130 CHAPTER XV I L 



in Moggridge's splendid volume on the Flora of 

 Mentone. The purchase of this book is an extra- 

 vagance which one does not regret. We owe to 

 Mr. Bicknell, of Bordighera, a volume of equal 

 beauty, and (unfortunately for small purses) of equal 

 cost. 



A Yellow Anemone (A. Palmaia) is peculiar to 

 Hyeres ; the sepals are numerous and narrow, the 

 leaf lobed, not deeply cut, and several flowers are 

 produced on one radical peduncle or scape. Of this 

 great rarity I cannot write mdi vivam spontaneam. 

 Besides all the varieties which are found near the 

 coast, the Alpine Anemone, with its white or sulphur 

 flower and dishevelled tuft of hairy fruitlets, is as 

 common on these mountains as in Switzerland. 



The bright colours of the Anemone are not due 

 to the corolla, for the flower is not provided with 

 petals. The allied Hellebores are almost in the same 

 case. To the Globe Flower (Trollius), abundant in 

 these mountains, nothing remains of the corolla but a 

 few small yellow straps concealed among the stamens. 

 Hellebore, which flowers here very early in Spring, 

 has its little cornets ; and the quaintest forms are 

 assumed by the reduced petals of Nigella, a pretty 

 blue flower of the same sub-order which is plentiful in 

 the month of May. The popular name is Love-in-a- 

 Mist ; it is also called Devil-in-a-Bush '* from the 

 horned carpels which peep viciously out of a finely 

 divided involucre." When the scientific name is so 

 euphonious as Nigella, it is not easy to see any 

 pretext for these popular periphrases. 



The flowers of the Anemone are very tough : 

 they stand a long railway journey without fading. It 



