56 CRUCIFER^ 



The flowers of the Woad are in panicles, and of a bright yellow. They 

 grow on an upright stem, about two or three feet in height, and appear in 

 June and July, small spear-shaped yellowish bracts growing among them. 

 The plant is a native of the south and middle of Europe, in stony places, 

 from Spain and Sicily to the shores of the Baltic Sea. It also grows in 

 cultivated fields in many parts of Asia, but was probably introduced there 

 among the grain. 



16. Coral-root (Denfdria). 



Bulbiferous Coral-root (D. hulblfera). — Pod narrow and tapering; 

 stem quite simple ; lower leaves pinnated ; upper leaves often with buds in 

 the axils. Plant biennial. This rare and pretty spring plant has, in April 

 and May, pale purple flowers, larger and darker than those of the Cuckoo- 

 flower (Cardaniine pratensis), but somewhat resembling them. The Coral-root, 

 however, is very easily distinguished from other plants, by the little dark 

 scaly buds which grow between the upper leaves and the stem, and which, 

 when ripened, fall off and produce new plants. This plant grows in woods 

 in Middlesex, Sussex, Herts, and some other English counties, as well as in a 

 solitary Scottish locality in Ayrshire. The roots, Avhich are of whitish 

 colour, and creeping, have thick fleshy scales upon them, and the stem is 

 about a foot, or a foot and a half, in height. Some very showy species are 

 cultivated in gardens, Avith purple, white, or yellow flowers ; and the root of 

 a plant, called the Two-leaved Coral-root, is used by the Americans instead 

 of mustard, and is called Pepper-root. 



17. Bitter-cress {Cardaniine). 



1. Large-flowered Bitter-cress (Camdra). — Leaves pinnate, without 

 stipules ; leaflets of root-leaves rounded, those of the stem-leaves toothed, or 

 angular ; stem ci eeping at the base ; style oblique. Plant perennial. The 

 large white flowers, with purple anthers, at once characterise this plant. It 

 blossoms in April and May, and is much less frequent than the next species, 

 though, like that, usually found in moist places. It is very bitter and 

 astringent. 



2. Cuckoo-flower (C.])ratihisis). — Leaves pinnate, without stipules; root- 

 leaflets roundish, and toothed, those of the stem nearly entire ; style straight. 

 Plant perennial. The song of the cuckoo, though monotonous, is delightful, 

 and its two sweet notes — the only notes among birds which accord exactly 

 with the musical scale — awaken, as they echo against the hill-side, feelings 

 of joy in many hearts. No wonder that the oldest ballad in our language 

 told of the bird, and said, " Well singest thou, cuckoo !" No wonder that old 

 lovers of flowers, as they walked the spring meadow, associated many of its 

 blossoms with the voice of the bird, and that cuckoo's-meat and cuckoo- 

 flowers were in abundance by theii' path. Gerarde says of this Cardamine,, 

 that it " doth flower in April and Male, when the cuckoo doth begin to sing 

 her pleasant notes without stammering." Never is the green earth greener 

 or more gay with delicate flowers than at this season, when the white daisy 

 is open all over the fields, "like labour smiling on a holiday;" and the blue 

 speedwells gleam like gems among the grass, and the fairy stitchwort nods 



