12 FLOWERS OF THE BOGS AND MARSHES 



having an angry word spoken to him. It is very acrid and poisonous, 

 and those who have eaten it have been affected by it. The buds are 

 salted and pickled in the same way as capers. From the "petals" a 

 yellow dye is extracted, after boiling- with alum. It is not eaten by 

 cattle unless there is a lack of other herbage. Children use it for 

 making garlands on May Day. The "petals" are often eaten by a 

 beetle ( Ckrysomcla ). 



ESSENTIAL SPECIFIC CHARACTERS: 



ii. Caltha palustris, L. Stems numerous, erect, leaves reniform, 

 large, shiny, sepals yellow, large, petals wanting, follicles with short 

 beak. 



Grass of Parnassus (Parnassia palustris, L.) 



There are not any instances of the occurrence of Grass of Par- 

 nassus in early beds. It is confined to the North Temperate Zone of 

 Europe, N. Africa, Siberia, Western Asia, as far east as N.W. Hima- 

 layas, E. and W. North America. It is found generally in Great 

 Britain, but not in the Peninsula province in Dorset; and in S. Hants 

 only in the Channel province; not in Kent or S. Essex in the Thames 

 province; throughout Anglia; not in W. Gloucs, Monmouth, Here- 

 ford in the Severn province. In Wales it occurs only in Carnarvon, 

 Denbigh, Flint, and Anglesea; in the Trent province; throughout the 

 Mersey, H umber, and Tyne provinces; and in the Lakes province 

 generally, except in the Isle of Man. It is found in the whole of 

 the W. Lowlands; not in Peebles or Selkirk in the E. Lowlands; 

 or Stirling, N. Perth in E. Highlands; throughout the W. Highlands, 

 except in N. Ebudes; and in the N. Highlands, except in W. Ross; 

 in the North Isles, except in the Hebrides. It is found at 2700 ft. in 

 the Highlands. 



This beautiful plant is one of the features of bogs in the autumn, 

 when its white flowers are scattered in profusion over the flat water- 

 meadows around more truly boggy tracts. It is found in such places 

 as the Great Spearwort, Sundew, Bog Pimpernel, Water Violet, Bog 

 Speedwell, Marsh Lousewort, Butterwort, Bladderwort, Bog Bean, 

 Marsh Helleborine, Marsh Orchis, Cotton Grass, and other hygro- 

 philous or helophilous plants frequent. 



1 his is not a grass, but a delicate herbaceous plant, with few 

 flowering stems, slender, erect or wavy, angular, bearing a single, 

 clasping, stalkless leaf halfway up the stem. The radical leaves are 

 stalked with a heart-shaped form. The plant has the rosette habit. 



I he flowers are of a beautiful cream or white colour, with free, 



