CRUCIFEROUS TRIBE 57 



by bluebells and primrose tufts. Shakspere speaks of the flower by another 



of its older names, and 



" Daisies pied and violets blue, 

 And lady-smocks all silver white," 



were looked on by him, as by us, with joy. The origin of the name used by 

 the poet is not so obvious as is that of Cuckoo-flower. Sir J. E. Smith 

 supposes that this flower, growing in great quantities, and bleached by long 

 exposure to the sun, suggested to our fathers the idea of linen laid out on 

 the grass to dry. The plant is still commonly called Lady-smocks in country 

 places ; and more recent poets, like Millhouse, know it by the name familiar 

 to their childhood — 



"Joyous I've found the glossy crocus blowing 

 Fair in its bed of green ; and onward stray'd 

 To sunny dells, where April's hand was tlirowing 

 Violets of virgin sweetness, and survey'd 

 The pale-eyed primrose, glistening in tlie glade : 

 Daisies, vermilion-tinged, were deem'd a prize 

 And pluck'd in triumi)li ; while the sloe-bloom made 

 Garlands for mating birds, and thence would rise 



Youchings of parent love in anthems to the skies. 



" And at sweet May-tide, when the cowsliji hung 

 Its head in pensiveness, and crow-flowers bright 

 Along the expanse of lengthening meads were ilung, 

 Mingled with lady-smocks and daisies white, 

 Lambsfoot and speedwell, and the lovely sight 

 Of hawthorn blossoms fragrant on the gale 

 Of eve ; full oft I've wander'd with delight ; 

 Nor, time regretting, will I e'er bewail 

 Those hours I loitering spent in woodland, mead and dale." 



The poet Avas right, for hours spent in watching the flowers are not to be 

 regretted. Many a lesson of God's love is learned among them; many a 

 scene of beauty gathered thence, to be laid up as a store foi* future memories. 

 Such sights and thoughts come with so healing an influence to the care-worn 

 spirit, that avc are not surprised at the assertion of Priest, "that, in all his 

 extensive practice in insanity, he never met with an insane naturalist." 



" Better for man, 

 Were he and Nature more familiar friends." 



The leaves of the Cuckoo-flower are very pungent, but these, with many 

 of their kind, Avere relished formerly as salad herbs. The floAvers are usually 

 of delicate pale lilac, veined Avith a darker lilac; sometimes they are of 

 pinkish Avhite, and when about to Avither, quite Avhite. They are very 

 l)lentiful in moist meadoAvs, and are sometimes double. When this is the 

 case, their leaflets, as they come in contact Avith the ground, often produce 

 new plants Avhile still attached to the old. 



3. NarroAv-leaved Bitter-cress (C. impdiiens). — LeaA-es pinnate ; 

 leaflets lanceolate, slightly cut, or entire, fringed ; stipules at the base of the 

 leaf-stalks. Plant annual. The moist rocks of some of our northern counties, 

 and some parts of Scotland, are the recorded habitats of this rare floAver. It 

 has very small Avhite blossoms during May and June, and the fringed stipules 

 afford a distinctive mark to the species. It is called impatient, from the 

 hasty manner in Avhich the contents of the pod are jerked out. 



