PEA AND BEAN TRIBE 179 



the Plantagenets. Geoffiy Earl of Anjou, the father of Henry II., and the 

 husband of Matilda, Empress of Grermany, was in the habit of wearing a 

 branch of this in his cap, or as an old historian says, " He commonly wore a 

 broom in his bonnet." Some early and interesting association with the 

 flower, doubtless, led to its place as a plume to the cap of this earl, and old 

 legends tell that he first put it there on the day of battle, plucking the 

 golden branch on his way when passing on to the scene of contest. His son 

 Henry has been called the Royal Sprig of Genista, and the Broom was 

 worn by all his descendants, down to the last of the Plantagenets, Richard III. 



4. Rest-hakrow (Ondnis). 



1. Common Rest-harrow {0. arvensis). — Stem shrubby, branches 

 hairy, often spinous ; lower leaves ternate, leaflets oblong, flowers axillary ; 

 calyx much shorter than the corolla. Plant perennial. The Rest-harrow 

 bears, throughout the summer, a number of rose-coloured flowers, much 

 resembling the sweet-pea of the garden, though considerably smaller. The 

 leaves of the plant are sometimes slightly notched, and somewhat viscid ; 

 and the flowers vary from a red or deep rose-colour, to a paler hue, and in 

 some instances to white. This plant, which grows on field borders, where 

 the soil is sandy, or on rocky dry places, is especially luxuriant near the sea. 

 On the cliffs of Dover, its pretty flowers are most abundant from the end of 

 May until September ; and having there the full benefit of shelter from north 

 winds, and receiving all the sunshine of a southern aspect, the plant may 

 sometimes be found in blossom even at Christmas. It is so variable, that 

 some writers consider that several forms included in one general name, 

 should be regarded as so many distinct species. Professor Burnett remarks 

 on this plant, that it has hitherto been merely regarded as a troublesome 

 weed ; but that its physiological history is replete with interest — an interest, 

 however, which it shares with other thorny plants, the warriors of the 

 vegetable world. From the works of this admirable writer, we may be per- 

 mitted to make a long extract, the more especially as his writings are familiar 

 to few save botanists. 



" In barren, uncultivated tracts of heath or common land, thorny plants 

 abound, e.g., the sloe, the Rest-harrow, the hawthorn, the buckthorn, the' 

 cockspur thorn, and many others. These vegetables, when removed into 

 gardens, and cultivated with care, lose all the thorns, which so thickly beset 

 them when wild, and bear fruitful branches in their stead ; becoming, as 

 Linnseus expressed it, tamed plants {Plantce domitcr), instead of the Militcs or 

 warriors, to use his language, that they were before. Wildenow was the first 

 who explained the rationale of this metamorphosis, the first who showed that 

 thorns were abortive buds — buds which a deficiency of nourishment prevented 

 becoming developed into branches, and which, when the requisite supply of 

 food is present, speedily evolve their latent leaves and flowers. But Wilde- 

 now did not perceive the beautiful adaptation of means to ends, which forms, 

 in my opinion, by far the most interesting part of the phenomenon. 



"In open, barren tracts of country, the very circumstance of the sterility 

 of the soil must prevent the production of many plants ; and of those which 



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