G6 CRUCIFER^ 



Suffolk, and Sussex. It is a native of the South of Europe. The flowers 

 are small, white, or cream-coloured, and the leaves have the pale sea-green 

 powdery bloom on their surface which the botanist terms glaucous. There 

 are about seventy species of the genus Erydmum, and several are very pretty 

 garden plants, with yellow, white, or purple blossoms, the smaller ones being 

 very ornamental to rock work. 



24. Wall-flower (Cheirdnthus). 



Common Wall-flower (C. cMiri). — Leaves lanceolate, acute, entire, 

 downy ; pods long and narrow ; stem shrubby at the base. Plant perennial. 

 Who has not welcomed the scent of the Wall-flowers, as it was brought to 

 him on the spring breezes, in his wanderings by the old tower, when they 

 quivered to the passing Avinds, from ruined hall or ivied ch\irch ? We can 

 all recall places where it grows thus high above us ; and the thought can 

 awaken associations connected with spots where, 



' ' The house of God uplifts its ancient walls, 

 Wreath'd in the verdant honours of the year ; 

 Within the sacred fane liave race on race, 

 The children of the upland and the dale, 

 Devoutly worshipp'd ; and beneath the mounds, 

 The grassy mounds, which stud the village yard, 

 Withdrawn to rest at last." 



Nor is it in our own loved land only that the Wall-flower is associated with 

 the buildings reared by men of other days. The traveller among the ruins 

 of ancient Rome is gladdened by its scent and beauty ; and broken walls and 

 fallen capitals have the Wall-flower waving on the summits, while the vermilion- 

 spotted mignonette blends Avith its own sweet odours. The traveller in 

 Eastern lands sees it amongst the oriental flowers, still loving the old wall 

 better than any other place, and affording to the Eastern poet as many an 

 image and sentiment of loveliness as was gathered by the troubadour, or is 

 caught by the bard of our days and country. 



But though the Wall-flower, as its name imports, springs from walls, yet 

 the sea-cliffs afford it as welcome a place of growth. Many a crag and peak 

 is enlivened in the early spring by its clumps of yellow flowers ; and in 

 March and April the old cliffs of Dover, among whose shadows, or in whose 

 broad sunshine, lies many a lovely blossom, are rich with thousands of its 

 blooms. Our fathers called it the Winter Gillyflower — for it may be seen 

 while wintry winds are still uttering their wild music; and March Gilly- 

 flower, which is another of their old names, is equally appropriate. The 

 flower when truly wild is rarely tinged with iron-brown — we never saw it so 

 on the Wall-flower of Dover ; but the variety which is cultivated in gardens 

 has the deeper tint, and is less firm in its aspect, its petals becoming more 

 flaccid. Yellow Violet and Yellow Stock Gillyflowers Avere others of its old 

 names ; and the Dutch now call it Violier, while it is the Girofl^'e of the 

 French, and Die Leucuje of the Germans. Its home is in central and northern 

 I'lurope, and it is not truly British. 



The Wall-flower is of little economical use, though recommended to be 

 planted in pastures, as the leaves are beneficial in some cases to sheep. Our 

 forefathers attributed to it A'arious virtues; and a conserve made of the 



