50 THE FLORIST. 



RAMBLES IN THE WEST IN SEARCH OF WILD FLOWERS. 



February. — Alas ! the weather has not been sufficiently mild to 

 tempt the buds from their hiding-places ; there is little else than a 

 few scattered blossoms of the Furze spangling the road-side hedges, 

 which, indeed, it does all the twelvemonth through, verifying the 

 adage, " that when the Furze is out of flower, kissing is out of 

 fashion !" A few, but very few, stray Dog Violets enliven the banks, 

 giving promise of what will next month appear ; but we must not 

 be in a hurry, for we have the rough east winds of March yet to 

 encounter, often called '* Blackthorn winter," and which, in the 

 mild climate of the West, is generally far more destructive than the 

 utmost severity of frost as thei^e felt : the warmth and often the 

 bright sun of February moves the sap into circulation, and slocks 

 (in Cornish vernacular) the young and eager buds to unfold their 

 premature growth, to be ruined, after a short reign of a few weeks, 

 by the sharp curling drying blasts from the envious East. But this 

 warm bright day, fit for any " pic-nic" party, we may easily content 

 ourselves by a look at the sea and a ramble on the cliffs. The sea 

 is itself a sight ; so deep yet bright a blue, that were a painter to 

 colour it true to nature, he would be called a gross flatterer, and 

 it would be said he had the Bay of Naples in his eye, and had 

 tried to bring it home to his own foggy land . But see the bright 

 light on yonder Deadman headland, stretching out to sea ; beyond, 

 again, is a dreamy bank of soft purple, which shews the Lizard point ; 

 and the rough dark line of rocks immediately to our left is the Bolt 

 head, forming a natural breakwater from the seas impelled by the 

 strong south-western gales from the wide Atlantic. Across the bay, 

 to the east, we see the point of Menabilly and Greberhead, with its 

 sea-mark obelisk, and the white cellars of Polkerris glistening against 

 the dark overhanging cliff; and beyond, again, the bold Ramhead 

 stands clearly defined ; and when the light strikes in that direction, 

 the white sails of the shipping leaving and entering Plymouth Sound 

 form an interesting feature in the scene; and immediately at our 

 feet the broken cliff, circling round the bay till closed by the bright 

 yellow sands of Par and Polmeer, forming a picture of itself, with 

 the scattered buildings along the beach, and the spars of the craft 

 at Charlestown pier. 



But let us, as we w^alk, examine the vegetation beneath our feet, 

 and we shall in many places find the Sea Spleenwort {Asplenium 

 mainnum), which is so common on the northern coast of the county. 

 Here its fronds are generally only the length of some three or four 

 inches ; but I once, at Bodruthen in St. Eval parish, succeeded in 

 obtaining a plant with the fronds fully ten inches long ! Here is 

 Glaux maritima, and many others peculiar to a marine situation ; 

 it is covered with tufts of Sea Thrift {Armeria marithna), and the 

 naked rock is clothed with the varieties of Sedum, as annuum, 

 acre, and sexangulare ; and in the west, by the Lizard, will be 



