises from a swollen base. In this base, which 
 is composed of small cells, is contained the venom ;
 
 OCTOBER. 259 
 
 moreover, these cells are continuous with the hollow 
 tubular sting; so that when, in consequence of 
 pressure, the latter pierces the skin, the venom 
 is at the same instant expressed. Its effect is too 
 well known experimentally, to require descrip- 
 tion : neither need we describe the plant. There 
 are, however, two other species of nettle found in 
 this country ; one, the Urtica pilulifera, or Roman 
 nettle, is the most venomous of the British species ; 
 it is not general, and even where found is a doubt- 
 ful native ; the other species, Urtica urens, or small 
 nettle, is very widely distributed. It is smaller in 
 every way than the large common nettle, and its 
 leaves are much more deeply cut in comparison 
 with their size. 
 
 These poisonous nettles have a harmless British 
 relative in the common wall pellitory, (Parietaria 
 officinalis] a plant which attracts the eye, partly 
 on account of its usual place of growth being the 
 crevices of old walls and such-like places, and partly 
 from the reddish tinge which pervades it. It has 
 been flowering since June ; but even now its hairy, 
 red-looking stems may be found bearing its hair- 
 clothed flowers, which are collected in the axils of 
 its alternate, loosely hung leaves. Despised as our 
 native nettles maybe, they have yet some most highly 
 prized and aristocratic relations abroad ; among 
 others, the fig and the mulberry, and many more we 
 might enumerate did space permit. One British 
 connection, moreover, yields to none either as re- 
 
 s2
 
 260 
 
 WILD PLOWERS. 
 
 rig. isi. 
 
 gards beautiful growth or useful properties. It is 
 the common hop (Sumulus lupulus), which we 
 have not yet mentioned, 
 though we doubt not 
 some of our readers have 
 already secured its ele- 
 gant stems and leaves 
 and flower catkins upon 
 the paper of their dried 
 collections. The catkins 
 of the hop Fig. 151 
 which are the parts 
 collected for the sake of 
 their well-known aromatic bitter, are the female 
 blossoms. 
 
 Even the most nettly of the human species seem 
 to have some friend or other, and our acquaintance 
 the common nettle has one which seems peculiarly 
 to delight in siich society, for it chiefly shares its 
 favours between it and the thistle. The plant is 
 the parasitic dodder, a very curious but not uncom- 
 mon vegetable production, which not only clings 
 round, but grows upon its prickly supporters, by 
 means of its very long, red, twine-like stems, and 
 little bud-like attachments, repaying their protec- 
 tion with the ornament of its pale orange-coloured 
 blossoms. If any of our readers have found the 
 plant it flowers chiefly in September they may 
 have wondered at its strangeness ; but once having 
 seen a description, they cannot fail to recognize at
 
 OCTOBEE. 261 
 
 least the dodders generally, from their mode of 
 growth and parasitic situation. Of the other three 
 species found in Britain, one which grows on flax, 
 and another on clover, are doubtful natives ; the 
 third, the lesser dodder (Cuscuta epithymum) is 
 the commonest of all, growing on gorse or whin- 
 bush, or heath, and, as its name Epithymum indi- 
 cates, on the thyme. Lest some of our readers 
 should not understand what is meant by a parasitic 
 plant, we may explain that it is one which, instead 
 of being fixed in the ground, and drawing suste- 
 nance from the soil, is fixed upon some other plant 
 from which it derives nourishment. The most 
 remarkable instance noticed in these papers is the 
 well-known mistletoe ; the dodders just alluded to 
 furnish us with another example. The scaly tooth- 
 wort noticed in April, is likewise parasitic, and 
 nearly resembles another genus of similarly growing 
 plants the broom rapes (Ordbanche). These, how- 
 ever, as well as the toothwort, grow more generally 
 upon the roots than upon the upper parts of the 
 plants. The Orobanches are brown or purple-look- 
 ing, scaly, leafless vegetables, more or less succulent. 
 Although noticed thus late, they flower generally 
 in August and September. They are most general 
 on the roots of the pea-tribes, such as clover, broom, 
 gorse, &c., but are also found on others. A queer- 
 looking family are they, and so we dismiss them 
 and turn to a more flower-looking friend, one that 
 almost reminds us of spring, the pretty autumn
 
 262 
 
 WILD FLOWERS. 
 
 crocus, or meadow saffron (ColcMcum autumnale). 
 This is a real autumn plant, not generally common, 
 and therefore not accessible to many of our readers ; 
 but its history is so interesting, so illustrative of 
 
 the Divine care and wisdom, that it well deserves a 
 notice here. The pale purple meadow-saffron 
 Fig. 152 is just like a crocus in form, but its 
 mode of growth is different. In September and 
 October the solid bulb which lies embedded in the
 
 OCTOBEE. 263 
 
 earth sends up its unprotected blossom ; no leaf 
 has it to guard it from the winds of the equinox, 
 or from the night frosts which tell us of coming 
 winter. And how is this late blossomer to ripen 
 its seeds without warmth and sunshine, and with- 
 out ? nay not without protection. True, the 
 flower has risen and adorned the autumnal meadows, 
 at this time so bare of other ornament, the anthers 
 have ripened their pollen, the pollen has been shed 
 upon the three-cleft stigma Fig. 153, 3 and the 
 seeds Fig. 153, 5 have been thereby fertilized ; 
 but they ripen not this side of Christmas ; they lie 
 deep down in the earth, snugly covered up from 
 the frost and snow, till the warmth of returning 
 spring calls them forth ; then are they and the seed- 
 vessel which holds them and their green straight- 
 veined leaves withal, elevated from their winter 
 sleep to meet the ripening sun-ray. Still we hear 
 some reader exclaim, " All this is very pretty, but 
 how is it ?" Look at the adjoining woodcut Fig. 
 153 which represents the section of our meadow- 
 saffron flower as it appears in autumn. You see 
 the petals 1 the stamens 2 the style 3. 
 Trace that style down the long tube 4. Down, 
 down it takes you far beneath the earth, the surface 
 of which is marked at the point e at last it ends 
 in the well-filled seed-cup 5 within the solid 
 bulb. Through that long tube and style descend 
 the fertilizing influences of the pollen of the autumn 
 blossoms ; the flower withers, and the baby-seeds,
 
 264 WILD FLOWERS. 
 
 cradled in their well-protected cup, betake them- 
 selves to rest, till "Winter's reign is over, till the 
 glad time when 
 
 " The bursting buds look up 
 And greet the sunlight, while it lingers yet 
 On the warm hill-side, and the violet 
 
 Opens her azure cup 
 
 Meekly, and countless wild flowers wake to fling 
 Their earliest incense on the gales of Spring." 
 
 then come up along with the gay corollas of Spring, 
 the germs of Autumn, the buried seeds to be ripened, 
 scattered, and in due time to furnish their blossoms, 
 which deck the sober russet of the declining year 
 with their purple broidery. Tell us, reader, know 
 you a more striking illustration of the " tender 
 mercies which are over all His works," than the 
 history of the flowering and seeding of our little 
 meadow-saffron ? 
 
 Rambles not a few have we taken our readers, 
 by moss and moor, by stream and lake, and in 
 almost all have we encountered a tiny little plant, 
 individually small enough, but conspicuous from its 
 numbers, which extends in one surface of almost 
 unbroken green over many a still water, which it 
 protects from the heat of the sun, while it affords 
 habitation to numberless insects. Moreover, in 
 sects, habitation and all are apt to be gobbled up 
 by the birds which skim the surface of the pools ; 
 hence, the plant itself has the name of duckweed 
 (Lemna). The common duckweed which covers the 
 pools, must be familiar to all, a little oval floating
 
 OCTOBEE. 265 
 
 leaflet, with one solitary root depending from it in 
 the water, and increasing chiefly by means of buds, 
 which take the place of flowers and seeds on the 
 side of the tiny leaf or frond. These buds expand- 
 ing into little fronds resembling the parent one, to 
 which they still remain attached, likewise bud out, 
 and so there is a succession of leaf after leaf grow- 
 ing from and still attached to each other, and form- 
 ing one continuous sheet of green. Examine the 
 little duckweed; it has no gay flower to offer you, 
 but it is a curious little plant. Sometimes in place 
 of the buds you will find two little stamens and a 
 tiny seed-vessel. The species of duckweed alluded 
 to in these remarks Lemna minor is common on 
 almost every pool ; three other species are found in 
 Britain, but are much less frequent. 
 And now " Farewell to Flowers," for 
 
 "Autumn's latest gold 
 
 Hangs on the woods, and Summer's latest bloom 
 Is fading fast, as Winter, stern and cold, 
 Comes from the northern home of clouds and gloom." 
 
 But not farewell to our readers, for we have 
 somewhat to say to them of fruit as well as flowers, 
 of bright berries, and of seed-vessels and seeds, 
 that yet give interest to a botanical ramble even in 
 November.
 
 266 "WILD FLOWERS. 
 
 NOVEMBER. 
 
 " The melancholy days are come, the saddest of the year, 
 Of wailing winds, and naked woods, and meadows brown and sere. 
 Heaped in the hollows of the grove the withered leaves lie dead ; 
 They rustle to the eddying gust and to the rabbits' tread." 
 
 " Where are the flowers ; the fair young flowers, that lately sprung 
 
 and stood 
 
 In brighter light and softer airs, a beauteous sisterhood ? 
 Alas ! they all are in their graves ! the gentle race of flowers 
 Are lying in their lowly beds with the fair and good of ours. 
 The rain is falling where they lie ; but the cold November rain 
 Calls not from out the gloomy earth the lovely ones again." 
 
