i8 FLOWERS OF THE HIIIS WD DRY PLACES 



of the suclclcn Inirstint;' ol the capsule it it is touched when ripe. 

 Noli-me-tangere, Columna, Latin tor touch-me-not, means the same 

 thing-. 



This liandsome and curious plant is called Balsam, Ouick-in-hand, 

 Touch-me-not. Coles, in liis .Irt of Simples, says: "A plant called 

 Noli-me-tani^ere, near which if you {)ut your hand the seed will spurtle 

 forth suddenly, in so much that the uncxpectedncsse of it made the 

 Valient Lord Fairfax to start, as Mister Robert (Isobart) at the 

 Physick orarden in Oxford can tell you ". At nii^ht the leaves hanfr 

 pendent, unlike most other plants, wliosc; leaves droop during- the 

 day, if at all. 



Essential Specific Characters: — 



71. Inipatiens noii-Juc-tangere, L. — Stem branched, slender, leaty, 

 leaves ovate, serrate, peduncles many-tlowered, (lowers yellow with 

 orange spots, spur recurved, valves of capsule curling when touched. 



Rest Harrow (Ononis spinosa, L.) 



Like most leguminous plants included in this work this is not 

 represented amongst the Early Glacial floras. It is a plant of the 

 North Temperate Zone found in Europe, West Asia, North Africa. 

 In Great Britain it is absent from the counties of Worcester, Brecon, 

 Radnor, Carmarthen, Cardigan, Montgomery, Carnarvon, Anglesea, 

 Renfrew-, Lanark, and elsewhere, and in Scotland it onlv occurs in 

 Berwick, Haddington, FIdinburgh, Fife, .Stirling, Forfar, and Dum- 

 barton, growing on sandy shores and dry [pastures. 



Rest Harrow is an upland plant which is fond of rough, scrubby 

 pasture, usually indicating rather bare unproductive ground. b'or this 

 reason it is, like Gorse in some parts, burned and rooted up in order to 

 get rid of it. Hillsides of medium elevation are the usual station for 

 this plant, though it may be found on sandy shores also at a lower 

 level. 



It is a shrubby plant, v\ith erect or prostrate then ascending hairv 

 stems, with stolons or trailing shoots, with numerous branches, downy, 

 and bearing long spines, smooth or gummy. The leaves arc in 

 threes below,^ above lance-shaped, coarsely toothed. The hairs may 

 be scattered or lie in two opposite rows. 



The solitary rose-coloured and white flowers are borne in the 

 axils or in pairs, either stalkless or shortly stalked. The standard is 

 streaked with red. The corolla exceeds the calyx, the keel and wings 



' Or the later<il leaflets may be absent. 



