186 



JUNE. 



thyme and white bryony. The last is one of 

 our most elegant plants. Running up in the 

 space of a month, over a great extent of hedge 

 or thicket, and covering it with its long twin- 

 ing stems, spiral tendrils, green vine-like leaves, 

 and graceful flowers, in a beautiful style of 

 luxuriance, it is deserving more notice than 

 it has yet received, and seems well calculated 

 for clothing bowers and trellis-work. Many 

 of our wild-flowers derive much interest from 

 the simple and poetical names given them by 

 our rural ancestors, as the wind-flower ; the 

 snap-dragon ; the shepherd's purse ; the bird's- 

 eye ; the fox-glove ; the blue -bell ; cuckoo- 

 flower ; adder's-tongue, and hart's tongue ; 

 goldy-locks; honesty; heart' s-ease ; true-love; 

 way-bread and way-faring tree, etc. Many 

 also bear the traces of their religious feel- 

 ings ; and still more remind us of the religious 

 orders by whom they were made articles of 

 their materia medica, or materia sancta, each 

 flower being dedicated to that saint near whose 

 day it happened to blow. 



