168 CHAPTER XXII. 



Oliver considers it " the handsomest of the ligulate 

 Composites." The bracts of the involucre are so dry 

 and scarious that they make a crackling noise when 

 slightly pressed. The plant is much more abundant 

 a few miles inland. I have tried unsuccessfully to 

 grow it in a pot. Catananche is able to endure the 

 severest winter on the south coast of England : it 

 ought therefore to be commoner in English gardens 

 than it is. 



I need not call attention to the conspicuous 

 flowers of a Cranesbill (Erodium) with which the 

 grass is studded, nor to the Violets which literally 

 cover the ground a little farther on. A valley which 

 branches to the east is full of Hepaticas ; when these 

 are in flower you may often find the way to the spot 

 where they grow by the blossoms scattered along the 

 path. There are people who can find no use for 

 flowers except to destroy them and tread them under 

 foot. On Corpus Christi day the Cours at Grasse is 

 strewn with a thick carpet of yellow Broom flowers. 

 The peasant girls have been busy before daybreak 

 laying the bright bushes bare, and bringing down the 

 golden ornaments of the hill-side, to be crushed by 

 the feet of the mumbling priests. The meadows by 

 the Trent at Nottingham are thickly covered once a 

 year with Crocuses. The first of these conns was 

 planted, it is said, by a French prisoner or refugee. 

 The " Queen of the Midlands " is proud of these 

 beautiful flowers. The Nottingham "lambs" take 

 great interest in them. On Crocus Sunday they 

 assemble on the meadow ; they leap and trample on 

 Crocuses, they tread them down and tear them up. 

 " Placuisse nocet ! " Their beauty is their bane. By 