 TRULY, botanizing in November is cheerless work, 
 if one look for flowers ; the " gentle race " have all 
 passed away, and scarce a rain-beaten specimen of 
 the never failing daisy remains to us. Nevertheless, 
 we are not yet disposed to say "farewell." After 
 flowers, come fruits, and we may still pass a few 
 profitable hours amid the banks and hedgerows, 
 examining the many coloured berries and curiously 
 formed seed-vessels with which they now abound 
 albeit, we shall not limit our attention to November 
 fruits, and seeds, and seed-cups only; but may 
 indulge in retrospective glances at some of the more 
 interesting forms of fruitage which have come and 
 gone during the months of Summer, while we have 
 been giving our eyes and thoughts solely to the gay 
 blossoms. Autumn, doubtless, is the time of fruits ; 
 but all summer through, since the feathered seeds
 
 NOVEMBER. 267 
 
 of the early coltsfoot were wafted abroad by the 
 breezes of May, has the flower-harvest been going 
 on ; blossom after blossom has appeared and bloomed 
 and withered, and has been succeeded by its seeds, 
 and these have been scattered over the earth by 
 the means of dispersion appointed to each by the 
 Creator of all. All this has been going on, and 
 only now we notice it, not because these processes 
 of seed formation and spreading are less interest- 
 ing than those of the budding and blossoming of 
 the bright coloured corolla, but from the simple 
 inability to compass all things in a limited space. 
 Neither do we pretend here to give a detailed ac- 
 count of seeds or their nature, sufficient if we offer 
 a guide to their examination and investigation in 
 summers yet to come. Fain would we hope, that 
 our " Wild Flowers" have raised in some minds an 
 interest that will not subside with the termination 
 of our year, an interest that will look forward to 
 the time of flowers, to the time when 
 
 " Nature in Spring's best charms 
 Shall rise revived from Winter's grave, 
 Expand the bursting bud again, 
 And bid the flower re-bloom." 
 
 However, that interest, if it be real and true, 
 will seek to extend its acquaintance beyond the 
 buds and bells which attracted its first botanical 
 gaze, and the recognition of these as old and familiar 
 acquaintances, will afford leisure for the enlarge- 
 ment of plant lore generally.
 
 268 WILD FLOWERS. 
 
 Here we may premise, that botanists do not use 
 the term fruit in its simple conventional sense, but 
 extend it in full meaning to the perfected seed ap- 
 paratus generally. Do not therefore, we pray you, 
 reader, let the word fruit conjure up in your mind 
 ideas of the pulpy berry, or juice-filled flesh of pear 
 or of peach, for many a dry little seed falls within 
 the category of the botanist's "fruit." One thing, 
 however, we will answer for there is not a seed, 
 be it ever so dry or apparently insignificant, that 
 will not repay your attentive examination, especially 
 if made with the aid of the magnifying lens. The 
 outer covering of some kinds of seeds presents us 
 with the most exquisitely carved markings upon 
 its surface, exquisite in the beauty of its very mi- 
 nuteness. Some seeds, generally 1 so called, are not 
 actually seeds, but are a combination of seed and 
 seed-vessel in one ; of this nature are the seeds of 
 our old friends the umbelliferous plants, such as 
 caraway, and dill ; likewise the seeds of the ranun- 
 culus tribes, and also those of the composite flowers 
 Fig. 156. 
 
 Enough of technicalities. Let us choose some 
 bright November day, and there are at times 
 bright days in November, and let our walk be 
 one of those hedge-row lanes which in summer are 
 so green, and then so gay with the blossoms of the 
 hawthorn, wild rose and honeysuckle, but which are 
 now bright with their brilliant coloured berries. 
 There has been heavy dew in the morning, and
 
 NOVEMBER. 269 
 
 from each red-jewel fruit depends a diainond-like 
 drop of liquid, which sparkles, in the sun-light for 
 remember, though it is November, we have chosen 
 a bright day. Surely, no array of blossoms ever 
 looked handsomer or gayer, than those fruit-decked 
 branchlets, bare though they be ; almost do their 
 jewel-like ornaments realize the fairy tale of Alad- 
 din's gem-bearing trees, though the hips of the 
 rose, the haws of the thorn, or the crimson fruit of 
 the bryony or honeysuckle, constitute all their 
 wealth. To these will we return when we have 
 examined this bright bunch of coral peeping out 
 from amid the withered grass at the foot of the 
 hedge. Ah ! these coral-like berries are the result 
 of the curious floral arrangement of our April friend, 
 the arum, or wake-robin. The stamens, the spathe, 
 and other parts, have disappeared, and the little 
 pistils have become true "berries, containing their 
 little seeds. Mark, we say true berries, that is 
 pulpy fruit containing seeds other fruits, such as 
 the strawberry, which are 
 often called berries by 
 people generally, are not 
 berries at all. This will 
 be evident at once ; for 
 thoughfew of our readers 
 can have the advantage 
 of a reference to Novem- 
 Fi e- 1&J - ber strawberries, all may 
 
 remember that queen of fruits, Fig. 154 bears
 
 AVILD FLOWEES. 
 
 the little yellow seeds upon its surface ; they there- 
 fore cannot be within its pulp. The fact is, these 
 little seeds, "achenes" as they are called botanically, 
 are the botanist's true fruit of the strawberry, and 
 the fleshy pulp is but an enlarged condition of what 
 is called the receptacle of that and other flowers, 
 being in fact the enlarged extremity of the branch- 
 let on which the blossom or seed is situated. Pig. 
 155 represents a section of the strawberry blos- 
 som, with 1 the 
 receptacle, on which 
 the young seeds are 
 as thickly set as pos- 
 sible ; when that re- 
 ceptacle enlarges, 
 they will become se- 
 Fig . ]55 parated from each 
 
 other, as at Pig. 154. In others of the rosaceous 
 class to which the strawberry belongs, the recep- 
 tacle, instead of enlarging, remains dry and flat, as 
 in the potentilla, consequently, the "achenes" re- 
 main crowded together when ripe. Almost we fear, 
 some reader may trip over this little word achene, 
 without explanation. Seed-vessels generally are 
 called carpels, or seed-holders ; the pod of the pea 
 is one kind of carpel, the fleshy apple, the succulent 
 pear, are both carpels, and so on. When, however, 
 the carpel is dry, when it incloses a single seed, to 
 which it is closely connected, as in the little straw- 
 berry seed, in the seed of the dandelion Fig. 156
 
 NOVEMBER. 
 
 271 
 
 or the seed of the ranunculus 'Fig. 157 it is 
 further distinguished as an achene. Eemember then, 
 generally, seed-inclosing fruits are carpels, though 
 carpels are of many kinds. Here then, still remain- 
 ing thus late in the year, is a well filled carpel, a 
 
 Fig. 157. 
 
 Fig. 156. 
 
 Fig. 158. 
 
 true seed-holder, and filled to the brim with its 
 brownish-black seeds, which appear almost as if 
 held up to the birds to appease their winter 
 hunger. The vase-like capsule which contains 
 them Fig. 158 is not unhandsome in shape, as 
 it opens its teeth-like valves to disclose its trea- 
 sured seeds, which claim parentage from the scarlet 
 lychnis of May. You have not forgot its handsome 
 companion the caltha, or marsh marigold, so like
 
 272 
 
 WILD FLOWERS. 
 
 a large handsome buttercup ; if we are near its 
 place of growth, we may meet with another form 
 of carpel, which it offers Fig. 159 called a follicle, 
 or little pocket ; in this case a number of these 
 seed follicles are together. However, we must get 
 above the hedge bottom and look after some of the 
 bright fruits we left when the coral-berries of the 
 
 Fig. 15U. 
 
 Fig. 160. 
 
 arum attracted our gaze. Let us take the rose hep 
 produced, like the strawberry, by a rosaceous 
 plant, and yet how different the fruit. It, too, 
 bears achenes, but, in place of being held up, as 
 in the strawberry, on a projecting receptacle, they 
 are buried within the tube of the calyx, as 
 shown in the section of a rosebud Fig. 160 
 or as it may be said, are fixed to an inverted or
 
 NOVEMBEB. 273 
 
 hollow receptacle. Then we have in the companion 
 haw, which is the produce of another rosaceous 
 plant, the example of a drupe carpel, as all stone 
 fruits, peaches, cherries, &c., are called. Scarcely 
 will our reader be prepared to class with these 
 drupe fruits, the blackberries, which yet remain to 
 vary, with their brilliant black, the brighter hedge 
 colours, and yet every blackberry is a collection of 
 little drupes, each containing its one little stone in 
 the midst of its pulp perhaps, never before have 
 you thought that strawberries and blackberries 
 were not really berries, nor observed how they 
 differed from one another in construction, and from 
 the structure of true berries, such as currants and 
 gooseberries. These hips and haws are the coral 
 of our jewel-bearing branches, but the bright trans- 
 parent berries of the honeysuckle are our red cor- 
 nelians, and right handsome they look in their 
 crowded clusters. Equally bright, but more loosely 
 congregated, we may find yet adhering to the 
 withered trailing stems, the fruit of the red-berried 
 bryony, competing in brilliancy with those of the 
 Tamus communis, or black bryony, which we noticed 
 when its glossy bright green leaves decked the 
 hedgerows in July. Then we have to gather 
 bunches of the wax-like transparent fruit of the 
 guelder rose ; and, if the birds have left us any, of 
 the graceful scarlet pomes of the mountain ash, the 
 " Kowan berries" of Scotland. Nor must we pass 
 the dark purple of the sloe, or the intense black of 
 
 T
 
 274 WILD FLOWERS. 
 
 the privet fruit, which looks so handsome. We 
 used the word pome a little above ; it is another 
 form of carpel, well illustrated in the familiar apple 
 or pear. We have it too in the rosy fruit which 
 still hangs over-head on the branches of the wild 
 crab, cut one across, the core which contains the 
 seeds is tough and horny, it does not separate from 
 the flesh of the fruit like the stone of the peach or 
 cherry, but is closely connected to it, forming the 
 pome (Auglice apple fruit) of the botanist. Apples 
 and nuts are always companions. If the boys and 
 the squirrels have left us a specimen of the latter, 
 we see another form of fruit, the nut kind, and for 
 once we get a designation less scientific than usual. 
 Alas ! 
 
 " November's sky is chill and drear." 
 
 and November days are short we must not then 
 linger too long with damp grass, and damp air, 
 without warm sunshine. We might speak of the 
 podded fruits, but must refer for them to the 
 recollections of green peas and beans. The form 
 of pod, moreover, well illustrates the connection 
 traceable between the simple leaf of the plant and 
 the after complex form of the fruit. Then we 
 have what are often called pods, but are not true 
 pods, the seed-vessels of the cruciferce, such as the 
 wallflower, shepherd's purse, whitlow grass, &c. 
 Call to mind that when you open a pea-pod, it splits 
 both back and front, and discloses its one cavity
 
 DECEMBEB. 275 
 
 of pea-seeds ; when you attempt to open a ripe 
 wallflower seed-vessel, it opens by two valves from 
 below upwards, and you will find the little flat 
 seeds are contained in two cavities, separated by a 
 transparent central partition. The wallflower seed- 
 vessel is a Siliqua. See December. 
 
