1 78 FLOWERS OF WASTE PLACES, ETC. 



Loaves-of- Bread, Marsh Mallow, Maul, Maws, Pancake Plant, Pick 

 Cheese. 



The fruits resemble cheeses, hence some of the names. They have 

 an insipid mucilaf^inous taste, and are eaten by children. 



" The sitting down w hen school was o'er 

 Upon the threshold of the door. 

 Picking from mallows, sport to ]3lease. 

 The crumpled seed we call a cheese." 



— Clare. 



Because children use it liki- Dock when stun^" by nettles, it 

 was called Round Dock to cool (and so fancifully cure) the parts 

 affected. .\s it was employed in fomentations, it was called Marsh 

 Mallow, which is really INhish Mallow. On account of its demulcent 

 properties it was retained in the Materia Medica. It was formci'l)- 

 employed for bladder troubles, calculous concretions, stone, gravel, &c., 

 coughs, and for hoarseness. A mallow is used by the Chinese, when 

 the leaves are dried as food. 



EssENTi.\L Specific Char.-vcters: — 



64. Mcxlva sylvcstris, L. — Stem tall, wood)', branched, leaves 

 palmate, 7-lobed, crenate, flower large, purple, veined, in 3deaved 

 involucre, carpels reticulate, rugose, fruit-stalk erect. 



Stork's Bill (Erodium cicutarium, L'llerit. ) 



The very characteristic seeds of this plant are unknown in a fossil 

 state. The Northern Temperate Zone in Europe. Xorih Africa, 

 Siberia, Western Asia, as far east as N.W. India, is the limit of 

 this jilant's distribution. In (u'cat liritain it is absi-nt from Roxburgh, 

 Mid Perth, W. Perth; and in Wales it ascends to 1200 It. It is found 

 in Ireland and the Channel Islands. 



.Stork's Bill is one of the familiar ]>lanis oi the seaside, where it 

 grows in association with other dry-soil or .xerophilous plants, such as 

 Hop Trefoil, Hound's Tongue, Plaiitago Coronopus, Hawk's Beard, 

 and others. Inland it is found on the sandy soil of commons, waste 

 places, golf-links, and places where the grass is turf-like, often on 

 heaths; and it comes up also amidst the typical alien flora of the 

 farm or garden. 



This plant has a habit like Sandwort Spurrey, which also grows 

 with it, being prostrate, with stems bent downwards, several from the 

 root, thick, hairy, branched, with leaves with lobes each side of a 



