102 FAMILIAR WILD ILOWERS. 



at intervals in the lower portions. The greater number 

 of the leaves spring directly from the ground. The 

 blossoms may ordinarily be met with by about the middle 

 of March, and last until about the middle of June. The 

 plant is closely allied to the various species of buttercup, 

 but the flowers have no corolla, the brilliant yellow cup 

 being composed of the five petaloid sepals. A variety is 

 occasionally met with in mountainous regions in which 

 the blossoms are much smaller and the foliage somewhat 

 different in shape, but there would appear to be no 

 sufficient justification for raising it, as some few writers 

 have done, to the dignity of an independent species. 



Every part of the plant is strongly irritant in its 

 nature, and several cases are on record of serious effects 

 produced by rashly experimenting on its powers. The 

 buds have occasionally been used as a substitute for 

 capers ; the exchange is a very dangerous one, though 

 possibly a long soaking in vinegar may go far to 

 remove the acrid and poisonous nature of the buds in a 

 fresh state. 



Shakespeare refers once or twice to the flower; it 

 appears to have been rather a favourite with him. The 

 lines 



" Winking Marybuds begin 

 To ope their golden eyes " 



are a sufficient illustration of his use of the plant, 

 though other instances will readily occur to the mind 

 of the Shakesperian student. It is curious that in 

 some parts of the country the marsh marigold is called 

 the mare-blob, a name which it has been suggested 

 may have been derived originally from mere-blob, in 

 allusion to the habitat of the plant, but which we should 