 DECEMBEE. 
 
 " What cold December barrenness everywhere !" 
 
 " The dead leaves strew the forest walk, 
 
 And wither'd are the pale wild flowers ; 
 The frost hangs blackening on the stalk, 
 The dew-drops fall in frozen showers." 
 
 BBAINARD. 
 
 AFTEE the month of April, Flora's treasures came 
 upon us so thick and fast, that we could no longer 
 afford space for those directions in practical bota- 
 nizing drying, collecting, &c. which commenced 
 our papers of the earlier months. True, we had 
 almost concluded our observations when the mode 
 of mounting the dried plants was explained ; but 
 there yet remains something to be said respecting 
 the final arrangement and disposal of the specimens. 
 We mentioned that one species of plant only should 
 be placed on the same half-sheet of paper ; there is, 
 however, no objection, particularly in the case of 
 small plants, to more than one specimen of the 
 same species being shewn, especially if the cha- 
 
 T 2
 
 276 WILD FLOWERS. 
 
 racters of the plant are better illustrated by this 
 being done. One specimen may exhibit the leaves 
 and flowers to advantage, while another more ad- 
 vanced presents us with the developed seed-vessels. 
 In the case of large plants, you must use your 
 discretion in selecting flowers, leaves, portions of 
 stems, roots, &c., endeavouring to include as many 
 of the characteristic features of the species as pos- 
 sible in the compass of your half-sheet. If long 
 and slender plants, like the grasses, &c., have been 
 bent and re-bent upon themselves, as directed in 
 the paper for March, you may be able to introduce 
 the entire specimen, though many times longer 
 than your paper ; in other cases you may effect the 
 preservation of valuable characters, by bending the 
 parts, as in the case of the runners of such plants 
 as the strawberry or common bugle. 
 
 Having fixed your specimens, the next step is to 
 attach to each its name, both specific and generic 
 that is to say, if your specimen be a ranunculus, 
 you write that word on the upper right-hand corner 
 of the half-sheet. That is the generic or genus 
 name of the plant ; but as there are many other 
 species of ranunculus, it is necessary to attach the 
 specific or species name of the particular specimen, 
 before our designation is complete. Thus, suppose 
 our plant is the common water-crow-foot, we add 
 to the first written name, " ranunculus," the specific 
 name " aquatilis," which to a botanist distinguishes 
 that species from every other plant in the vegetable
 
 DECEMBER. 277 
 
 kingdom. These are the botanical and scientific 
 Latin designations ; beneath them it is usual to 
 write the English name, and the place where, and 
 date when, the particular specimen was gathered 
 adding, if you have received the dried specimen 
 from a friend, the friend's name also. Thus, then, 
 we have in our right-hand upper corner the 
 following : 
 
 " Ranunculus aquatilis, 
 Common water-crow-foot, 
 River Trent May 2QtJi, 1853." 
 These names may be written either on the paper 
 itself, or on a label which can be gummed on the 
 paper. Having thus mounted your species, the 
 next step must be to arrange them under the heads 
 of their respective genera ; in other words, to put 
 the different species of the same genus together. 
 This is best done by including the half-sheets to 
 which the different species are attached, within the 
 cover of one whole sheet which contains the genus, 
 writing the name of the genus, whether it be ranun- 
 culus, veronica, or any other, on the left-hand upper 
 corner of the sheet, adding, if you think well, 
 the name of the natural order to which the genus 
 belongs, or, if you follow the Linnaean method, the 
 class and order in that system. Thus, it would 
 be Ranunculus. 
 
 Nat. Ord. Ranunculacece. 
 or Ranunculus. 
 Class Polyandria Ord. Polygynia.
 
 278 WILD FLOWEKS. 
 
 Having done this, your specimens may be put away 
 in some dry place. It is better to have them 
 arranged on shelves if you can afford a little 
 cabinet for them so much the better at all events, 
 have them arranged and in order, even if your 
 arrangement be no more than alphabetical. It 
 ought, however, to be something more scientific 
 than this. The Linnaean method of classification 
 and arrangement you will find most easy for study 
 and practice at first, but the natural classification 
 of plants will give you the most clear and satis- 
 factory view of the domains of the vegetable king- 
 dom. These directions respecting the naming and 
 arranging of plants are not unimportant. If the 
 specimens are worth gathering and drying, they 
 must be worth preserving, and if they are to afford 
 any satisfactory use or amusement, they must be 
 in order. Moreover, the position on the paper we 
 have pointed out as proper for the names, will be 
 found the most convenient for reference. Lastly, 
 in looking over or showing your plants, be careful 
 not, as many do, to turn over the sheets as you do 
 the leaves of a book, otherwise you will certainly 
 injure your specimens. Lift each specimen half- 
 sheet carefully with both hands, and lay it smoothly 
 down on the one which preceded it. 
 
 Twice blessed, surely, is our botanical pursuit, 
 for not only has it given us a new interest in the 
 fields of summer, given us enlarged and deeper 
 views of the wisdom, the power and the goodness of
 
 DECEMBER. 279 
 
 the Almighty, but it now offers pleasing and pro- 
 fitable occupation for our leisure time in winter, 
 when 
 
 " There's not a flower upon the lea, 
 The frost is on the pane ;" 
 
 and in looking over or arranging the dried but still 
 beautiful forms of our herbarium, we live over again, 
 in thought, the pleasant rambles and companion- 
 ships of summer ; it may be of summers long fled, 
 of companions whose forms we shall no more see 
 on earth. Well, arranging our herbarium is a most 
 pleasant occupation for bad days, and for winter 
 evenings ; but we must not neglect out of doors 
 for all that. 
 
 Last month we had our gay bright berries drop't 
 as with diamond or crystal, when the November dew 
 or rain which had gathered upon them sparkled in 
 some chance ray of the watery sunshine. This 
 month we have them set in the silver frost-work of 
 the rime. How handsome look 
 
 " The clustered berries bright 
 Amid the holly's gay green leaves," 
 
 when contrasted with the white crystalline hoar 
 frost, on a clear winter morning. True berries are 
 they withal, and contain four little seeds. Berries, 
 too, are the dull black and brown fruit of the ivy, 
 that seems to clothe so comfortably the leafless 
 trees. Holly Ivy Mistletoe ! The last gives us 
 a change of colour, and its white semi-transparent 
 berries supply us with the pearls we wanted for
 
 280 WILD FLOWEBS. 
 
 Flora's jewelled winter crown. Let us have a list 
 of her casket's contents. Her rose garland of 
 summer has now furnished the heps of all shades of 
 colour, from pink to brilliant red, and even to the 
 deep black-purple fruit of the thorny burnet-rose, 
 or Rosa spinossissima. Next, how varied are the 
 bramble berries, which we have shown are not berries 
 at all ; there is the deep black, telling of ripeness, 
 of our common blackberry ; the red of the rock 
 bramble (Rubus saxatilis), the orange red of the 
 mountain cloudberry, a handsome wreath would 
 they make. Next come our opaque coral-like fruits, 
 the haws of the thorn, the scarlet rowan bunches 
 of the mountain ash, and those of our friend the 
 holly; after these, we have the waxen drupe-like 
 fruit of the yew, and the wax-like berries of the 
 guelder rose, followed by the transparent reds, sucli 
 as the honeysuckle, or the woody nightshade more 
 deeply tinged with orange, or the bryonies. And 
 again come we to the mistletoe pearls. Should 
 Flora mourn the vanished flowers, the fate of the 
 " gentle sisterhood," many a funereal looking fruit 
 have they left her for her adorning. The buckthorn 
 and the elder, the spurge laurel, the privet, the 
 sloe black berries all of them and many another, 
 might well be used as emblems of mourning. Truly 
 our winter crown almost equals in brilliancy the 
 summer's floral tiara ; but we must not let it eclipse, 
 nor let it cause us to forget, some of the more sober- 
 hued seed products that await us. The dry seed-
 
 DECEHBEB. 281 
 
 bunches of the ash or of the maple or elm, popularly 
 called " keys," offer us an example of what is called 
 in botany a samara, that is a simple carpel or achene, 
 one portion of which is extended into a wing-like 
 appendage "Fig. 161. We have already spoken of 
 
 Fig. 161. 
 
 the nut of the hazel, which we find partially covered 
 by the involucre or husk. Nuts, too, are the acorns, 
 and their cups, so celebrated in the table arrange- 
 ments of fairy -land, are simply the involucre of the 
 nut consolidated. Very similar in character are 
 these twin three-cornered beech nuts. Both beech 
 tree and oak, as well as the hazel, belong to the Cwpu- 
 liferce, or cup-bearing tribe, which also includes 
 the Spanish chesnut a tree, moreover, which is 
 claimed as a British native. In the chesnut the 
 nuts, one or two together, are contained within the 
 well-known prickly case formed by the enlarged 
 involucre. How different from these well-protected 
 nuts are the naked seeds of the cone tribes ; except 
 for the partial covering of the cone scale at the base 
 of which it lies, the cone seed is completely exposed. 
 The cone, well known to all as yielded by the fir 
 and pine trees, being made up of a number of these 
 scale-covered seeds, comes under the class of what
 
 282 WILD FLOWEES. 
 
 are called collective fruits, like the mulberry. In a 
 few species of the cone tribe, however, the scales, 
 instead of being hard and dry, are succulent and 
 fleshy. Such is the case of the juniper Fig. 162 
 its fruit, usually called the "juniper berry," is 
 actually a little cone in construction. 
 At one period another description of 
 seeds were classed as naked seeds, by 
 botanists. Those of our readers who 
 have been using their eyes, must have 
 rig. lea. observed in the flowers of the borage 
 order, and more especially in the labiate plants, 
 that what appeared to be the seeds were situated 
 two or four together at the bottom of the calyx. 
 So like are these to simple seeds, that they were 
 formerly considered so ; but now they are known to 
 be seed and seed-vessel combined. They are, in 
 short, achenes, like those of the composite and 
 umbel-bearing plants. Almost could we when at 
 a little distance imagine that yonder tall reed 
 grass by the pond still bore some handsome blossom, 
 grass though it be ; but nearer examination shows 
 us that the appearance is caused by the silky hairs 
 attached to the flower heads, if we may so speak. 
 The appearance is really ornamental, and the grass 
 itself reminds us that we have yet to speak of the 
 nature of those seeds, the most important of all 
 perhaps, the cereals, or grains. Almost they come 
 under the definition of an achene ; but in the 
 grasses, the seed covering, or testa, which in wheat
 
