USES OF WILD PLANTS. 157 



which covers extensive tracts of land in Lapland, is largely used in 

 the manufacture of fire-works. 



The gaudy buttercup, though a sad plague to the farmer, for the 

 cattle cannot feed upon it, is yet extremely useful in medicine. 

 Most of the buttercup plants have a poisonous watery juice, which 

 possesses emetic properties. The root of Ranunculus hulbosa, the bul- 

 bous crowfoot, was formerly called St. Anthony's turnip, but it is 

 quite useless for the purposes of nutriment, even when cooked. A 

 beautiful plant of this tribe is the lesser celandine, E.ficaria, abundant 

 in quiet hedgerows and moist meadows during March and April. Its 

 heart-shaped leaves are marked with whitish-green spots. It is an 

 excellent prognosticator of the weather; its blossoms shut up just be- 

 fore rain. It is a sluggard in its habits, seldom lifting up its head to 

 look upon the sun before nine in the morning, and always retiring 

 before five in the evening. The root of this plant is much used in 

 Cochin China as a medicine, where it is held in great esteem, and 

 believed to possess innumerable virtues. In many parts of Norway 

 and Sweden it is used as a table vegetable, its leaves being boiled and 

 eaten as greens. It is also used in some English counties to prepare 

 a wash for removing specks from the eyes. All the species of crow- 

 foot are useful in medicine ; their chief characteristic is that of rais- 

 ing a blister on the skin, and they are frequently used in cases of 

 acute inflammation in the place of cantharides, and the effect is 

 attended with a less amount of suffering. One very beautiful and 

 interesting species of ranunculus may be found in abundance during 

 May and June, in most lakes and clean ponds, and sometimes in 

 rivers. It is called Ranunculus aquatilis, and produces a beautifal 

 white blossom on the surface of the water. The most beautiful we 

 have ever seen were growing luxuriantly in the little stream that falls 

 into the Ravensbourne, at Rushy Green. This is the only one of the 

 family which is destitute of poisonous properties, and this peculiarity 

 is the less to be expected in an aquatic plant. It is largely used as 

 fodder in various parts of Gloucester and Somerset. The borders of 

 the lovely Avon — a stream dear to all who have seen its peaceful 

 waters and fertile banks, and dearer still for its poetic memories — are 

 covered with it in profusion, and it gives an aspect of great loveliness 

 to the calm and quiet river. It is largely used by the cottagers as 

 fodder; cows, sheep, and horses are fed upon it to a great extent. 

 The cows are so partial to it, that they are very reluctantly dissuaded 



