410 WILD FLOWEBS OF 



tember. The African Everlastings are very beautiful, 

 especially one from the Cape, whose highly coloured 

 clusters resemble ripe strawberries. The Common 

 Cudweed of our fallow fields, Filago Germanica, was 

 called an impious herb by the old simplers, because 

 its primary flowers were overtopped in a proliferous 

 way by the later or younger ones, like children affect- 

 ing to be above or wiser than their parents ! Another 

 kind, the Marsh Cudweed (Gnaphalium uliginosum), 

 frequently extends its woolly entangled masses in wet 

 hilly spots or dried up ditches, and the Upright or 

 Highland Cudweed (Gnaplialmm sylvaticum), scatters 

 its flossy down on mountain sides or in the deep 

 shades of woods. The Pearly Everlasting (Antennaria 

 margaritacea), has a most elegant aspect, with its 

 globose calyces of pearly silvery white, that remain 

 unchanged after gathering, and decorate mantel pieces 

 with a perennial ornament. This species, though of 

 supposed North American origin, now flourishes appa- 

 rently wild on the banks of the river Kumny, in South 

 "Wales. I observed it a few years ago about four 

 miles from Caerphilly, Glamorganshire, and it pre- 

 sented itself in seven or eight spots between that 

 place and Ystrad-y-Mynach, on the margin of a wood 

 between the road and the brawling Eumny, but on 

 crossing the bridge to the Monmouthshire side of the 

 river, the Pearly Everlasting presented itself in the 

 greatest profusion in a waste spot among furze bushes, 

 with which its silvery foliage and pearly calyces beau- 

 tifully contrasted, and formed a delightful spectacle. 

 It was also abundant along the side of the bushy hill 

 beyond the bridge, on the road to Pontypool. 



In South "Wales the Pearly Everlasting is much 