 DECEMBER. 283 
 
 forms the bran, is very intimately connected with 
 the true seed itself; to this combination of seed 
 and seed-covering the name caryopsis has been given 
 by botanists. Hitherto, we have regarded seeds as 
 inclosed in and connected with the carpels, or seed- 
 vessels, in which they have been grown and per- 
 fected ; if we trace them beyond this, to the stage 
 of their dispersion, we find the modes by which that 
 dispersion is effected, and by which the germs are 
 separated from their containing seed-cups, for depo- 
 sition in the earth, as varied as the forms of the 
 seed-cups themselves. No department of botanical 
 investigation is more interesting than this. So 
 numerous and so beautiful are the different con- 
 trivances which aid these tiny rudiments of the 
 future flower, or shrub, or forest tree, in spreading 
 themselves over the earth. Some offer to us the 
 feathery wing, like the dandelion, the willow herb, 
 &c. ; others, like the gorse or broom, have their 
 seeds projected to a distance from the parent plant, 
 by the sudden bursting and spring-like twisting of 
 the two valves or sides of the containing legume or 
 pod. 
 
 Many of our readers, indeed, must have remarked 
 this fact for themselves, when, under the heat of a 
 July sun, their wanderings have led them through 
 some 
 
 " Path with tangling furze o'er-run, 
 When bursting seed-bells crackle in the sun ;" 
 
 and they have wondered what could be the meaning
 
 284 WILD FLOWEBS. 
 
 of the incessant crack, crack, which seemed 
 momentarily to occur on every side, as if some fairy 
 folk were firing feux dejoie to celebrate the fine 
 weather. Verily, too, the tiny soldiers, whoever 
 they be, seem to have loaded with something more 
 than powder; for, after each crack, the attentive 
 ear might catch the sound as of dropping shot among 
 the leaves. At last the eye detects one of the black 
 pods of the broom or of the gorse in the very act of 
 firing ; in one moment, each pod valve has twisted 
 itself into a spiral, and sent its seed, the fairy pro- 
 jectiles, scattering all around. And thus there is an 
 explanation of the fairy fusillade; but we find out thai 
 spring guns are in use in Flora's kingdom instead 
 of Minie rifles. 
 
 The little seed of the wood sorrel has its own 
 special elastic envelope, to send it forth upon the 
 world ; the hooks of the burdock cling to the pass- 
 ing animal, and are carried, perhaps, miles away : 
 while the screw-like appendages of the crane's-bill 
 achenes assist to roll them to some chink in the 
 earth, and then screw them into it. Again, some 
 seeds never separate from their containing carpels. 
 As we have before explained, what we call the seeds 
 of the dandelion, of the caraway, carrot, or butter- 
 cup, &c., are both seed and seed-cup combined; 
 they fall to the ground however, or are sown as seed 
 simply ; so also with the grains, with the nut tribes, 
 &c. Again, many of the succulent fruits fall fruit 
 and seed, or seeds, together. A large proportion.
 
 DECEMBER. 
 
 285 
 
 however, of seed-vessels have some peculiar mode 
 by which they permit the escape of their enclosed 
 treasures. The poppy has little pores at the summit 
 of the seed-cup, the lychnis tribes open at the top by 
 teeth or valves. See November, Fig. 159 the 
 pimpernel splits off a little lid, and discloses its well- 
 hoarded treasury Fig. 163 while the cruciforms, 
 like the wall-flower, quietly lift up their sides Fig. 
 164 to let the seeds fall ; the willow herbs opening 
 
 Fig. 163. 
 
 Fig. 164. 
 
 at top in elegant fashion, to permit their beautifully 
 arranged and winged germs to take their flight. 
 
 But truce to science and to long names, for 
 Christmas is coming on, and all we have now to
 
 286 WILD FLOWEBS. 
 
 do with leaves, and berries and fruits, is to deck 
 the home and to spread the board in remembrance 
 of the time and mission of Him 
 
 " That to the cottage as the crown 
 Brought tidings of salvation down." 
 
 What cheerfulness do the leaves and fruits of winter 
 add to the Christmas decorations when festivities 
 are abroad ; and when more serious thoughts engage 
 the mind, and the retrospect of the past year is 
 undertaken, fain would we hope that the hours 
 spent beneath the leaves of the summer trees, and 
 in search for the summer flowers, will not be found 
 amid the least profitable, nor be amid the least 
 pleasantly remembered. " Consider the lilies of 
 the field," were the words of Him whose birth- 
 time we now celebrate: consider their "array," 
 and their "glory," for truly 
 
 " There is a lesson in each flower, 
 A story in each stream and bower ; 
 In every herb on which you tread 
 Are written words, which, rightly read, 
 Will lead you from earth's fragrant sod 
 To hope, to holiness, and God." * 
 
 If such be the uses to the mind and heart of the 
 study of the wild flowers, which He who made, 
 and bade us " consider " them, has scattered without 
 stint, in their beauty and fragrance, " o'er hill and 
 dale and desert sod," cease not to care for them ; 
 think not that the interest is exhausted in one 
 
 * Davis.
 
 DECEMBEE. 287 
 
 short year or summer, for with each succeeding 
 season it will revive, the old friends will be wel- 
 comed, and scarcely can you fail to make new ones ; 
 for even the quickest botanical eye overlooks, at 
 times, some plant or other perhaps the very one 
 sought after which another year it detects at once. 
 Then, again, in every neighbourhood fresh plants 
 will appear year by year, carried thither by some of 
 the means proper of plant transport, or disclosed 
 by some fresh-turned soil ; it may be some new rail- 
 way embankment introduces quite a novel society 
 in the vegetable world of your district. Nay, even 
 if you should find no new plant, you cannot in any 
 ordinary leisure exhaust the study of those which 
 deck even the most scantily furnished flora. Dis- 
 card not the most humble weed, the most neglected 
 flower, for it is a mine of beauty 
 
 " I'll teach thee miracles ! Walk on this heath 
 And say to the neglected flower, ' Look up 
 And be thou beautiful !' if thou hast faith 
 It will obey thy word." * 
 
 Aye, have faith that there exists not the work of 
 God's hand without beauty; and truly, in confirma- 
 tion, says another one of the sweetest of our 
 poets, 
 
 " There's beauty all around our paths, 
 
 If but our watchful eyes 
 Can trace it midst familiar things, 
 
 And through their lowly guise." t 
 
 * Barrington. t Remans.
 
 288 WILD FLOWERS. 
 
 But why should we try to persuade ? we know there 
 is not one who has once imbibed the love of our 
 wild flowers, and their gatherings, who will will- 
 ingly drop the pursuit. 
 
 Wild Flowers, we have yet a few plants un- 
 noticed, which cannot be classed amid the flowers, 
 for blossoms they have none, yet are they amongst 
 the most ornamental of our native plants. One 
 more paper do we propose on the fern tribes ere 
 we say adieu.
 
 289 
 
 THE FERN TRIBES OF PLANTS. 
 
 " Where the dew drops glisten sheenest, 
 Where the lady fern grows greenest." 
 
 OUB Wild Flower papers hitherto have dealt with 
 flowers only ; that is, with such plants as display 
 whether in gay dresses or without them, it matters 
 not the little organs, called stamens and pistils, 
 all these being classed under the somewhat break-jaw 
 name of Phanogamous plants, that is, plants provided 
 with organs distinctly adapted to the formation of 
 true seeds. In this class nearly all the higher forms 
 of vegetable life are included ; but there yet remains 
 that large department of vegetable existence 
 arranged under the head of Cryptogamia, which, 
 crowned as it were by the ferns of temperate climes, 
 and by the fern trees of the tropics, descends to the 
 utmost verge of vegetable life, till it is lost in 
 plants of microscopic minuteness, consisting of little 
 more than a simple cell or vesicle of vegetable 
 matter. Do not fear, we are not going to plunge 
 you into a maze of fungi, mosses and such-like ; but, 
 be assured, the few higher cryptogamia to which we 
 guide your attention will well repay the trouble of 
 their investigation. 
 
 Many of our readers must know the ferns, or 
 brackens, at least the commoner species, all must 
 remember their beautifully cut leaves and elegant
 
 290 WILD FLOWEES. 
 
 forms, which graced the banks and woods and 
 rocks of June, in their greenest richness ; albeit, 
 remember as they may, they will not be able to 
 connect any flower with these beautiful leaves ; and 
 therein lies the reason why these wild plants but 
 not flowers came not among our "Wild Flower" 
 notices, but are brought under consideration in 
 a distinct paper. These fern plants have no 
 flowers, they have no organs, such as the stamen, 
 the pistil, &c. of the flower proper, and even their 
 spores, by which they chiefly propagate, are not 
 true seeds. Notwithstanding all this, the ferns are, 
 at times, no mean plants ; witness some of the 
 tropical and southern zone "tree-ferns," the perfec- 
 tion of graceful beauty and stateliness ; nay, even 
 our own royal fern, or "flowering fern," as it is 
 sometimes called, the Osmunda regalis, is not an 
 insignificant member of the family but more of 
 this anon. Let us get a fern and examine it, and then 
 shall we better appreciate the ins and outs of the 
 family. Here is the common male fern (Aspidiwn 
 Filix mas) so frequent and yet so beautiful an 
 ornament of our moist shady banks and woods ; its 
 green, very green, and much-cut fronds growing 
 generally in a circle, and rising to the height of two, 
 three, or even four feet. Observe in spring, when 
 the young fronds are rising, how remarkably the 
 springing leaf is folded, coiled as it were upon 
 itself; this folding of young leaves generally is 
 called their " vernation," and in the case of the fern, 
 the peculiar form of vernation is named " gyrate "
 
 THE PEEK TRIBES. 
 
