LINNEAN CLASS. ORDER. XIX. III. Centaurea cyanus. corn blue-bottle. cornfields. XIX. I. C. scabiosa. greater knapweed. on the Hinckley road near Leicester: Sheepshed. AB. Charnock hill. CL. Bidens cernua. nodding bur-marigold. watery places, common. B. tripartita. trifid bur-marigold. ditto, pond at Rothley, with the above. MK. Eupatorium cannabinum. hemp agrimony. banks of Tanacetum vulgare. tansy. Groby: Swithland: Glen- Turn from the road a little beyond Groby: Croft. CT. * G. sylvaticum. highland cudweed. dry fields among furze near Loughborough. Dr. P. *in a hedge between Waltham and Grantham. G. uliginosum. marsh cudweed. common. Filago minima. least cudweed. Groby. MK. Breedon and + P. vulgaris and hybrida. LINNEAN CLASS. ORDER. XIX. II. Tussilago farfara. colt's-foot. common. Erigeron acris. blue flea-bane. near Leicester: Bree- Solidago virgaurea. golden-rod. Buddon wood. PCF. S. sylvaticus. mountain groundsel. common: variety S. crucæfolius. b. tenuifolius. hoary ragwort. lane adjoining Swithland wood. MK. near Blackbrook tollgate. PCF. near Wymeswold. AB. near Loughborough. CL. S. jacobæa. ragwort. common. b. aquaticus. marsh ragwort. common. Doronicum plantagineum. plaintain-leaved leopard's- Inula helenium. elecampane. * about the Devon side. Pulicaria dysenterica. flea-bane. common. Chrysanthemum segetum. corn marigold. cornfields, common. C. leucanthemum. white ox-eye. common. Pyrethrum parthenium. feverfew. common in villages. Matricaria chamomilla. wild chamomile. cornfields at Anthemis nobilis. common chamomile. used to grow on the forest near the Monastery on land now cultivated. CT. LINNEAN CLASS. ORDER. Anthemis arvensis. corn chamomile. clover field near Achillea ptarmica. sneezewort. common: finer in the Compositæ, from compono, to set in order, to arrange. Tragopogon pratensis, or 'go-to-bed-at-noon,' opens at three and closes at nine or eleven, a. m. T. porrifolius in gardens is ‘salsafy' and 'viper's grass.' The leaves of Helminthia echioides are boiled and also pickled in Greece, its seeds are beautiful objects for the microscope. Leontodon autumnale is the 'yellow devil's bit.' Extract of lettuce is prepared from Lactuca virosa. The flowers of Sonchus arvensis are said to follow the course of the sun. Hieracium murorum, "golden lung-wort," was a popular remedy for consumption, and has been absurdly said to be the resort of birds of prey to strengthen their sight. Borkhausia is named from M. Borkhausen, a German botanist, 1790. Lapsana communis is eaten just before flowering as a salad by the Turks. The root succory or chicoree is roasted to mix with coffee. The modern Egyptians consume it to a great extent. The plant is said to be profitable food for cows. Taraxacum officinale, dent-de-lion, corrupted into dandelion, is useful according to Dr. Houlton in chronic diarrhoea. Arctium lappa is a common potherb in the north of Europe. Serratula tinctoria yields a yellow dye. Carduus nutans derives its English name from its fragrant flowers. C.acanthoides and marianus divide the reputation of being the true 'Scotch thistle.' C. marianus, silver or milk thistle, is said to derive its white veins from some of the Virgin Mary's milk spilt upon it. The flowers of C. lanceolatus will curdle milk. C. palustris often occurs with white flowers. C. acaulis has stems three or four inches high, its leaves are very injurious to pastures, spreading a foot or more on the ground. Onopordum acanthium is the wild artichoke, its seeds yield an essential oil. The Carline or Carolinian thistle is named after the Emperor Charlemagne, who was directed to it by an angel, it is said, as a remedy for the plague that was then ravaging his army. The story is sometimes related as of Charles the Fifth. Its flowers open in dry and remain closed in damp weather, a habit they retain long after they are gathered. Cottagers on the Continent nail them to their doors to serve as barometers. C. gummifera yields tears of gum resembling mastic. The different kinds of cardoon are eaten, after being blanched, as a salad, or boiled or stewed; but by no means so generally in Britain as upon the Continent, though according to Mr. Neill, they were cultivated at Holyrood Palace so early as 1683. The native countries of Cynara cardunculus are the South of Europe and the North of Africa; but the seeds having been conveyed to South America, it has escaped into the extensive plain that lies between Buenos Ayres and the Andes, and has given such an extraordinary feature to that country, as deserves to be recorded in the history of the species. "The great plain or Pampas of the Cordilleras," says Captain Head in his 'Rough Notes," "is about nine hundred miles in breadth; and the part which I have visited, though under the same latitude, is divided into regions of different climate and produce. On leaving Buenos Ayres, the first of these regions is covered for one hundred and eighty miles with clover and thistles; and varies with the four seasons of the year in a most extraordinary manner. In winter, the leaves of the thistles are large and luxuriant, and the whole surface of the country has the rough appearance of a turnip field. The clover at this season is extremely rich and strong; and the sight of the wild cattle grazing in full liberty on such pasture, is beautiful. In spring, the clover has I vanished, the foliage of the thistle has extended across the ground, and the country still looks as if covered with a rough crop of turnips. In less than a month the change is most extraordinary; the whole region becomes a luxuriant wood of enormous thistles, which have suddenly shot up to a height of ten or eleven feet, and are all in full bloom. The road or path is hemmed in on both sides; the view is completely obstructed; not an animal is to be seen; and the stems of the thistles are so close to each other, and so strong, that independent of the prickles with which they are armed, they form an impenetrable barrier. The sudden growth of these plants is quite astonishing; and though it would be an unusual misfortune in military history, yet it is really possible, that, an invading army unacquainted with this country, might be imprisoned by these thistles, before it had time to escape from them. The summer is not over before the scene undergoes another rapid change; the thistles suddenly lose their sap and verdure, their heads droop, the leaves shrink and fade, the stems become black and dead, and they remain rattling with the breeze one against the other, until the violence of the pampero or hurricane, levels them with the ground, where they rapidly decompose and disappear, the clover rushes up and the scene is again verdant." Centaurea cyanus yields a delicate blue for miniature painters. Bidens cernua and tripartita are used to colour butter and cheese and to adulterate saffron. The invaluable styptic 'Matico' is believed to be made from the leaves of the Eupatorium glutinosum. Its name, of 'little Matthew,' was obtained from a soldier named Matthew who gathered the leaves accidentally to apply to his wounds after a battle and found the bleeding immediately staunched. The fleshfly will not touch animal substances that have been rubbed with the leaves of the tansy. This plant also illustrates the great diversity of national tastes. Mrs. Piozzi, being at Florence and enquiring for scented pomatum, two pots were brought to her, one smelling strongly of garden mint, the other of rue and tansy. Afterwards being introduced by the Venetian ambassador to a party at Rome, to her great confusion the conversation soon ceased, and all the ladies shrank from her and stopped their noses |