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touched, and a heavy storm of rain will sometimes 

 wash the earth away from the root, breaking off these 

 tubers and leaving them scattered about on the surface 

 of the ground. This fact in olden days gave rise to 



LESSER CELANDINE. 



the belief that it sometimes rained wheat, as the small 

 bulbs when detached very much resemble wheat grains. 

 Like all buttercups, the plant is poisonous ; but in 

 spite of that its glossy green leaves and golden flowers 

 are welcome to our eyes, as tokens of the coming 

 spring. It may be interesting to observe that in 