 291 
 
 or " circinate " Fig. 1691 it is well worth 
 examination ; mark, too, how profusely scaly these 
 young fronds are. This scaliness, so characteristic 
 of the ferns, becomes proportionally less on the 
 more matured frond ; but still you may observe it, 
 especially on the "rachis " as the central rib of the 
 fern leaf is called. You gather a mature frond, 
 and find on the back a multitude of little roundish 
 raised dots Figs. 165, 166 and here, if there are 
 
 165. Back view of a portion of 
 
 ing tori 1 covered by a circular 
 indutium or involucre. 
 
 166. Back view of a portion of 
 the frond of the male-fern, show- 
 ing tori 1 covered by a kidney- 
 shaped indutium or involucre. 
 
 no fern flowers, there is at least the " fern seed," 
 so famed in superstition of yore, for its reputed 
 power of rendering the possessor invisible, provided 
 the seed had been gathered with all due ceremony 
 upon the eve of St. John. However, " fern seed " 
 is not seed in the botanical sense, but "spores;" 
 moreover, these roundish dots, or sori, are not the 
 
 seed spores, but only 
 the coverings of the ves- 
 sels or capsules Fig. 
 
 167. Magnified view of spore con- 167 which COntaiU the 
 
 taining capsules of a fern, showing . T , -i 
 
 their elastic jointed rings. miUUte SpOrCS. In the
 
 292 WILD FLOWEKS. 
 
 case of the male shield fern Fig. 166 which we 
 are now examining, these spore spots have a cover- 
 ing, involucre, or as it is often called " indusium," 
 of a kidney shape ; in other species it is perfectly 
 circular or shield-shaped Fig. 165 in others 
 oblong, and we shall find that in others of the fifty 
 species of British ferns it is either wanting or its 
 place is supplied by the folding of the leaf margin 
 Fig. 168 as already said, these involucres are 
 neither the seeds, or rather 
 spores, nor are they the 
 seed-capsules or vessels. 
 The latter lie beneath the 
 involucre, many together; 
 but they are so minute, 
 that you will not be able 
 to make out their structure 
 without the aid of a good 
 magnifier or small micro- 
 scope. They are worth 
 
 168. Portion of frond of Maidens- * 
 
 hair fern, the sori 1 covered by cnmo fr-miTVIo Ti rwe> vff nn 
 the reflexed margin of the frond. BOUJe IFOUUie, IlOWeVtJI, Uil 
 
 account of the beautiful 
 
 little elastic jointed ring Fig. 167 by which each 
 is surrounded, and which serves the purpose of a 
 spring to tear the capsule membrane transversely 
 asunder, when its spore contents are ripe. All these 
 parts you will make out in the "male shield fern" 
 we have chosen for examination ; only the root 
 remains ; this you will find varying to a foot in 
 length, bearing the knobby remains of the old leaf-
 
 THE KEEN TBIBES. 293 
 
 stalks, and very scaly. This root is famed, and 
 justly so, as a remedy in cases of worms. 
 
 Having once examined our common male fern, 
 our readers will find little difficulty with others of 
 this interesting and extremely beautiful tribe of 
 plants, that is, as regards understanding their 
 general structure, though we fear a general descrip- 
 tion will afford small guide to the discrimination of 
 many of the individual species. However, there is 
 one we cannot fail to recognize, as it shoots up its 
 young curled fronds in May and June, by the side 
 of hedge or wood, or even the stony moor, or on 
 the otherwise bare hill-side. "When full grown, a 
 goodly thicket does this, the common bracken 
 (Pteris aquilina) make, sending its branched fronds 
 five or six feet high, and offering its " bracken 
 curtain" to the deer for his evening couch; one, 
 moreover, which will conceal even the well-antlered 
 buck, and which has concealed many an armed High- 
 lander in days of yore. The readers of Sir Walter's 
 " Lady of the Lake " cannot fail to call to mind hoAv 
 Roderick Dhu's men sprang from the "bracken" 
 at the whistle of their chieftain. You must know 
 the bracken fronds which rise from the long creep- 
 ing root, or rhizome, and which, instead of bearing 
 their spores like the male shield fern, in round 
 " sori," arranged on the back of the frond, have 
 them placed on the under margin, the revolute edge 
 of the leaf forming their covering. Should you go 
 fern-gathering in the North, you will find the same 
 arrangement in the case of the common rock-
 
 294 
 
 WILD FLOWEBS. 
 
 bracken or brake, or "curled rock brake " (Crypto- 
 gramma crispa), a much smaller plant than the last, 
 generally growing among loose stones on the hills, 
 and ornamenting the waste rock places. 
 
 Almost we fear that ferns and cut leaves are so 
 associated in our readers' minds, that they will scarce 
 give our next friend, the common hart's-tongue 
 (Scolopendrium vulgare) Fig. 169 credit for 
 being a fern at all, until 
 they turn the back of the 
 frond, and find its spores 
 disposed in long lateral sori 
 which follow the veinings 
 of the leaf. The hart's- 
 tongue fern, grows in 
 bunches of long plain leaves, 
 somewhat crisped at the 
 edges, and occasionally a 
 little cut at the extremity. 
 It is extremely ornamental, 
 and its often drooping 
 fronds, though generally 
 shorter, not unfrequently 
 attain a length of a couple 
 of feet ; you will most likely 
 fall in with it in a shady, 
 somewhat damp, situation ; 
 in deed, few ferns will you find that do not fix them- 
 selves where moisture is abundant, often where they 
 are continually wet by the spray of a waterfall. Some 
 of the most elegant elegant is the word generally 
 
 169. Hart's-tongue fern. The 
 young fronds 1 unfolding by a 
 ffyrate or circinate vernation.
 
 THE FEBN TEIBES. 295 
 
 appropriate to ferns are found in these places, and 
 often add much to the beauty of the scene. Look 
 for the little green-stemmed Spleen-wort (Asyjilenium 
 viride) in such situations ; you will know it by the 
 tiny oval scarcely cut leaflets, which are arranged on 
 either side of the green rachis, or central stem, form- 
 ing one of the prettiest little fern fronds we know ; 
 the prettiest, certainly of the numerous family of 
 spleen-worts, now, at least, since the elegant no 
 other word will do lady fern has been lost to them 
 by its transference to the genus AtJiyrium. These 
 spleenworts vary considerably in appearance, but all 
 have oblong or linear sori. Some prefer the moist 
 clefts of rocks for their root fixtures, and one the 
 cliffs of the sea-shore. "We spoke of the "lady 
 fern" (AtJiyrium Mlix foemin a), sometimes called 
 the "Queen of Ferns," so graceful are its drooping 
 much-cut leaves. In many a shaded glen or wood 
 does her queenship hold her court, and much more 
 abundant and universally distributed is she than 
 her consort, the king of the tribe, the royal Osmunda 
 regalis, or Osmund royal, often called the " flowering 
 fern," from the fact of its bearing its fruit, or " fruc- 
 tification," on a kind o flower-like prolongation of 
 the summit of its stately frond, to the height of 
 seven or eight, or at times even of eleven feet. A 
 magnificent and right royal fern this is, and a real 
 ornament, wherever, as on the banks of Killarney, 
 in Ireland, it deigns to grow abundantly. Many 
 another species of this interesting tribe of plants 
 might we name, some, such as the common polypody
 
 296 WILD FLOWERS. 
 
 of frequent occurrence on wall-tops, banks, &c., 
 presenting the capsules of sori without covering ; 
 others less frequently met with, such as the bladder 
 ferns, some of the spleenworts, &c., whilst others 
 are of extreme rarity. We must not forget, how- 
 ever, one species of fern not very commonly met 
 with in this country, but one which, when found, 
 cannot fail to attract the eye, from the delicate 
 growth of its branched-looking fronds Fig. 168. 
 It is the maiden's-hair fern (Adiantum Capillus 
 Veneris), dwelling on moist rocks in sea-shore neigh- 
 bourhoods. Scarcely is it. possible in a general 
 description of the fern species, to afford to our 
 readers appreciable distinctive marks for each ; may 
 we hope that enough has been said to show that the 
 members of this elegant and graceful tribe, though 
 undecked by gay flowers, are no less interesting than 
 those plants which are ; nay, we might add, no less 
 beautiful. May we recommend them to your atten- 
 tion in the coming summer's rambles ; they will 
 then speedily recommend themselves, and become, 
 we doubt not, some of the most prized and orna- 
 mental specimens of the dried collection, or Herba- 
 rium, or hortus siccus, by whichever name you may 
 call your preserved, and we trust well-preserved and 
 well-arranged, acquisitions. 
 
 A few first cousins have our friends the ferns, in 
 the shape of adder's-tongues, club mosses, horse-tails, 
 &c., some of which cannot be passed by ; interest- 
 ing, curious, and not unhandsome are they, and 
 deserving of a few words at our hands. The adder's-
 
 297 
 
 tongue Fig. 170. is by no means uncommon in 
 shaded moist places, or even in meadows, though 
 often overlooked notwithstanding its somewhat 
 singular appearance ; its fructification springing in 
 
 170. Common addeiVtongue- 
 The fructification 1 borne as a 
 spike. 
 
 171. The common moon- 
 wort. The fructification, 
 Lome in clusters. 
 
 a compact spike from the ovate frond ; still more 
 remarkable looking, the moonwort Fig. 171 bears 
 globe-like clusters of capsules elevated above the 
 half-moon-shaped divisions of the frond. This little 
 plant you may probably find in your wanderings
 
 298 WILD FLOWERS. 
 
 over the dry stony moor or upland pasture ground. 
 In the same situations look for the handsome club- 
 moss, Lycopodium. 
 
 The common species, Lycopodium clavatum, or 
 common club-moss, or, " wolf's claw, or " stag's- 
 horn," for it is known by all these names can 
 scarce escape you, for it is very general on the 
 hills even of comparatively lowland districts. The 
 stem of the club-moss runs along the ground, often 
 for many feet, throwing up at intervals the spiked 
 heads, which contain the spores or germs under the 
 cover of the scale-like leaves. So ornamental Is this 
 plant, that it has been used even to decorate a fancy 
 dress for the ball-room, the long training stems and 
 projecting spikes forming very graceful festoons. 
 When the heads or spikes of this and of other 
 species of club-moss are dry, they yield a fine yellow 
 powder, which is almost as inflammable as gun- 
 powder; and one of the species, the Lycopodium 
 Alpinmn, or savin-leaved club-moss, is employed by 
 Icelanders to dye clothes yellow. 
 
