THE WILD-FLOWERS OF SELHORNE 3 



frequented the spot. On the Hanger still flourishes, 

 as it flourished a hundred years ago, though not in 

 such abundance, the stinking hellebore, or setterwort. 

 This handsome plant may often be seen in shrubberies 

 and garden-walks, but in a wild state it is not often 

 met with. In the good old times it seems to have been 

 much sought after by those learned in the properties 

 of herbs. "The good women," says White, "give 

 the leaves powdered to children troubled with worms ; 

 but," he adds, "it is a violent remedy, and ought to 

 be administered with caution." As late as 1845 a 

 child died at Southampton from the effects of this 

 so-called remedy administered by its grandmother. 

 The name " setterwort " reveals another curious use 

 of this plant. "Husbandmen," says old Gerarde, 

 " are used to make a hole, and put a piece of the 

 root into the dewlap of their cattle, as a seton^ in cases 

 of diseased lungs, and this is called pegging or setter- 

 ing." Among the brushwood, on the top of the hill, 

 there grew in White's time the Daphne Mezei'cuin. 

 This fine shrub, with its pink fragrant flowers, which 

 appear in early spring before the leaves, may often 

 be seen in gardens in the neighbourhood, but on 

 Selborne Hanger it is no longer to be found. The 

 last plant has been removed into some cottage garden. 

 The spurge laurel, with its evergreen crown of shin- 

 ing leaves and dark poisonous berries, is everywhere 

 abundant. In the month of August, the sickly-looking 

 yellow Monotropa, or bird's nest, may be found in 

 plenty under the shady beeches; and about the same 

 time, or a little later, that rare orchis, the violet helle- 

 borine, will be in flower. This plant is, perhaps, to 

 a botanist the most interesting of the Selborne Flora. 

 The trade of a truffle-hunter is all but extinct. Now 



