WOODBINE TRIBE 103 



their taste is not inferior to the finest cherries ; they are prepared with milk, 

 or Sarannah, and form a favourite article of food." The fruits of several 

 species are, however, said to be emetic. 



The foliage of our Woodbine is very agreeable to goats, hence our plant 

 is sometimes called Goat's-leaf, or Caprifoly ; and the same allusion is to be 

 traced in the specific name of the botanist, and the French name of the 

 plant, which is the Chhre-feuille, as well as in some others of those by which 

 it is known on the continent of Europe. It is the Caprifoglio, or the Aladre- 

 salva, of the Italian and Spaniard; the Gcishlait, or the Baumlilie, of the 

 Germans ; and the Kamperfolie of the Dutch. The genus now called Lonicera 

 is a section of the older genus Caprifolium. 



The Honeysuckle in its windings follows the sun from east to west. The 

 plant bears pruning well, for, as Professor Martyn observes, those plants 

 which in a state of nature cannot ascend without the assistance of others, are 

 often liable to lose large branches ; they have therefore a proportionate 

 vigour of growth adapted to restore accidental injuries. The leaves are very 

 liable to the attacks of aphides, and the sphinx hawk-moths with their long 

 tongues extract the honey from the flowers. The flowers have, in fact, become 

 specially adapted for the visits of butterflies and moths, whose tongues alone 

 are sufficiently long to reach the honey, and who alone are able to fertilize 

 the ovules. But certain humble-bees, evidently annoyed by the long narrow 

 tube, have devised a plan for getting over the difficulty of access to the honey 

 — they bite through the tube near the base, and so reach the honey without 

 conferring any benefit upon the flower. 



Fragrant essences and waters are made by perfumers of the flowers 

 of -the Honeysuckle; and the plant is often treated as AVordsworth de- 

 scribes : — 



" Brought from the woods the Honeysuckle twines, 

 Around the porch, and seems in that trim place 

 A plant no longer wild." 



3. Upright Fly Honeysuckle (L. xylosteum). — Stalks 2-flowered, 

 downy ; berries distinct, except at the base ; leaves egg-shaped, entire, downy. 

 Plant perennial. This shrub, which is another naturalized alien, occurs in 

 woods in some parts of England, as in Hertfordshire and Northumberland. 

 It has in May and June small twin flowers of a pale yellow colour and* 

 without fragrance, and its fruits are small and crimson. 



4 LiNN^A (Linncea). 



1. Two-flowered Linnsea (L. hm-edlis). — Stem trailing ; leaves broadly 

 egg-shaped, their margins with rounded notches, leathery and evergreen ; 

 flower-stalks long, erect, and 2-flowered ; calyx, flower-stalks, bracts, and 

 involucre covered with glandular hairs ; root perennial. This elegant plant 

 is found in woods in East and Mid-Scotland, especially among fir-trees, in the 

 counties of Perth, Forfar, Inverness, and Aberdeen ; and in English fir- woods 

 as far South as Yorkshire. The delicate thread-like stems are branched, and 

 the pink or flesh-coloured bells droop gracefully, expanding in June and July. 

 Gronovius gave this plant its name at the request of Linnjeus, who con- 

 sidered that its lowly, depressed condition, and the fact of its having been long 



