THE 3TOET OF THE WILD FLOWEBS. 1L 



unlike cucumber. The tubers of "lords and ladies" 

 of the hedges (Arum masculatum) furnish a preparation 

 similar to arrowroot. The tubers of the Orchis mas* 

 cula and other ophreous orchids furnish a fecula known 

 as salep. The once common Eampion is the root 

 of the Campanula rapunculus. The common Eock 

 Samphire affords one of the best of domestic pickles, 

 and is the subject of a very pretty story told by the 

 late Professor Burnet, of the use even of a smattering 

 of botanical knowledge, if it only extends to the habits 

 of the plants. In November, 1821, a vessel was 

 wrecked near Beachy Head, and the crew washed 

 overboard. Four of the sailors managed to scramble 

 on to some half-sunken rocks, and there await the death 

 with which a rising tide and the raging sea threatened 

 them. Nought could be seen in the darkness of the 

 night. The encroaching waves drew nearer and nearer, 

 until hope was nearly gone, when one of the "de- 

 spairing creatures, to hold himself more firmly to the 

 rock, grasped a weed, which, even wet as it was, he 

 well knew, as the lightning's sudden flash afforded 

 a momentary glare, was not a fucus, but a root of 

 samphire, a plant which never grows submerged." 

 This was more than " an olive-branch of peace, a mes- 



