74 WILD FLOWERS OF SPRING. 



Amoagst the flowers of the spring corn- fields, the 

 Heartsease or Wild Pansy (Viola tricolor} may be 

 found, its yellow face " freaked with jet." Shakespeare 

 calls it " love in idleness," and it still bears that name 

 in "Warwickshire. Another midland name is " pink- 

 o'-my-John," and it also once bore the name of herb 

 trinity. Frequent mention is made of it in connection 

 with "lover's thoughts" by the old dramatists. 



The Corn Buttercup (Ranunculus arvensis) flowers 

 during May amongst the young corn. It is distin- 

 guished by its three cleft leaved and singular prickly 

 seed-vessels, from which it derives its common name 

 of hedgehog. Its acrid properties are remarkable 

 even in the Eanunculus tribe. 



The beautiful Santfoin (Ondbrychis sativa) blooms 

 in May on a chalky soil, where it is frequently culti- 

 vated, though undoubtedly naturalized on Salisbury 

 and other Wiltshire downs. Its name signifies holy 

 hay, and it is known by the name of cock's -head 

 grass and French grass. Its crimson tint contrasts 

 forcibly with the blue purple of the cultivated Lucerne 

 (Medicago sativa), which is hardly a wild plant. Its 

 relative, the Yellow-flowered Medic the Black Non- 

 such (Medicago lupulina) is, however, a native. Its 



