294 WILD FLOWERS O? 



Buocbawnii. Larkspur (Delphinium consolida), abounds 

 in the corn fields of Cambridgeshire, and the bright- 

 hued Melampyrum arvense, locally called " Poverty- 

 weed," in those of Norfolk and the Isle of "Wight. 



Other common characteristic agrarian plants are 

 ^Ranunculus arvensis, Spergula arvensis, the lofty Corn 

 Sowthistle (Sonchus arvensis,) with its sun-like flower, 

 Venus's-comb (Scandicc pecten), Lamiwn amplexicaule, 

 Antirrhinum spuria et elatine, the twining Knot-grass 

 (Polygonum convolvulus), as well as the Stinking 

 Chamomile (Anthemis Cotula)* "Wild Chamomile 

 (Matricaria Ohamomilla), the lowly Cudweed (Filago 

 Germanica), and the monstrous Cotton-thistle (Ona- 

 pordum Acanthimi). 



The Fumiter, or Fumitory, mentioned by SHAK- 

 SPEARE, as occurring in LEAR'S coronal, is a plant 

 common enough in gardens and corn-fields, of humble 

 growth, and purplish ringent flowers. It was called 

 the "smoke of the earth" for like smoke, says an old 

 herbal, its sharp juice " maketh clere eyes and teres 

 to come furth." Another common but more charac- 

 teristic appellation for it is "Bloody-Man's Thumb," 

 from the colour of the corolla. Several species occur, 

 the Hampant Fumitory (Fumaria capreolata), whose 

 flowers are paler, being the most remarkable. With 

 the fumitory may be associated in the furrow the pretty 

 little Sherardia arvensis, with its minute lilac crucife- 

 rous flowers, the blue Anagallis, Venus' s Looking- 

 glass (Campanula hi/bridd), the purple Bartsia Odon- 

 tites, and the little Spurge (Euphorbia exigua). 



* Dr. BROMFIELD remarks, in his acute observations on the plants of 

 the Isle of Wight, (Phytologist, iii. 434,) that he has seen the standing corn 

 In many parts of the island so full of this agrarian nuisance, as " nearly to 

 hide the ground from sight," often nearly obliterating the corn crops. 



