88 



FAMILIAR WILD FLOWERS. 



golden. We see the word again, under slight modifica- 

 tion, in the northern name for the marsh-marigold, water- 

 gowlan, and in that of the corn-marigold, gowles or 

 golding; so that it is somewhat of a perversion of the 

 original idea to transfer the epithet to a flower not wholly 

 yellow. It is the " fair ox-eye " of Ben Jonson. 



The corn-marigold, or yellow ox-eye, is, as its name 

 implies, one of the characteristic flowers of the corn-field. 

 It is widely distributed, though in some districts it is quite 

 unknown. In Scotland, Denmark, and Saxony it was one 

 of the noxious plants that came within the reach of the 

 law ; and those who allowed it to grow in their fields had to 

 suffer the penalty of their neglect and contumacy. It is a 

 very brilliant and beautiful addition, aesthetically, to the 

 field of ripening corn ; and we can only regret that it is at 

 the same time a pest to be ruthlessly warred against. 



