1 6 FLOWERS OF THE BOGS AND MARSHES 



Sundew is ;i peal-hninL;' {jlant, and can only subsist in a [x-aty soil, 

 which is obtained in certain moist hollows on hills and lowland ground. 



Droscra, Cordus, is from divsos, dew, and the second Latin name 

 refers to its rounded leaves. 



Sundew is called Lust-wort, Moor-grass, Moor-wort, Red Rot, 

 Rosa Solis, Youth-wort. It is called Red Rot because " Sheepherds 

 do call it the Red Rot because it rotteth sheep". 



The name "Rosa Solis" is also the name for a liquor prepared 

 from it. Li regard to the name Sundew Lyte says: " This herbe is of 

 a very strange nature and marvellous, for although that the sunne doe 

 shine not, and a long time thereon, yet you shall finde it alwaies moist 

 and bedewed, and the small haires thereof alwaies full ot little drops of 

 water, and the hotter the sun shineth upon this herbe, so much the 

 moyster it is, and the more bedewed, and for that cause it was called 

 Rosa solis in Latine, which is to say in English, the dewe of the sun, 

 or sun Dewe ". 



The Italian liqueur Rossoli is prepared from it in part. It is acrid 

 and caustic, and curdles milk. The Sundew was supposed to remove 

 warts and corns, and to take away freckles and sunburn, presumably 

 in the last case by Doctrine of Signatures! This plant produces a 

 stimulating spirit when distilled with wine. It was once used as a 

 tincture. 



Essential Spechtc Ch.ar.\cters: — 



Ii6. Droscra rotundifolia, L. — Leaves obovate, llat, with red 

 glands, radical, petioles hairy, flowers small, white, on long stalks, seeds 

 chaffy. 



Water Dropwort (CEnanthe fistulosa, L.) 



In spite of its tender character this plant has been tound and identi- 

 fied from seeds in Interglacial beds at West Wittering in Sussex. It 

 is found in the North Temperate Zone at the present day in Europe 

 and N. Africa. In this country it is found throughout the Peninsula, 

 Channel, Thames, Anglia, and Severn provinces, e.xcept in the last in 

 Monmouth; in Wales only in Glamorgan, Brecon, Carnarvon; Trent 

 provinces; in the Mersey province, e.xcept in Mid Lanes; in the Humber, 

 Tyne, and Lakes provinces; and in Dumfries, Kirkcudbright, Ayr, 

 Renfrew, Berwick, Mid Perth, or from Ayr southwards. It is rare in 

 Scotland, but common in Ireland. 



W'ater Dropwort is a hygrophilous or moisture-loving species which 

 is found in most marshes, and in wet places where a marsh may once 

 have existed formerlv. It is also found in ditches, and on the borders 



