THE WOOD. 83 



edged leaves inserted in rings round the stem, is 

 the Sweet-scented Wood-ruff.* It is sometimes 

 called Wood-rowel, its whorl of leaves resembling 

 the rowel of a spur. The name was formerly 

 spelt, 



Double U, double 0, double D, E ; 

 R, O, double U, double F, E. 



It bears a pretty little white flower in April or 

 May, but is more remarkable for the sweet smell 

 that its leaves emit when dry, resembling new hay 

 or the Tonca bean. If you wish to preserve a 

 specimen for your herbarium, you must dry a 

 whole plant ; but, if you want it only for the sake 

 of its odour, the best way of preserving it is to cut 

 through the stem immediately above and below a 

 knot, when you will have about eight leaves ar- 

 ranged in a circular manner and lying quite flat. 

 Place these in a book, and in the course of a 

 day or two you will find that they have acquired 

 a delicious odour, which will last till the fol- 

 lowing year at least. Every spring I place one 

 inside the paper of my watch-case, and it always 

 retains its fragrance till the season comes round 

 again. 



One of our stateliest woodland plants is the 

 " Male Fern," growing most luxuriantly in damp 

 hollows, and sending out numerous tall and graceful 

 fronds, arranged in a circle round the root, droop- 

 ing like feathers, or presenting an outline which 

 reminds us of some beautiful Grecian vase. Its 

 neighbour, the elegant " Lady Fern," is yet more 

 graceful, though inferior in its stately mode of 

 growth. The former has the lower part of its 

 * Asperula odorata. 



