144 WILD FLOWEBS OF 



Poppies then flame in the gardens, and the Lychnis 



flos-cuculi and Yellow Rattle diversify the meadows. 



Delicious fragrance, too, fills the air from the masses 



of Honeysuckle Clover widely dispersed in the fields. 



" Now flames the grass with vegetable gold 

 Where yellow Buttercups their flowers unfold." 



The grasses have attained their full perfection, and 

 the aspect of the woods and thickets covered with 

 froudage and intertwined with Roses and Honey- 

 suckles, diffusing the most delicious scents, is incom- 

 parable. 



Pinks, Carnations, Sweet Williams, and Lilies, now 

 display the utmost pomp of confirmed summer in the 

 garden, while the brilliant St. John's Worts and 

 golden Cistus (G. TieliantJiemum) , accurately mark the 

 solstitial time on exposed banks and woods open to 

 the sun. The Foxglove becomes a noble ornament to 

 sandy lanes; rocks and roofs are overlaid with the 

 gold of the Stone crops (Seduwi), and the Mallows, 

 Chamomiles, and Bindweeds, follow with their white 

 or purple bells. Verbascwns are also conspicuous with 

 their tall wand-like stems thick clustered with yellow 

 flowers. The Solstitial Floralia lasts from the begin- 

 ning of June to July 15th. This period in the 

 midland and southern counties of England includes 

 the Hay-harvest, which, says STILLINGFLEET, in his 

 " Calendar of Flora" begins with the flowering of the 

 Lime, Clover being out of blow, and Yellow-Rattle, 

 or Coxcomb (RJiinantJius crista-galli), shedding its 

 seeds.* 



* It is, however, said in Worcestershire, that the grass is fit for cut- 

 ting when the seeds of the yellow-rattle can be shaken in their capsules 

 with a rattling sound. 



