Yellow and Orange 



itself to one species of plant on its flights, apparently does not 

 know the difference between the field mustard and the Wild 

 Radish, or Jointed or White Charlock (Raplidiius Raphaiiisinim) ; 

 or, knowing it, does not care to make distinctions, for it may be 

 seen visiting these similar flowers indiscriminately. At first the 

 blossoms of the radish are yellow, but they quickly fade to white, 

 and their purplish veins become more conspicuous. Rarely the 

 flowers are all purplish. The entire plant is rough to the touch ; 

 the leaves, similar to those of the garden radish, are deeply cleft 

 (lyrate-pinnatifid) ; the seed pods, which soon follow the 

 flowers up the spike, are nearly cylindric when fresh, but become 

 constricted between the seeds, as they dry, until each little pod 

 looks like a section of a bead necklace. 



The Garden Radish of the market {R. sativns), occasionally 

 escaped from cultivation, although credited to China, is entirely 

 unknown in its native state. "It has long been held in high 

 esteem," wrote Peter Henderson, "and before the Christian era 

 a volume was written on this plant alone. The ancient Greeks, 

 in offering their oblations to Apollo, presented turnips in lead, 

 beets in silver, and radishes in vessels of beaten gold." Pliny 

 describes a radish eaten in Rome as being so transparent one 

 might see through the root. It was not until the sixteenth cen- 

 tury that the plant was introduced into England. Gerarde men- 

 tions cultivating four varieties for Queen Elizabeth in Lord Bur- 

 leigh's garden. 



The Yellow Rocket, Herb of St. Barbara, Yellow Bitter-cress, 

 Winter- or Rocket-cress {Barbarea Barbarea)—B. vulgaris of 

 Gray — sends up spikes of little flowers like a yellow sweet alys- 

 sum as early as April, and continues in bloom through June. 

 Smooth pods about one inch long quickly follow. The thickish, 

 shining, tufted leaves, very like the familiar water-cress {Ron'pa 

 Nasturtium), were formerly even more commonly eaten as a salad. 

 In rich but dry soil the plant flourishes from Virginia far north- 

 ward, locally in the interior of the United States and on the 

 Pacific Coast. 



Witch-hazel 



{Hamamelis yirginiana) Witch-hazel f^imily 



Flowers— y e\\ov^ , fringy, clustered in the axils of branches. Calyx 

 4-parted ; 4 very narrow curving petals about ^ in. long ; 

 4 short stamens, also 4 that are scale-like; 2 styles. Stem : 

 A tall, crooked shrub. Leaves: Broadly oval, thick, wavy- 

 toothed, mostly fallen at flowering time. Fruit: Woody 

 capsules maturing the next season and remaining with flow- 

 ers of the succeeding year {Hama = together with ; mela = 

 fruit). 



302 



