238 WILD FLOWERS OP WINTER. 



proud of their coralline hips, as well as of the " fairy 

 pincushions," or " rose sponge." "We have noticed, as 

 Shakespeare noticed before us, that 



The canker-blooms have full as deep a dye 

 As the perfumed tincture of the roses." 



These mossy excrescences are the product of a species 

 of gall-fly (Cynips). Another variety produces the 

 round bead-like protuberances at the back of oak- 

 leaves, which are now developing into gall-stones. 

 The "unsightly monstrous fungi," arrayed in their 

 bright shades of orange and red, display their fleshy 

 protuberances like sensual ghouls on the moist graves 

 of the withered summer blossoms. The crimson- 

 leaved Bramble trails over the hedgerows, and hides 

 itself in the luxuriant undergrowth, which has not yet 

 succumbed to the wintry storms. 



The flowers are not all dead. A second blow of 

 many flowers appear "faintly tinged, and breathing 

 no perfume." A lingering autumn Knapweed, or a 

 starry Corn Marigold, or an early Dandelion, opes its 

 big yellow eyes to receive the cold kiss of the winter's 

 sun. On chalky or clayey pastures we may see 

 clusters of the radiate or star-shaped flowers of the 

 Ploughman's Spikenard (Conyzct squarrosa), which 