 Scarcely less curious than the club-mosses, are 
 the horse-tails or equisetums. 
 
 In some of your spring walks, either you have 
 met, or you may meet with, on some pasture ground, 
 or even road side, a queer-looking plant, which 
 seems quite inexplicable by your ordinary botanical 
 lore. There is an erect, loose, very hollow, 
 somewhat succulent, pink-looking, jointed stem, 
 crowned by a blackish head, which you think may 
 have something in connexion with the ordinary
 
 THE PEEK TEIBES. 299 
 
 form of flowers ; but you examine it, and find 
 nothing to which you can give a name : the head 
 appears divided into numerous scale-like divisions, 
 and that seems all. And it is all : the head is the 
 fructication or spore-bearing organ of the fertile 
 spike of the common corn horse-tail, (JEquisetum 
 arvense), the spores being formed on the under side 
 of these scales. This, remember, is the fertile spike, 
 very different in appearance from the much branched, 
 rough and furrowed barren spike, which you will 
 find occupying its place some weeks later. This 
 marked distinction between the fertile and barren 
 spikes exists in two other species of these plants, 
 which are found in Britain ; one is a rare one, the 
 other is the great water horse-tail, an inhabitant, 
 and certainly an ornamental one, of pools and river 
 sides generally, where it throws up its fronds, 
 for they share this name with the ferns to the 
 height of three or four feet. Other species of equi- 
 setum are there', in which the difference between 
 the barren and fertile frond is much less marked, 
 the principal being the possession of the spore bear- 
 ing spike or head. The whole tribe of the horse- 
 tails have a rough harsh feel, owing partly to the 
 large amount of siliceous* matter contained in their 
 cuticle, and from this property are much employed 
 for purposes of polishing both wood and metal. 
 
 Much more might we say of these curious plants, 
 of their spores furnished with peculiar hygrometric 
 
 Flint earth.
 
 300 WILD FLOWEBS. 
 
 appendages, &c. ; indeed, much more might we say 
 of these interesting forms of vegetable life which 
 have been so lightly and slightly touched upon in 
 the foregoing chapter, did such extended informa- 
 tion come within the scope of our design. This it 
 does not ; but we trust our readers who have gone 
 with us the year through, will not fail to seek it 
 from higher sources for themselves. We have but 
 tried to offer them a few glimpses of Nature's 
 most beautiful floral kaleidoscope, in the hope that 
 having a few times turned it round before their 
 eyes, they may be tempted to go on and turn it 
 round for themselves. 
 
 But we gave our exhortations, and said our 
 adieus last month with the closing year, and this 
 we may only wish them a " New Year" of many 
 happy rambles, when bright skies, warm air, and 
 springing flowers, once more bid the flower-gatherers, 
 whether children or sages, be up and doing, and 
 wooing Nature ; for 
 
 " Nature never did betray 
 The heart that loved her ; 'tis her privilege 
 Through all the years of this our life, to lead 
 From joy to joy ; for she can so inform 
 The mind that is within us, so impress 
 With quietness and beauty, and so feed 
 With lofty thoughts, that neither evil tongues, 
 Rash judgments, nor the sneers of selfish men, 
 Nor greetings where no kindness is, nor all 
 The dreary intercourse of daily life 
 Shall e'er prevail against us, or disturb 
 Our clieerful faith tliat all that we behold 
 Isfvll of blessings." 
 
 WORDSWORTH.
 
 301 
 
 A FEW WOEDS 
 
 ECONOMIC PROPERTIES OF BRITISH WILD 
 PLANTS. 
 
 IT is often remarked, that we bring from abroad, 
 both for medicinal and economical use, many vege- 
 table productions in no way superior in the 
 qualities for which they are prized, to numbers of 
 those which are the spontaneous growth of our 
 own soil ; and the fact of our doing so is thought 
 to be explained by the sort of artificial value which 
 many persons are said to attach to foreign articles, 
 according to the old adage, that " far-fetched fowls 
 have fine feathers." Perhaps there may be some 
 foundation for the accusation of neglecting home 
 produce : we suspect, however, that the principal 
 reason why our native wild plants, which possess 
 valuable qualities, are neglected, is, that labour is 
 too valuable in this country to be profitably 
 employed in their collection. Even if tea itself 
 grew wild amongst us, we doubt whether, sup- 
 posing it to be gathered and prepared according 
 to the Chinese elaborate manipulation, it would
 
 302 ECONOMIC PBOPEBTIES OF 
 
 not be found cheaper still to depend upon the 
 celestials for our supply, than to collect and manu- 
 facture it for ourselves. It seems as if the only 
 way in which a vegetable product, either native or 
 originally foreign, can be produced successfully in 
 this country, is to cultivate and gather it regularly 
 in such a wholesale fashion as we do in the case of 
 the hop, and some of the more largely used medi- 
 cinal herbs, such as chamomile, &c. As, however, 
 this method is inapplicable to the generality of our 
 own wild plants, they are neglected, fall into disuse, 
 or at least become the property of the country 
 herbalist, or of the housewives in remote districts. 
 ^Nevertheless, some acquaintance with their pro- 
 perties is not only interesting, but may be useful. 
 
 One group more especially claims our atten- 
 tion, from being composed of plants which, under 
 the ameliorating influence of cultivation, have be- 
 come valuable and much-prized vegetables. It is 
 singular how many of these are derived from the 
 sea-shore. First, we have the well known celery 
 (Apiuin graveolens) , so mild and succulent when 
 well grown, but which is a disagreeably strong 
 flavoured, and stringy plant in its native salt marshes. 
 Following this comes its no less prized neighbour 
 the sea-kale (Crdmbe maritimd) a grower in the 
 sand ; and not far from it the origin of our garden- 
 cabbages, the Brassica oleracea. The sugar-yield- 
 ing beet too (Seta maritime?) comes from the muddy 
 shores of our own islands, and to the list we must
 
 BEITISH WILD PLANTS. 303 
 
 add the delicate asparagus (Asparagus officinalis). 
 So profusely does this latter plant grow on one 
 island off the coast of Cornwall, that the name 
 " Asparagus Island," has been given to the place.* 
 In addition to these sea-side natives, we have the 
 parsnip (Pastinaca sativa) the carrot (Daucus 
 carota) and the ancestor of the turnip (Brassica 
 campestris). Cultivation, to be sure, has made a 
 wide difference between the wildling and the well 
 raised vegetable, but still they are essentially the 
 same, and, except for the unceasing care of the 
 cultivator, the latter would inevitably degenerate 
 to its original condition. Moreover, some of our 
 wild plants are used as vegetables, even when un- 
 cultivated. We were going to instance the nettle, 
 so highly prized as a dietetic spring vegetable in 
 some districts, but we remember that its cultiva- 
 tion has been immortalized by Sir Walter, and 
 that Andrew Fairservice, the old gardener of Loch- 
 leven, did raise early nettles under hand glasses. 
 However, though the nettle is not generally so 
 highly honoured, its young spring shoots are said 
 to be no bad substitute for spinach. For a similar 
 purpose, the mercury goose-foot (Ghenopodium 
 Sonus Henricus) is also used. Where the hop 
 grows plentifully, its young shoots cooked-like 
 asparagus are by no means a despisable vegetable. 
 Next we have of our own, plants to which may 
 
 * Hooker and Arnott's Brit. Flora.
 
 304 ECONOMIC PROPERTIES OF 
 
 be traced some of our most prized fruits. The 
 common cherry and the morello both claim ancestry 
 from wild trees (Prunus avium and Prunus cerasus) 
 of our woods and hedgerows, likewise the pear 
 must go back to the Pyrus communis, and the 
 apple to the Pyrus mains, the well known crab- 
 apple. The currants, black and red, and the goose- 
 berry, are all to be found growing beyond the 
 bounds of cultivation ; but it is doubtful whether 
 they are truly wild. Not so the strawberry ( Fra- 
 garia vescd) which nowhere carries a finer flavour 
 than on the woodland bank. Next comes our rasp- 
 berry, introducing us to all its kindred the brambles, 
 with their fruit, black, orange or red, as the case 
 may be ; and from these we pass to the pleasant 
 flavoured bilberries of our woods and hills, and to 
 the cranberry of excellent tart reputation. -Add 
 to these our hazel nuts, and a very respectable 
 dessert we make of our true British natives. 
 Another set of native plants supplies us with con- 
 diments. Mustard we have from the common black 
 mustard (Sinapis nigra) horse-radish (Armoracia 
 rusticana) parsley (Petroselinum sativum) water- 
 cress (Nasturtium qfficinale) all British. The 
 common lettuce is not a British native, but the 
 dandelion, when cultivated as in France, is said 
 to be palatable. The salad burnet (Poterium san- 
 guisorla) resembling cucumber in flavour, is eaten 
 as a salad. The " samphire of the rock," also 
 affords us one of the best of pickles. A few roots
 
 BRITISH WILD PLANTS. 305 
 
 there are which are used sparingly or in particular 
 districts. Some of the British orchidese yield the 
 salep * of commerce, and the root-tubers of the arum 
 or cuckoo-pint are collected and prepared for sale. 
 The root of the Campanula rapunculoides was 
 formerly cultivated under the name of ramps. In 
 the highlands of Scotland the root of the bitter 
 vetch (Ordbus tulerosus) is said at times to con- 
 stitute an article of food, and the tuber of the 
 common pig-nut (Sunium flexuosum) is eaten by 
 children and pigs whenever they can get it. 
 
 The uses of the seeds of the flax plant (Linum 
 usitatissimu'ni) are too well known to require com- 
 ment. The seeds of the yellow flag, or common 
 iris have been substituted, when roasted, for coffee ; 
 those of the common buck-wheat (Polygonum fago- 
 pyrutn) are used as food. The mucilaginous pro- 
 perties of the mallow tribe generally, and especially 
 of the common mallow (Malva sylvestris) place 
 them, perhaps, as much among the medicinal as 
 among the economical plants. Pnom linseed and 
 from mustard, oils, valuable as commercial commo- 
 dities, are procurable in large quantity. 
 
