WILD FLOWEES OF JUNE. 



CHAP. XII. 



EXCITEMENT TO BOTANICAL WANDERING. HABITATS OP 

 PLANTS. THOSE OF THE BOG, WOOD, MEADOW, AND 

 RIVER-SIDE. ROMANTIC CLIFFS OF THE WYE. PLANTS 

 OF THE S\NDY BEACH AND MARITIME ROCKS. DESCRIP- 

 TION OF THE PRINCIPAL BRITISH FERNS. SCENE IN 

 GLYN CLYDACH WITH THE LADY FERNS. 



" How sweet it is, when mother Fancy rocks 



The wayward brain, to saunter through a wood ! 

 An old place, full of many a lovely brood; 

 Tall trees, green arbours, and ground flowers in flocks." 



WORDSWORTH. 



ONE obvious charm of Botany is the continual ex- 

 citement it holds forth to wander amidst the wild 

 scenes of nature : and these wanderings are somewhat 

 different from the saunter of the promenade, and re- 

 quire a little more exertion than the range of the 

 smooth gravel beds of the garden. Woods, bogs, 

 marshes, mountains, the precipitous crag, and the low 

 expanse of sandy shore all have their peculiar plants ; 

 and to find out the habitat of any remarkable plant is 

 the delight of the Botanist, and affords him unmixed 

 pleasure. When tired with his long walk in the 

 burning rays of noon, he sits down beside a tuft of 

 scented fern, where a chrystal spring tinkles among 

 the pebbles at its birth-place, his eye beams with 

 pleasure to behold the fairy vegetation that have 

 found a dwelling within this cool recess. All about 



