6 FAMILIAR WILD FLOWERS. 



has immense faith in himself. In his chapter on the 

 present plant, for instance, he strongly advises the roots 

 of the anemone to be chewed in the mouth, as " it purgeth 

 the head mightily, and is, therefore, good for the lethargy. 

 And, when all is done, let physicians prate what they 

 please, all the pills in the dispensary purge not the head 

 like to hot things held in the mouth.'" 



The anemone is one of our most graceful wild plants, 

 its fresh green leaves and snow-white blossoms rendering 

 it a fit companion for the purple hyacinth, the nestling, 

 sulphur-tinted primrose, or the golden stars of the little 

 celandine. Men of science retain the old name because 

 they say its flowers appear so fragile as they resist the 

 keen winds of March, but the poets naturally side with 

 the old myth ; they more often call it the wind-flower. 

 Bloomfield, for example, writes : 



"Now daisies blush, and wind-flowers fill with dew ;" 



and in Bryant's fine poem on the Autumn 1 we find the 

 following lines : 



" The wind-flower and the violet, they perished long ago, 

 And the briar rose and the orchis died amid the summer's glow." 



The wood-anemone is seen early in the spring, the 

 copses, woods, and sheltered hedgerows being whitened 

 with its countless blossoms. In fine, clear weather, the 

 flowers are fully expanded and face the sun; but when 

 its vivifying rays are withdrawn at the approach of 

 evening, or overcast by the rain-cloud, the flowers close 

 and hang down, thus preserving the inner delicate parts 

 from injury, and serving as a very good natural barometer 

 at the free service of those who wander " where, thickly 

 strewed in woodland bowers, anemones their stars unfold."" 



