HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



197 



application to bruises. From the severe action of 

 the root when taken internally, the French call it 

 " Devil's turnip." Its acridity is due to a chemical 

 substance called Bryonine. Amongst other medi- 

 cinal plants, is the willow (Salix). The bark of 

 several species abounds with salicine, and therefore 

 may well be used for its medicinal virtue. We 

 would mention particularly Salix pentaiidra, which, 

 from its handsome appearance and fragrance, may 

 be entitled the " moorland Bay." The tree referred 

 to in Psalm cxxxvii. is the weeping willow {Salix 

 Babylonica). Many years ago, the well-known 

 poet, Alexander Pope, who resided at Twickenham, 

 received a basket of figs as a present from Turkey. 

 The basket was made of the supple branches of the 

 weeping willow, the same species under which the 

 captive Jews sat when they wept by the waters of 



Fig. Ill The Buck-Bean (Menyanthes trifoliaia). 



Babylon. Pope untwisted the basket and planted 

 one of the branches in the ground. Happily it grew, 

 and soon became a tree. From that one branch all 

 the weeping willows in England are said to be 

 descended" (?)— Kirby's "Trees." 



We will now briefly notice a class of plants whose 

 properties are of a miscellaneous description. 



Grass-wrack (Zostera marina). When dried it is 

 used as material for packing, especially in France. 

 A friend has been shown a beautiful silky fibre 

 obtained from it. Bedstraws, Galium [G. veniiim) 

 yields a good dye, the root red, the plant generally 

 yellow. Goose-grass or cleavers [Galiiiin aparinc), 

 from the prickly leaves, may be employed painlessly 

 to draw blood from any delicate inflamed surface, 

 upon the eye or the tongue. The seeds are said to 

 be a substitute for coffee. The juice of the goose- 



grass when expressed, is an excellent purifier of the 

 blood, and a famous village medicine. Wild 

 madder [Rnbia peregrina) is a plant of the 

 same order as the galium, which it much re- 

 sembles ; it is useful as a dye. A friend has found 

 it about Conway. It is said if poultry or other 

 animals eat this plant it imparts a red colour to their 

 bones. 



Our next plant, the thistle [Carliiia vulgaris), by 

 its opening and closing makes a hygrometer, as does 

 the wild oat {Avena fatua) by its twisting and un- 

 twisting. The carlina preserves its hygrometric 

 properties for a long period, and is sometimes 

 gathered and suspended in the house to serve as a 

 natural weather-glass. Oliver de Scores says " that 

 this plant received its generic name after the famous 

 Charlemagne, whose army was cured of the plague by 

 using it medicinally." The wormwood {Artemisia 

 absinthium), another plant of the Compositje family, 

 is a powerful bitter, much extolled by Haller as a 

 stomachic. The plant is thought to drive away 

 insects from clothes and furniture, for which purpose 

 it is often laid in drawers and chests in the country. 



The difficulty in the above list is to select. We 

 have not attempted to write a herbal, and have in a 

 great measure chosen such plants as we could say 

 something about, perhaps not generally known. A 

 few of the cryptogamic plants may be enumerated, as 

 for instance the male fern, the virtues of which are 

 fully admitted by legitimate doctors, and therefore 

 in accordance with what is said before, we only 

 mention it for its very bulky and remarkable root 

 requiring considerable pains to unearth. The 

 common club-moss is a handsome and durable 

 ornament in cottage grates in summer, and its 

 sporules are used to imitate lightning. 



The Dutch rush {Equisetnm hyemale) is used for 

 scouring on account of its flinty cuticle. Mosses 

 can be used for many purposes ; the most interesting 

 we know of was that one which a botanical friend 

 adopted. He chose the sphagnum for the bedding of 

 his first infant. It may also be used to stuff birds, &c. 



The services of sea-weed in diet would require at 

 least an essay to themselves. On the coast of South 

 Wales people gather the purple laver to make into 

 cakes to be sold in Swansea market ; this as well as 

 the green Ulva is much used as a vegetable, the 

 latter being the slocum of the Manx. 



The fuci {Lamitiaria Halynienia) Szc, dulce, 

 and tangle, are also much eaten, especially by our 

 northern neighbours. 



E. Edwards. 



Formic Acid in Ants. — In several specimens of 

 ants I have noticed that the quantity of formic acid 

 differs considerably. Does this quantity differ with 

 the variety or with the sex ? — A. J. B, 