 In the way of arornatics our British wild plants 
 supply us largely ; the greater proportion, however, 
 being derived from the two extensive families of the 
 umbel-bearing and of the labiate plants. In the 
 urnbellifera, the aromatic properties are developed 
 
 * Salep is used in the preparation of a mucilaginous jelly like arrow- 
 root. 
 
 X
 
 306 ECONOMICAL PBOPERTIES OP 
 
 chiefly either in the roots or in the seeds, but 
 also in the steins, as in the case of the common 
 Angelica, the stalks of which are used as a candied 
 confection. The root of the gout-weed (JEgopo- 
 dium), of the meum or spignel, and of the sea- 
 holly (Erynffium), have all of them been held in 
 esteem for their aromatic stimulant properties. In 
 the list of aromatic seeds it is sufficient to enumerate 
 the caraway, the coriander, and the fennel, although 
 many more less known than used, but belonging to 
 the tribe, might be cited. In all these the aromatic 
 property is due to the presence of the essential oil 
 which is contained in the little channels or vittae 
 which are excavated as it were in the substance of 
 the seeds. In the labiate family, the aromatic 
 essential oil is much more generally distributed over 
 the plant than in the umbel-bearers, being found 
 in the leaves, stem, flowers, &c. Such we find to be 
 the case in the various species of mint, including 
 such well-known aromatics as pennyroyal, pepper- 
 mint, spearmint, &c., also in thyme, marjoram, wild 
 basil, sage, &c., all of which are true British labiates. 
 To our list of aromatics we should add the juniper 
 and the sweet-sedge (Acorus calamus). Other 
 plants have we which combine with their aromatic a 
 bitter principle, and thus become partly medicinal. 
 Such is the hop, a pleasanter bitter medicine, more- 
 over, than most others, and one which combines with 
 it much aroma. The same we find in the common 
 germander, a labiate, said to have been at times
 
 BRITISH WILD PLANTS. 307 
 
 substituted for the hop. In the family of the com- 
 posites we have many such instances, but they 
 belong rather to our medicinal section. 
 
 As we might expect in former times, ere home- 
 spun yarn and home-made clothing had been ren- 
 dered obsolete by wholesale manufacture, the dyeing 
 properties of our native plants were much more 
 valued, and more generally known and employed, 
 than they now are. Some, indeed, are named from 
 their possession of such properties; such are the 
 Genista tinctoria, or dyer's greenweed, a leguminous 
 plant yielding a yellow, and the Isatis tinctoria, or 
 dyer's woad, yielding a blue dye. Likewise the 
 common dyer's rocket, or yellow weed (Reseda 
 luteola) which also gives a yellow. The stems of 
 the white water lily (Nymphcea alba) have a reputed 
 agency for a grey, and other plants for a black dye. 
 The lycopus, or gipsy-wort, is said to derive its 
 English name from being employed by the wander- 
 ing tribe to stain their skins of a dark colour ; the 
 root of the yellow flag yields a black. The Poten- 
 tilla tormentilla, or tonnentil, one of the commonest 
 of our heath plants, is said by Sir "W. Hooker to be 
 used in Lapland to stain leather red ; and, according 
 to the same authority, the Icelanders form an 
 improved yellow dye by mingling the leaves of the 
 bog whortleberry (Vacciniumuliginosum) with those 
 of the savin-leaved club-moss. Our native astrin- 
 gents are chiefly claimed by the rosaceous tribes, 
 some of these plants have been found specially 
 
 x2
 
 308 * ECONOMICAL PBOPEBTIES OF 
 
 adapted for the tanning of leather. For this pur- 
 pose the root of the Potentilla tormentilla, or com- 
 mon tormentil, has been largely employed. The 
 tanning process likewise, besides the well-known 
 oak bark, derives aid from our two native trees the 
 birch and the alder, and the root of the common 
 bracken has been applied to a similar use. 
 
 We must not forget among our chemicals, either, 
 the saltwort (Salsola), and glasswort (Salicornia), 
 of our sea-shores, which yield soda largely, and 
 which may be made available in the manufacture of 
 glass, of soap, &c. 
 
 If we look among our native British plants for 
 mechanical capabilities we find them numerous, 
 even excluding the timber which some of our trees 
 yield so largely and so well. From the flax (Linum 
 usitatissimum) we have its fibre ; from the rushes 
 the well-known materials for mats, chairs, lights, 
 &c. ; the willow finds us baskets ; the teazel, the 
 best agent for dressing our cloth ; the holly, wood 
 for engraving and for the art of the turner. From 
 the horse-tail genus (JEquisetvm) we have an admi- 
 rable agent for polishing brass, &c., in the rough 
 epidermis laden with flinty matter, which, it is said, 
 the dairymaids in Northumberland use to scour their 
 milk pails.* The lyme grass (Elymus) by binding the 
 sands of our shores together with it roots, assists in 
 the resistance to the encroachments of the sea, and 
 the sea-reed (Ammophila arundinaced) not only does 
 
 * Hooker's Flora.
 
 BRITISH WILD PLANTS. 309 
 
 the same, but gives its stems or culms for the 
 formation of table mats and baskets. The purple 
 molinia is said to be twisted into ropes for their 
 nets by the fishermen of the Isle of Skye. The 
 uses of the common reed, so handsome an ornament 
 of our lakes and streams, are well known to 
 thatchers, and to the layer of the plaster floors so 
 commonly met with in some places. But if we are 
 to go on enumerating the uses of our grasses we 
 never shall have done. "We must not forget the 
 sweet gale, or Dutch myrtle, of our bogs, the twigs 
 of which are used to make beds, nor the hard useful 
 wood of the hornbeam (Carpinus letulus) ; neither 
 the elegant and fragrant birch, of which the sap will 
 afford a wine like the palm-toddy of more southern 
 climes, and the twigs our most useful brooms. And 
 after all these, and many more we might enumerate, 
 of the good and useful properties of our British 
 vegetable products, we must call to mind the woods 
 the heart of oak, unrivalled as our wooden bul- 
 warks, the beech, the ash, the elm, and many more. 
 Then come the holly and the thorn to fence our 
 gardens and fields, and the box, the thrift, and even 
 the heather to edge our garden plots. Pood for our 
 cattle, yielded especially by our grasses and legu- 
 minous plants, such as the clovers, vetches, &c., we 
 must not enter into, lest we find ourselves in a 
 subject requiring a volume instead of one which 
 must be confined to the concluding lines of a last 
 chapter.
 
 310 
 
 OUR MEDICINAL NATIVE PLANTS. 
 
 WEBB we to include in our list every plant which 
 has had some medicinal virtue imputed to it, we 
 must begin at the commencement of the Flora, and 
 go straight on to the end ; for, from the chickweed 
 and groundsel, which enter in the composition of 
 the fomentations and poultices of the village nurse, 
 up to the valuable but powerful foxglove and night- 
 shade, which must be cautiously used, even by the 
 medical man, we find nearly every weed and wild 
 flower invested with some reputed properties. 
 A certain number of our native plants are recog- 
 nized by medical men, and included in what is called 
 the Pharmacopoeia, or list of accredited medicinal 
 agents. Many, however, even though thus noticed, 
 are neglected, perhaps undeservedly so ; a few only 
 are much employed and prized as powerful remedies 
 in the treatment of disease. 
 
 The order of the Eanunculacese, in addition to 
 the Ranunculus acris, or upright meadow crowfoot, 
 and Ranunculus flammula, or lesser spearwort, 
 both of which are used as irritants or blistering 
 agents to the skin, affords us the hellebores, at one 
 time in much repute in mania and affections of the 
 head and the dangerous aconite, which has of late 
 years been used in rheumatic affections ; all these
 
 OUB, MEDICINAL NATIVE PLANTS. 311 
 
 plants well sustain the character of the family for 
 violent and acrid properties. Next have we the 
 poppy tribe, the common red poppy (Papaver 
 rhcEos) yielding the colouring matter of its brilliant 
 petals ; the opium poppy, (Papaver somniferum) 
 its milky juice, which when dried is our opium, 
 perhaps the most useful, most merciful medicine 
 known to man. The opium poppy, however, cannot 
 be claimed as a British native, although now it has 
 become in some districts so thoroughly naturalized 
 as to take rank with our wild plants. There is no 
 doubt that this plant first came from the East 
 Persia, or Asia Minor. It is chiefly cultivated in 
 Britain for its capsules, or " poppy-heads," so much 
 used in fomentations ; and excellent opium has even 
 been made in this country, but not profitably. It is a 
 curious circumstance connected with the poppy, that 
 although the seed-vessels or capsules contain the 
 opium juice so largely, the seeds within them are 
 perfectly bland, and even agreeable in flavour, and 
 are in some places used as food. 
 
