THE CELANDINE. Ill 



celandine, difficult as it is to account for the fact, is rarely, 

 if ever, found away from the neighbourhood of man ; its 

 favourite spots being- the cottage hedgerow or the waste 

 ground around farm and other buildings. 



The celandine belongs to the same natural order of 

 plants, the Papaveracea, as the poppies. The plant is a 

 perennial. The general growth of the plant is erect, its 

 stems tender and delicate-looking, branching a good deal, 

 and attaining to a height of from one to two feet. At the 

 various points at which branches are given off the stem is 

 swollen and jointed, and breaks very easily. The whole 

 plant, but especially the stem, is full of a bright orange 

 juice, that issues immediately and in considerable quantity 

 directly the stems are anywhere broken across. This juice 

 stains the hands a good deal, and if the tip of the tongue 

 be placed in contact with it, the taste is not only exceedingly 

 acrid and nauseous, but lasts a long time in the mouth. 

 The tender nature of the plant was very well impressed on 

 ourselves personally, as the sketch from which the present 

 illustration was copied was made from the fourth handful of 

 the plant we brought home with us; in three preceding 

 attempts the plant withered before we were able to make 

 any use of it. The leaves are very thin in texture, and 

 droop almost directly they are gathered. The leaf is 

 composed of a terminal leaflet and several laterals, and is 

 of a very unusual and beautiful form. The flowers are 

 small and very fugacious, though, as a set-off to the dis- 

 appointment of finding on arriving home with a specimen 

 that all its blossoms have disappeared, the buds will, if the 

 plant be placed in water, readily expand. The blossoms have 

 four bright yellow petals arranged in the form of a cross, 

 and the novice might possibly at first assign the plant a 



