28 FLOWERS OK THE HIELS AND DRV PEACES 



Oiiobrychis, Dioscorides, is ironi die Greek, onos, ass, and dntc/io, 

 bray, the animal being said lo bray tor ii. I he specific name vicicc- 

 folia means vetch-leaved. 



Sainfoin is from the French, saiiiy wholesome, foiii, hay. Cin(|ue- 

 foil, Cock's-comb, Cock's-head, Lasting Grass, Meadow latch, Mitlick 

 Fitch, French (".rass, Hen's Bill, Lucerne are the only names. 



'I"o expatiate on the value of this plant a pamphlet was published 

 u[)on it in 1671, when it was spelt Saint I'"oine. It was said to be found 

 among the herbs and grass in the manger where our Lord was born. 

 It suddenly opened its flower to form a wrt-ath around His heatl. This 

 gave rise to the practice of decking mangers at Christmas with mo.ss, 

 sowthistle, cypress, and holly. It was introduced into this country as 

 a fodder plant in the seventeenth century from the Continent, where it 

 had long been cultivated, and excellent hav is made trom it. 



Essential Specific Characters: — 



88. Ouohrycliis vicicefolia, Scop. — Stem tall, erect, leaves paired, 

 pimiate, leaflets entire, 12-15; flowers crimson, in a raceme, with pink 

 and white lines, on long peduncles, calyx woolly, pod twice as long as 

 the latter. 



Dropwort (Spiraea filipendula, L.) 



This plant is quite unrepresented at present in early deposits. It is 

 found to-day in the Northern Temperate Zone in Europe, North Atrica, 

 North Asia. In Great Britain it is absent in N. Devon, S. Somer- 

 set; it occurs in tlie whole of the Channel, Thames, and Anglia pro- 

 vinces, and in the Severn province, except in Monmouth; in Wales, 

 only in Carnarvon, Flint, and Anglesea, but in the whole of the Trent 

 province; in W. Lanes and throughout the H umber and Tyne pro- 

 vinces, but not in the Isle of Man; in Scotland and Berwick, Edin- 

 burgh, Fife, Mid Perth, and Forfar, from Caithness it ranges southward, 

 up to 1200 ft. in Yorkshire. It is found in the West of Ireland. 



The Dropwort is a much more xerophilous plant than the Meadow 

 Sweet, and grows most luxuriantly in upland pastures on the sides of 

 dry hills, where it can shelter beside the protecting branches of shrubs 

 and hedge-plants. Dropwort has the same sort of habit as Meadow 

 Sweet, but the foliage is different, and is much divided, coarsely toothed, 

 the leaflets being numerous, oblong, and deeply cut, giving them the 

 appearance rather of Milfoil. It is dark-green in colour. 



The flowers are in corymbs, not so numerous or crowded as in 

 the Meadow Sweet. The petals are cream-colour and in bud externally 

 rose-coloured. The capsule is not spirally twisted, but straight. 



