149 COMPOSIT^E 



and foreign botanists, fully described and stated in Backhouse's " Monograph 

 of the British Hieracia " (1856), "The British Flora" of Sir William Jackson 

 Hooker and Dr. Arnott (1860), and "The Manual of Botany" of Mr. 

 Babington (1881). Hooker and Arnott describe thirty-three species of 

 Hawkweed, and Mr. Babington en^^merates thirty species. But Sir J. D. 

 Hooker ("Student's Flora"), assisted by Mr. J. G. Baker, of Kew, has 

 reduced this number to ten, and expresses the belief of nine of these " that 

 there are no characters whereby the nine forms . . . can be more than 

 approximately defined." The eight forms described in this work, though not 

 based upon Hooker and Baker, largely agree with them. 



■■'- Plants producing scions. 



1. Common Mouse-ear Hawkweed (IL jnlosella) — Leaves oblong or 

 lanceolate, hairy on both sides, white with down beneath ; stem single- 

 headed, leafless ; scions creeping ; leaves entire, hairy ; root perennial. This 

 HaAvkweed is easily distinguished from all the other native species by its 

 uncut leaves, together with its creeping scions. It is a common and very 

 pretty flower, of a much paler yellow than most of the species, and truly 

 lemon-coloured ; the florets of the ray have usually red lines on the outside, 

 and the young unfolded or half-blown flowers look very beautiful in their 

 rich crimson tint. The scions are mostly slender and rooting, lying close to 

 the surface of the soil ; and the leaves, often of a greyish-green colour, are 

 paler beneath. The plant grows on sunny banks, dry heaths, and pastures, 

 often studding the short grass of the sea-cliff or that of the garden lawn with 

 its blossoms, which are larger than a shilling-piece, and appear from May to 

 August. The herb Avas formerly in much repute for its supposed medicinal 

 properties. "The juice thereof taken in wine," says an old writer, "or the 

 decoction drank, helpeth the jaundice, although of long continuance, if drank 

 night and morning;" but the herbalist adds, that all other liquid must be 

 abstained from for some hours after. It appears, too, to be one of the plants 

 used by the alchemists in their preparations ; for this author says, " The 

 moon owns this herbe also, and though authors cry out upon alchemists for 

 attempting to fix quicksilver by this herbe and moonwort, a Roman would 

 not have judged a thing by success ; if it be fixed at all, it is fixed by lunar 

 influence." 



There is another Hawkweed, quite distinct from all other species, but 

 which, though often found on hills and in woods, both in England and Scot- 

 land, is not a truly wild plant, having been wafted to these spots from some 

 neighbouring garden. It is the Orange Hawkweed (H. auranf.idcuvi). The 

 hairs on the stem and involucre are black at the base, and intermingled with 

 black gland-tipped hairs. These suggested the familiar name of Grim the 

 Collier, by which the species is often called ; and it is not improbable that 

 this name alluded to a character in an old play, once very popular in England. 

 The plant blossoms in June and July, and the flower is very handsome, often 

 cultivated in gardens, and varying very much in depth of colour in different 

 situations, some flowers being red or deep orange, or more rarely of a pale 

 yellow colour, with dark-brown styles. The plant is sometimes called by 

 gardeners Golden Mouse-ear. It sends out creeping scions, and the flower- 



