SEPTEMBER. 383 



petals at the end of a pale elongated tube. Fecunda- 

 tion soon completed, the corolla withers away, but the 

 buried gerrnen snugly rests beneath the soil through 

 the storms of winter, thus admirably protected, until 

 stimulated by the spring, the fully developed capsule 

 appears above the soil surrounded by three shining 

 green leaves. Meantime the bulb has assimilated the 

 juices of its parent and has itself rooted in the earth. 

 The leaves now wither, the capsule bursts and scatters 

 its ripe seeds, new embryo buds appear, and these in 

 their turn are destined to adorn the following Septem- 

 ber with their naked purple flowers, to fulfil the 

 economy designed for them. 



One of the prettiest sights that this month can 

 offer to the eye of the botanical wanderer, in wilds 

 unknown to public view, especially where the dripping 

 fall of fountains beguile the ear, is in the elegant 

 aspect of the fair Parnassia palustris, whose stainless 

 argent flowers decorate particular plashy spots at this 

 time. I shall not easily forget the sight of numbers 

 of this most exquisitely beautiful of British flowers, 

 growing amidst emerald moss, close to the very edge 

 of the foaming waters of the " SEVEN SPEINGS," that 

 pour their overflowing urns into the chrystal Wind- 

 rush,* near Bourton-on-the- Water, Gloucestershire. 

 They inspired the following lines 



* I was at this time on a pleasant three days' excursion among the ups 

 and downs of the stony Cotteswolds in company with my friends General 

 BRIGGS and Professor BUCKMAN, the latter of whom has recorded the 

 incidents of our ramble and the plants found in the Phytologist, vol. i, p. 

 137-41. The Seven Springs is a most attractive and beautiful spot. Here 

 is a wide marsh extending up to an abrupt rocky yet undulating h ; ll, from 

 whose base various clear streams appear gushing forth as if in wild tumul- 

 tuous joy, and effusing themselves over an extent of boggy ground, 

 bounded on the south by the quiet but chrystal Windrush, that like an 

 attendant nymph waits with her urn to receive the outpourings that from 



