110 WILD FLOWEBS OF SUMMER. 



Commoii Mallow (Mah-a sylvestriti). It grows by 

 every road-side south of Lancaster. It haunts the 

 sunny banks of the corn-fields and loves the sheltered 

 nooks of the meadows. It establishes itself on waste 

 places, and some of the finest specimens I ever saw 

 gre\v on the now filled-up moat and on the mound of 

 Northampton Castle. Children call the circular fruit 

 " cheeses," and French children call them les petits 

 fromageons. The culour of the flower is that of mauve, 

 the French name of the plant. The uses of mallow 

 are infinite: their emollient properties are well 

 known; their leaves are used for embrocation, and 

 the mucilaginous seeds form an excellent soothing 

 poultice when boiled. The upright stems and larger 

 leaves distinguish the common mallow from the Dwarf 

 variety (M. rotund/folia), the stems of which droop, 

 the flowers are more faded, the veins are more con- 

 spicuous, and the leaves rounder than its taller name- 

 sake. It blooms later, and hugs closer to the shelter 

 of the wall, and it haunts the rubbish-heaps of the 

 wayside. 



In the hedgerows, when the mallows are in bloom 

 on the banks beneath, we shall find the purple star- 

 like flowers of the Bitter-sweet (Solanitm dulcamara). 



