378 THE RIVER-SIDE NATURALIST. 



delicate pink colour, but immediately on expansion turn 

 blue. Flowers during the summer months. 



The plant is the emblem of friendship wherever it is 

 known. Its name, " Forget-me-not," comes from the 

 following legend : 



Two lovers, who were on the eve of being united, were 

 loitering on the margin of a lake on a fine summer evening, 

 when the maiden espied a cluster of these flowers growing 

 by the side of the bank of an island some distance from the 

 shore. She expressed a wish to have them. Her lover 

 plunged into the water, swam to the spot, and gathered the 

 wished-for flowers. On returning, his strength failed him. 

 He had only time to throw the flowers on the bank, and, 

 as he sank, cast his eyes on the beloved of his soul, and 

 cried, " Forget me not." (See Mills' " History of Chivalry.") 



" Little flower, whose magic name 

 Kindles up affection's flame, 

 Free from all the tricks of art, 

 In the wayside traveller's heart, 

 Pleas'd thy radiant head I view, 

 Crown'd with bright cserulean blue. 



Change since then has mark'd my lot, 

 Much I've seen, and much forgot ; 

 Still thy pale blue light appearing", 

 Childhood's earliest haunts endearing, 

 Though its hours like stars have set, 



Thee and them I ne'er forget." 



i 



The COMMON BROOK LIME (Veronica beccabunga) Fig. in 

 " E. B.," 990 is frequently found in running waters and 

 ditches, flowering through the summer months ; it has 

 beautiful racemes of many bright blue flowers, the corolla 

 being four-cleft ; the whole plant is glabrous and very 

 succulent. 



The GIPSY WORT, WATER- HOREHOUND (Lycopus euro- 

 pceus) Fig. in " E. B.," 1019. The name is derived from 

 htkos, a wolf, and pous, a foot, from the fancied resemblance 

 of the cut leaves to a wolf's paw. The stems rise often to 

 four feet in height, and are marked with four angles. The 



