UMBELLIFEROUS TRIBE 53 



of Thorow-wax is from the circumstance of a stalk going through, or thorow 

 the leaf, wax being an old word for grow. The French call it Le BiipUore, 

 and the Germans Bas Hafenohrclwn ; it is the Bnplenoro of the Italians, and 

 the Haazenoor of the Dutch. Though locally plentiful in cornfields on chalky 

 soils, it is confined to the eastern and southern parts of England, and must 

 be regarded as a rare plant, in spite of its name. It is not found farther 

 north than Yorkshire, nor beyond Somerset in a westerly direction. 



Several species of Hare's-ear have been brought from Switzerland, Southern 

 Europe, and Africa, into our gardens, but they are rather singular than 

 ornamental. Thunberg, when in Japan, found a very curious plant of this 

 genus, the Biipleurum giganteum. He says that the inhabitants of Roode 

 Zand all assured him, with one voice, that there was a bush to be found on 

 the mountain on which grew wonderful products, such as caps, gloves, 

 worsted stockings, etc., of a substance resembling a fine plush. " I impor- 

 tuned," says this traveller, "almost everybody in the neighbourhood to 

 procure me, if possible, some of the marvellous products, and I resolved not 

 to leave the place till I should have unriddled the mystery. In the course 

 of a few days, I had several of the leaves brought me down from the 

 mountains, Avhich were covered with a thick down, and very much resembled 

 white velvet. The girls, who were used to the management of these leaves, 

 Ijcgan immediately, Avith singular dexterity and nicety, to strip off this 

 downy coat, whole and entire as it was, without rending it. After it had 

 been taken off in this manner, it was turned inside outwards, when the green 

 veins 'of the leaf appeared on one side. Accordingly as the leaf was more 

 round or oval, divers of the above-mentioned articles were formed out of it, 

 the shape being now and then assisted a little by the scissors. The stalks 

 of the leaves furnished stockings and ladies' fingered gloves, the smaller 

 leaves caps ; so that the matter was not quite so wonderful as it was wonder- 

 fully related." Our traveller, resolving to ascertain the exact plant which 

 produced this downy substance, climbed to the highest summits of the 

 mountains, and there found this singular Bupleurum. 



3. Slender Hare's-ear (£. ienuisdumm). — Stem, branched; leaves 

 linear, very shai^ply pointed ,• umbels very minute, and few-flowered ; partial 

 umbels usually overtopped by their involucres ; caj-pels granulated between 

 the ridges. Plant annual. This is a tall slender species, differing from all 

 the others by the little grain-like substances between the ribs of its carpels. 

 It has a wiry solid stem, about a foot high, and produces its umbels of tiny 

 yellowish-green flowers in August and September. It grows on salt marshes, 

 on the south and east coasts of England, extending as far north as Durham, 

 and is of very local occurrence. 



4. Falcate-leaved Hare's-ear (B. falcdtum). — Stem hollow, branched 

 above only ; lower leaves oblong, or egg-shaped, on long stalks ; upper sessile, 

 narrowly lanceolate, partially clasping the stem; partial involucre of five 

 lanceolate, pointed leaves, as long as the flowers. Plant perennial. This 

 species, which produces its minute greenish flowers in July, has a slender 

 stem from one to four feet in height, often unbranched. Its claims to be 

 reckoned as a British plant are not very strong, and it occurs only about 

 fields in Surrey and Essex, 



