JANUARY. 61 



bloom at this season of the year. The first is the 

 Groundsel : 



" Though storms may rage and skies may lower, 

 We are sure to see the Groundsel in flower." 



The .flower of the Groundsel (Senecio vulgaris), like 

 all those of the Linnrean class Syngenesia to which 

 it belongs, consists in fact of an assemblage of 

 small florets harmoniously enclosed within a common 

 envelope botanically named a receptacle. This may 

 be seen very beautifully with a common lens before 

 the blossom is fully developed, for when it is, all that 

 in fact meets the eye is the assemblage of yellow 

 bifid stigmas that are uplifted above the quinquifid 

 florets and their five stamens. At the base of each 

 floret is a germen, which, after the stamens and 

 pistils have faded, becomes a pericarp or seed-vessel, 

 surrounded with a downy fringe or pappus, ready to 

 waft the seeds far away on airy wing, which is finally 

 done, and the withered base of the reflex receptacle 

 perforated with the holes which received and held the 

 bases of the pericarp, then puts on an appearance 

 very similar to the top of a pepper-box. The grey 

 aspect of the metamorphosed flowers when arrayed 

 with their down-invested seeds has suggested the 

 name of Senecio for the genus of the plant, from 

 the latin Senex, an old man, whose " hoary hairs ' 

 it may be thought to represent. Though the humble 

 Groundsel is now little thought of, except by those 

 who keep goldfinches or canaries, yet in the hands 

 of the old " simplers," it held considerable rank as a 

 herb of power. Culpepper says it is " a gallant and 

 universal medicine;" " lay by your learned receipts," 

 he exclaims, " this lierb alone, preserved in a syrup, 



