COW-WHEAT. 



Melampyntm pratense. Nat. Ord., 

 Scrophulariacea. 



ALTHOUGH the specific name, 

 pralense, of our present plant 

 would lead to the idea that the 

 cow-wheat was a plant of the 

 meadows, its true home is in 

 the woods. The specific name 

 was bestowed upon the plant 

 by the Swedish botanist Lin- 

 naeus, and it may possibly be 

 that he may have found its 

 habitat in his own country 

 somewhat different from that 

 common in Britain ; or we can, 

 without great disrespect to his 

 illustrious memory, conclude 

 that amidst the enormous amount of plant nomenclature 

 for which he is responsible, some few errors would 

 naturally creep in, and set this down as probably being 

 one of these slips. Whichever theory we may adopt, 

 the fact remains that with us the cow-wheat must 

 be searched for in the forest, or in copse-land and 

 thickets. We might, perhaps with advantage, replace 

 " must be searched for " by the expression " will be found/' 

 for there are few suitable localities for the plant that will 



