CROWFOOT TRIBE 13 



of the rhyme being called Adon, as by Brown in his Pastorals. Ben Jonson 



tells the nymphs to luring fair Adonis' flower in their garland. Drnmmond 



of Hawthornden alludes to it, and Shakspere refers to the legend on more than 



one occasion. The French, Dutch, Germans, and Italians all commonly call 



it Adonis or Adonide ; but in France it has, besides, the names of Aile de 



perdrix, Aile de faisan, and Goutte de sang. Shakspere makes one of his 



personages say, — 



" Thy promises are like Adonis' gardens, 

 That one day bloom'd and fruitful were the next ;" 



but our poet has somewhat misapplied the character of these gardens, for 

 they were merely pots of fennel or lettuce, which were carried aliout on the 

 festival of Adonis, and which, as the Greek writers say, were thrown away 

 on the following morning. If, like the Hindoos, we were extremely partial 

 to the colour of red, and believed that it had a wondrous power to exhilarate 

 the spirits, we might wish much to claim our Pheasant's Eye ias a native 

 flower ; for it is the only one in oin- fields which has the crimson tint, and 

 the species of the scarlet hue are rare, consisting only of poppies and 

 pimpei'nels. It is an annual plant, and grows to the height of nearly a foot. 

 This Adonis, as well as some other species, is frequent as a garden 

 flower. It is somewhat acrimonious, but less so than the exotic kinds ; one 

 of these {Adonis capensis), which grows wild on the mountains of the Cape of 

 Good Hope, is said l)y Thunberg to Ije commonly used instead of cantharidcs, 

 by the natives of that country, to raise blisters on the skin. 



5. Buttercup, Spearwort, etc. {Banuncuhis). 

 * Flotvers white. 

 1. Water Crowfoot (i?. aqudfiNs). — Stem submersed ; lower leaves 

 divided into hair-like segments, spreading in all directions, and forming a 

 globular mass ; floating leaves three-lobed, their edges cut into rounded 

 notches (occasionally wanting). Few of the common plants of our waters 

 add more to their beauty than this. Water-lilies and flowering rushes are 

 indeed gayer flowers, but they are compavatively rare, Avhile this lies in large 

 silvery patches during spring and summer on many of our lakes and ponds. 

 It is a very variable plant, for when growing in softly-running streams, it 

 produces only its tufts of hair-like leaves, which are submersed ; but when 

 the water is still, the large roundish flat leaves and showy flowers are to be 

 seen in great abundance, forming a brilliant mass of green and white. This 

 species is singular among a tribe of acrid plants, as being free from their 

 usually deleterious principle, and is, unlike any other Ranunculus, very 

 nutritive food for cattle. It has been proved capable of being converted l)y 

 agriculturists to very useful purposes. In the neighbourhood of liingwood, 

 on the borders of the Avon, many cottagers have been known to support 

 their horses and cattle almost wholly on this aquatic plant, a man going in a 

 boat on the water to fetch a quantity of it to the shore, which is soon eagerly 

 eaten by these animals. One man kept five cows and one horse on this food, 

 and the small amount of pasture which the common could supply, and not a 

 ton of hay throughout the whole year had been consumed by them. The 

 great quantity of foliage which in some ponds is found on this White Crow- 



