22 RANUNCULACE^ 



10. Winter Aconite (Eranthls). 



Common Winter Aconite (iJ. hyemdlis). — Rootstock thick, perennial, 

 creeping underground. Leaves round, divided into 3 — 5, lobed seg- 

 ments ; long-stalked. Involucre of two lobed-bracts beneath the solitary cup- 

 like golden flower, which is nearly an inch and a half across. The numerous 

 stamens are longer than the small petals. This plant attains a height of 

 about six inches, and flowers from January to March. It is not British, but 

 a plant of Western Europe that has got naturalized in plantations here and 

 there. 



11. Columbine {AquiUgiu). 



Common Columbine {A. vvlgdris). — Spiu^ of the petals incurved ; 

 stem leafy, many-flowered ; leaves nearly smooth ; styles as long as the 

 stamens. Plant perennial. " The wood- walks blue with columbines " are not 

 to be seen in every part of our coiuitry. The flower, however, grows 

 abundantly in many woods, and though doubtless often the outcast of a 

 neighbouring garden, appears in most cases to be truly wild. This last 

 remark applies chiefly to England, for in Scotland it is believed scarcely to 

 occur, except as an introduction ; and even in Ireland, where it is more 

 plentiful, it is in most cases only naturalized. The Columbine is not so 

 readily dispersed as some other flowers, and sometimes covers banks in great 

 profusion, yet never speads itself over the neighl)ouring fields. In Devon- 

 shire the Columbine is undoubtedly wild, in many places growing in great 

 profusion, with blue, white, and pink flowers. Many of our old poets refer 

 to this flower. Brown, in his Pastorals, names it while describing old 

 floral customs long since discontinued, and known only hy the poet's men- 

 tion : — 



" So did the maidens with their various tiowcrs 



Deck up their windows, and make neat their bowers, 



Using such cunning, as they did dispose 



The ruddy piny with the lighter rose, 



The monk's-hood witli the bugloss, and entwine 



The white, the blue, the flesh like columbine, 



With pinks, sweetwilliams ; tliat far otf tlio eye 



Could not the manner of tlieir mixture spy ; 



Then with the flowers they most of all did prize. 



With all their skill, and in most curious wise, 



On tufts of herbs or rushes would tliey frame 



A dainty border round the sheplierd's name, 



Or posies make, so quaint, so apt, so rare, 



As if the Muses only lived there." 



The Columbine is a well-known flower all over Europe, and in most 

 countries of North America. Bryant speaks of it in the American woods 



where 



' ' The columbine, in purple drest, 

 Nods o'er the ground-bird's hidden nest.'" 



The French term this flower L'AncoUe ; and it is Die Akelei of the 

 Germans. The Italians call it Acquilezia ; and another of their names, 

 Perfetto Amare (True Love), seems to imply that it is a favoin-ite flower. 

 The Spaniards call the plant Pajarilla, and its old English name of Colum- 

 bine was given from the resemblance of the blossom to a nest of doves. It 



