RIVER-SIDE FLOWERS. 363 



often white. According to Hasselquist, the sorbet of the 

 Turks is prepared from these flowers mixed with sugar. 

 The sweet violet is very rare in Scotland, and the Highland 

 ladies of former days made a cosmetic of it. There is an 

 old Gaelic saying, "Anoint thy face with goat's milk in 

 which violets have been infused, and there is not a 

 young prince upon earth who will not be charmed with 

 thy beauty." 



The DOG VIOLET (V. canind) is distinguished from 

 having a flower-stem. 



The WOOD SORRELL (Oxalis acetosella) Fig. in " E. 

 B.," 310 with its handsome white drooping flowers, is 

 another beautiful little plant, found in the coppices in the 

 spring. 



The flowers of the WILD HYACINTH or BLUE-BELL 

 (Hyacinthus nonscriptus) Fig. in " E. B.," 1523 purple 

 many of our woods about the end of April and beginning 

 of May. This flower is dedicated to the patron saint of 

 England, St. George. 



The COMMON DAFFODIL (Narcissus pseudo-narcissus) 

 Fig. in " E. B.," 157 is another of the yellow flowers 

 of spring ; it grows in great profusion in moist woods, 

 meadows, and orchards. Flowers in March and April : 



" Daffodils, 



That come before the swallow dares, and take 

 The winds of March with beauty." 



Winter's Tale, Act iv. sc. 3. 



" When daffodils begin to peer 



With heigh ! the doxy over the dale, 

 Why, then comes in the sweet o' the year, 

 For the red blood reigns in the winter's pale." 



Winter's Tale^ Act iv. sc. I. 



All these, with the " chaste snowdrop, venturous har- 

 binger of spring," form a parterre delightful to the fisher's 

 eye and difficult to surpass. Those who follow in the 

 spring and summer months the streams of the north, "o'er 

 mountain and moor," will often come across that curious 

 insectivorous plant the VENUS' s CATCHFLY (Drosera); or the 



