FLOWERS OE THE PIELD. 71 



latives. This variety, though becoming common, is 

 not supposed to be indigenous to the country, but to 

 have been imported with the seed-corn from foreign 

 lands. Another early flowering plant is the Corn- 

 salad, or Lamb's Lettuce (Valerianella olitoria). On 

 light soils, its thick compact clusters of tiny lilac 

 flowers, crowning a stem about six inches high, will 

 surely be noticed. Its branches spread out, and its 

 long pale green leaves become broader at the extremity. 

 This was one of the edible plants of our forefathers, 

 and is still called monk's salad by the French (Salade 

 de clianoine). The old country name was the white 

 potherb, and Gerarde, the old Elizabethan botanist, 

 says " that it was eaten with vinegar, salt, and oile, as 

 other salades be, among which it is none of the worst." 

 Alas for the degeneracy of modern days ! it is now 

 neglected. 



Deep in the furrows on the south side we shall have 

 no difficulty in finding a spray of Fumitory (Fumaria 

 officinalis). Its somewhat graceful sea-green leaves 

 are divided into slender segments, and a spike of 

 purplish rose-coloured tubular flowers, each with a 

 small black spot upon it, grows on the upper portion 

 of the stem. When this pretty plant is frequent it is 