 The medicinal plants native to Britain, obtained 
 from the cruciferous order, are not in high repute for 
 their activity. The scurvy-grass (Cochlearia offici- 
 nalis) has been esteemed chiefly as a counter-agent 
 to a diet too exclusively composed of animal food; the 
 horse-radish and black mustard, as stimulants ; the 
 common cuckoo flower (Cardamine pratensis) for 
 its pungent bitterness. Leaving the crucial flowers, 
 we find that from the blossoms of the sweet-scented
 
 312 OUB MEDICINAL NATIVE PLANTS. 
 
 violet, a syrup is made, which partakes of the odour 
 and colour of the petals, and which is much used as 
 a simple domestic remedy in the ailments, coughs, 
 fee., of young children : moreover, the root of the 
 violet possesses emetic properties. Next we have 
 the linseed and the mallows, both valuable for their 
 demulcent properties; and the pretty little wood 
 sorrel (Oxalis acetosella) offering its trefoil leaves 
 to make a pleasant acid drink for the parched lips 
 of fever, its acid, the oxalic, being the same as that 
 of the garden rhubarb. The common broom (Saro- 
 tJiamnus Scoparius) stands high, and deservedly so, 
 as a remedy in dropsy. It is remarkable as the only 
 native medicinal plant we draw from the important 
 order of the Leguminosa?, or pod-bearing tribe. 
 Passing to the rose tribe, we find the plants it 
 presents us, the common aveus, (Geum urlanum;) 
 the tormentil (fotentilla Tormentilla ;) and the dog 
 rose (Rosa canina /) of which the heps are used 
 for a conserve ; all serviceable on account of the 
 astringent principle so characteristic of the order to 
 which they belong. For the same property, however, 
 the tall handsome loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria ;) 
 of our August water-sides, has found a place in the 
 list. "We noticed the aromatic properties of the 
 caraway, fennel, coriander, angelica, and other 
 members of the umbel-bearers in our last chapter, 
 and need not refer to them again ; but we must 
 not omit mention of their relative, the hemlock 
 (Conium maculatim,) a powerful poison, but a sooth-
 
 OTJB MEDICINAL NATIVE PLANTS. 313 
 
 ing medicine in proper hands. The common elder 
 (Sambucus ebulus) has a reputation rather domestic 
 than in the domains of legitimate medicine; its 
 leaves, which are slightly astringent, being used in 
 the composition of an ointment, and the distilled 
 water of its flowers as an aromatic. Valuable and 
 powerful, but by no means agreeable, the root of 
 the common valerian (Valeriana offitinalis) is much 
 employed as a stimulant in nervous derangements. 
 Chamomile (Anthemis nobilis ;) wormwood (Arte- 
 misia absinthium?) tansy (Tanacetum vulgare ;} and 
 taraxacum, or dandelion (Leontodon taraxacum;} 
 all give the bitter principle of the composite plants ; 
 the three first, strongly, in combination with the 
 aromatic, the last in a milder form, but the most 
 valuable of the four, extremely valuable in liver, 
 stomach, and dropsical affections. To the same 
 family we are indebted for the strong scented 
 lettuce (Lactuca virosa), of which the milky juice is 
 often used as a substitute for opium. But the old 
 ladies will not forgive us if we forget the coltsfoot 
 (Tussilago farfara), another composite, of such 
 ancient repute in chest complaints, that its very 
 name is derived from " tussis," the latin word for 
 a cough. Of the essential oils of the labiates; 
 the mints and the marjoram, we spoke in our last 
 chapter; but, like the coltsfoot, the horehound 
 (Marrubium vulgare) will surely get us into disgrace 
 for its omission, for it, too, is widely celebrated as a 
 pectoral. Both plants have this virtue that if they
 
 314 OUR MEDICINAL NATIVE PLANTS. 
 
 do not do good, they certainly do not much mis- 
 chief. Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea), a member of 
 the figworts, notwithstanding its handsome appear- 
 ance, is badly thought of, popularly, as dangerous, 
 and not without reason, and yet it may take its 
 place beside the most valued medicines the wide 
 world over. It has been used domestically, but it 
 must have been improperly, in Ireland as a remedy 
 in epilepsy. Our next order, the solanese, or night- 
 shades, is a highly medicinal one ; the bitter-sweet 
 (Solanum Dulcamara) ; the belladonna, or deadly 
 nightshade (Atropa Belladonna) ; the thorn apple 
 {Datura stramonium) ; and the henbane (Jlyoscya- 
 <mus niger), are all members of it: the first, the 
 bitter-sweet, is employed to promote perspiration 
 after cold, its use in this respect having even 
 been highly regarded by Linnaeus ; the remaining 
 three are either poisons, or valuable soothers of 
 pain and irritation, according to their employment. 
 The great water dock (Rumex aquaticus) is one of 
 the many medicines which, from having been rated 
 too highly, has perhaps fallen into unmerited neglect. 
 In affections of the skin, it has been, and is still, 
 frequently employed. Its relative, the common 
 sorrel (Rumex acetosa) contains oxalic acid, like 
 its namesake the wood-sorrel, and may, like it, be 
 employed to make an acid drink in fever. These 
 plants belong to the buck- wheat tribe which also 
 offers the astringent root of the bistort (Polygonum 
 listorta) ; neither require we to travel far for
 
 OUR MEDICINAL NATIVE PLANTS. 315 
 
 another astringent, for we have it abundantly in 
 the bark of our native oak (Quercus robur). The 
 leaves of the asarabacca (AsarumJuropceum),when 
 dried and powdered, are used as an irritant snuff in 
 headache, and it is also said that their infusion is a 
 useful stimulant, when applied to the head, to pre- 
 vent the hair from coming off. The aromatic bitter 
 of the hop, the bitter principle of the willow bark, by 
 some thought almost to rival quinine ; the turpentine 
 and pitch of the fir; the essence of the juniper, and 
 the worm root of the male fern (Aspidium filix mas], 
 are all true British products, and not less so the 
 valued colchicum of the autumn crocus (Colchicum 
 autumnale), well deserving the blessings of those 
 who suffer from tendency to gout. 
 
 MEDICAL NATIYE PLANTS CHIEFLY EMPLOYED 
 POPULABLY. 
 
 A goodly list truly, have we of plants, included in 
 the authorized resources of the medical man ; but 
 many more might we add from the unauthorized 
 stores of domestic medicine. Perhaps those plants 
 which possess sensibly bitter properties, and which 
 are used to make what are popularly called " bitter 
 teas," are more used than any others. One of the 
 most noted of these, the common agrimony (Agri- 
 monia Eupatoria) had formerly much repute as a 
 remedy in ague, before the improved drainage of the 
 land had driven that disease from many districts 
 in which it formerly prevailed. But, although
 
 316 OUE MEDICINAL NATIVE PLANTS. 
 
 the ague is gone, the agrimony has still much credit 
 as a bitter. Chamomile, tansy, and wormwood, from 
 among the composites, are also used, and, where it 
 grows, the buck-bean (Menyanthes trifoliata) one 
 of the gentian tribe. This plant, indeed, well de- 
 serves its place among our recognized medicines, 
 for it is an excellent bitter; so also is its relative 
 the pretty pink flowered centaury (Erythraea centau- 
 rium), another of this gentian family, which, indeed, 
 is characterised generally by bitterness. In addition 
 to bitters, the composites furnish the herbalist 
 with other equally esteemed remedies. The butter- 
 bur (Arctium lappa) has a repute in malignant 
 fevers; the coltsfoot, as a pectoral, we have already 
 alluded to; the yarrows possess irritant proper- 
 ties. Of one, the sneeze-wort yarrow (Achillaa 
 ptarmicd), the leaves, powdered and dried, are 
 used as a snuff in head affections, and from 
 another, the common yarrow or milfoil, an astrin- 
 gent ointment, useful in some cases, is made in the 
 Scottish Highlands. The Matricaria Pariheniwm^ 
 another composite, and also a bitter, derives its 
 name of Feverfew from its reputed efficacy. The 
 aromatics derived both from the umbelliferous and 
 labiate families, are, as we might expect, much 
 employed domestically, we have already sufficiently 
 alluded to them. One of the bedstraw genus, the 
 common goose-grass ( Galium aparine) or, as it is 
 called in some places, scurvy-grass, is held in much 
 respect by the country herbalists as a " purifier of
 
 OUK MEDICINAL NATIVE PLANTS. 317 
 
 the blood," and, indeed, lately, attempts have been 
 made to introduce it into the regular practice of 
 medicine as a remedy in affections of the skin. 
 Occupying a similar position, esteemed popularly, 
 and valued by some medical practitioners, we have 
 the wall pennywort (Cotyledon umbilicus) as a remedy 
 in epilepsy. Of it, the author has reason to speak 
 most favourably from his own experience. Some 
 plants have a reputation for efficacy in internal 
 bleedings, as in spitting of blood ; such for instance 
 as the adder' s-tongue (OpJiioglossum vulgatum), and 
 the common nettle, the fresh juice being employed. 
 The leaves of our water friend the arrow-head 
 (Sagittaria sagittifolium) are applied to burns and 
 scalds, and those of the common or broad-leaved dock 
 (Rumex oltusifolius) are put to the same use, and 
 to dress blisters, &c. So we might go on enume- 
 rating virtues, supposed or real, attached almost to 
 every weed that grows. 
 
 That the value as medicinal agents attached to 
 some of our native plants is perfectly legitimate, 
 there can be no doubt, and perhaps it would be 
 well if our native herbal received a little more 
 attention, and underwent a more searching investi- 
 gation at the hands of the medical profession ; 
 but equally certain is it that a large proportion 
 of plants, herbs in popular esteem, owe their re- 
 putation to garbled tradition and old superstition, 
 such as that which connected them with occult 
 influences, and often to the most fanciful as-
 
 318 OUR MEDICINAL NATIVE PLANTS. 
 
 sociations of certain supposed resemblances be- 
 tween parts of the plant and the disease it was 
 held to cure. Such we find in the case of the 
 knotted figwort (Scrophularia nodosa) which was 
 esteemed a remedy in scrophula because the knotted 
 appearance of the root was thought to resemble 
 the enlarged glands of the disease. The lesser 
 celandine is an instance of a similar idea. 
 
 But our catalogue is long enough. If our readers 
 take the botanical walks which we hope they will do, 
 they will almost certainly fall in at times with some 
 of the professed herb gatherers, who, except in the 
 case of certain, supposed, valuable secrets, will 
 always talk about "the herbs," &c., and their many 
 virtues, altered and improved by the position and 
 influences of the moon and stars at the time of 
 gathering and such like, "folk-lore." To these 
 representatives of bygone times, and repositories, 
 sometimes, of odd scraps of information we refer 
 the curious. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 LONDON : UICHARD BARRETT, PRINTER, MARK LANE.
 
 Just Published, price One Shilling, with engraved 
 Frontispiece. 
 
 View of the CRYSTAL PALACE & GROUNDS, 
 
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 TH E Fl RST VO LU M E 
 
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 THE HARNETTS; 
 
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 THE 
 
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 BY SPENCER THOMSON, M.D., F.R.C.S., EDINR. 
 Illustrated with 150 Engravings o* Wood. 
 
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 hold Surgery which has yet appeared." London Journal of 
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 a vast amount of useful professional knowledge." Dublin Quar- 
 terly Journal of Medical Science. 
 
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 surprising." Medical Times and Gazette. 
 
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 what such a book should be than any that we have yet seen." 
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 guide." Oxford Herald. 
 
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 Sold by all Booksellers.
 
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