MAT. 157 



lustrous cherry orchards of Kent, and from the chalky 

 hills of Boxley look down in fancy upon a scene we 

 can now tread no more ? Shall we gaze from Snowdon, 

 Idris, or Plinlimmon ? winter has scarcely left those 

 bleak heights ; though high among the rocks, where 

 we have also rambled, the Rose-root (Rhodiola rosea), 

 is at least pushing forth its succulent leaves, and just 

 showing its clustered cymes and pale green petals* 

 emerging from sheltered crevices amidst dwarf ferns 

 and dripping mosses. There, too, amidst fearful crags, 

 like a roseate gleam before sunrise, the purple and 

 moss Saxifrages ($. oppositifolia and hypnoides) , spread 

 their lowly but exquisitely beautiful gems. Shall the 

 Isle of "Wight, with its steep chalky cliffs fringed with 

 Samphire ; or the fair fields of Devon where no Cow- 

 slips grow, again claim our presence ? Shall we dash 

 among the wild cataracts of Glamorgan, beauteous 

 with the crimson drooping blossoms of the Water 



It is remarkable that all botanical authors from LINNJEUS to WITHER- 

 ING and HOOKER, affirm the colour of the flowers of the Rhodiola to be 

 yellow, and they are so coloured in the plate of the plant in English 

 Botany ; yet strange as it may appear all these great authorities are cer- 

 tainly incorrect, for in a fine plant I brought home from Cadir Idris with 

 five perfectly developed cymes of flowers, not one was yellow at any 

 period of blooming, and the anthers are only purplish, as represented in 

 SOWERBY'S plate, when in an immature state. At a little distance, indeed, 

 the cymes have a bright golden aspect, but on a close inspection this is 

 seen to arise from the copious yellow pollen that completely covers the 

 protruding anthers, combined with the nectaries that glow at the base of 

 the narrow concave petals like minute drops of the richest amber. But 

 the petals themselves, as well as the calyx, are light green. The flowers 

 have a strong scent like that of peppermint- water. The root is slightly 

 rose-scented, and the whole plant in autumn assumes a roseate colour. 

 This curious plant shows how nature delights in anomalies, the stamens 

 and pistils are generally on different individuals, hermaphrodite speci- 

 mens being rare, the stamens are mostly 8, though the central flower has 

 often 10, like Sedum, so that SCHRCEBER, DE CANDOLLE, and LINDLET 

 have classed it as a Sedum, with which genus it only differs in the num- 

 ber of its organs, having the habit of S. telephium. 



