which stand together, half way up the stalk, supporting the flower, are not the true leaves, which latter proceed direct from the root, but bracts, or false leaves. The curious little black root-stocks lie dormant in the ground during the winter, but begin to sprout as soon as the snow has passed away.

1

The Crowfoot is another early flower, or, as it is more commonly called, "Buttercup." There are several species, but all of them are only known to the majority of people as buttercups. Yet the true buttercup of the woods is a different plant from those of pastures or roadsides. There is another name, that of Goldilocks, which is sometimes applied to the wood buttercup. The yellow flowers of all the species are very similar in form, though differing in size, and hence the whole plant must be studied in order to distinguish one species from another. It is worthy of note that although other kinds of buttercup, if the leaves are tasted, will be found acrid and biting to the tongue, those of the wood crowfoot are mild.

All the violets more or less flourish in the reputation of the sweet-scented violet. It might be propounded that the scentless violets have assumed the form and colour of the scented species as a protection; or that the odorous violet has been evolved from the inodorous by natural selection, for some inscrutable purpose. Conjectures of this kind are by no means rare, and equally probable. All poets in all ages have sung in praise of this "lowly flower,"

1 Ranunculus auricomus.

and miraculous virtues have been assigned to it which it never deserved. Homer wrote of

"Meadows of softest verdure purpled o'er
With violets; it was a scene to fill

A god from heaven with wonder and delight.”

In the autumn seed-vessels are often observed on plants of the sweet violet, when no flowers had been previously seen. These result from inconspicuous flowers, consisting of the essential parts, but deficient in the floral leaves, which are produced as a second crop. Cottagers will sometimes allude to this mysterious circumstance of seeds being produced without flowers, as they believe, which adds to the reverence with which they cherish the plant.

The only wild representative of the "Pink" of gardens, which is found in woodlands, is the Red Campion, although there are two or three stitchworts, which belong to the same order, common in such localities. Some of the plants of this family are very subject to the attacks of parasitic fungi. In some the centre of the flower, which is occupied by the stamens, is black with the soot-like powder of one of these parasites. In other cases the parasites are found on the leaves, those of the little three-veined chickweed being seldom exempt. The seeds of the red campion afford pretty objects for the microscope. They are somewhat kidney-shaped, and rough on the surface. A similar character prevails throughout the family. The petals in the chickweeds are notched at the apex, but it will be observed in the Wood

1 Silene diurna.

Chickweed1 that this notch is so deep that the flowers seem to consist of twice as many petals as they really possess. Country children call the flowers of the stitchwort "Ladies' Thimbles." How these little white flowers come to be associated with thimbles and stitches those learned in folk-lore alone can tell.

Saint John's Wort indicates the dedication of a plant bearing that name to St. John. The true St. John's Wort is not a woodland species, but the Tutsan is not uncommon in the Kentish woods. The flowers are of a golden yellow in all the species, with a large number of radiating stamens in the centre. In the days of witchcraft the St. John's wort was a plant of importance, for it was considered a sovereign remedy for all diseases resulting from magical influences. That it had also other virtues is intimated in the lines

"Thou silver glow-worm, oh lend me thy light,

I must gather the mystic St. John's wort to-night;
The wonderful herb whose leaf will decide

If the coming year shall see me a bride."

in Lower Saxony there is a superstition that if the plant be gathered by maidens on Midsummer night and hung up in their bedchambers, its fresh or withered appearance in the morning will betoken whether they are to become brides during the ensuing year.

The Cranesbills (Geranium) are sometimes to be found in woods, but chiefly on hedgebanks and in

1

Stellaria nemorum.

2 Hypericum perforatum.

3 Hypericum androsæmum.

waste places. The name is derived from the long beak in the centre of the fruits.

The Wood Sorrell is a delicate little plant with three-lobed leaves, resembling those of the white clover. The flowers are pinkish-white, on slender peduncles, often concealed amongst the leaves, and are called in Wales "fairy-bells." It has been contended that this is the true "shamrock," whilst others

WOOD SORREL.

hold that magical plant to be the white clover. The evidence is greatly in favour of the wood sorrel, whilst the Irish practice is in favour of clover. The ancient Druids held the wood sorrel in veneration,

1 Oxalis acetosella.

and the old monkish herbalists called it "Hallelujah." The taste of the leaves of this plant is a pleasant acid, and they have been eaten in Ireland from time immemorial as a spring salad. It is a plant very sensitive to the changes of the atmosphere, not only closing its flowers and folding its leaves at sunset, but also as the result of rude handling or blows.

Of the large number of plants belonging to the pea-flower family only a few are sylvan in their habits. Of these may be mentioned the Bush Vetch1 and the Wood Vetch, the latter being the most rare of the two

"And where profuse the wood vetch clings
Round ash and elm in verdant rings,
Its pale and azure pencilled flower
Should canopy Titania's bower."

The pretty little Grass-leaved Vetch,3 with its solitary crimson flowers, is one of the stray gems of southern woods. Before flowering the plants cannot be distinguished from the grass amongst which they grow, and it is only by the bright flowers that they are discovered; hence the plant is considered rare. The tuberous-rooted Bitter Vetch is the only other plant of the family which need be named of the whole number of nearly eighty that are British.

The little Barren Strawberry,5 so common on the ground in woods, is with difficulty distinguished by the uninitiated from the Wild Strawberry. So

1 Vicia sepium.

2 Vicia sylvatica.

3 Lathyrus nissolia.

4 Orobus tuberosus, L.

5 Potentilla fragariastrum.
6 Fragaria vesca.

F