CROSS-WORT. 



Cfalium cruciattun. Nat. Ord., Ittib'Mcece. 



ROSS- WORT, graceful as it 

 is when examined, does not 

 appeal particularly to the eye 

 when seen growing, for all 

 the forms are so minute and 

 delicate that a mass of it 

 amidst the vegetation only 

 tells as a point of yellowish 

 green colour. Yet the plant 

 is one that we always wel- 

 come, for it is one more in- 

 dication that the winter is over 

 and gone, and that the promise 

 of the spring is maturing into 

 the wealth of summer. The 

 cross- wort is very commonly 

 met with on hedge-banks where 

 it can be somewhat in the 

 shade, in copses, woods, and such like spots, and its 

 blossoms may be found in all their delicacy and frailty 

 from April to June. It is rather curious that though the 

 plant is widely distributed, and in many places abundant 

 in England, it is less so in Scotland, while in Ireland it 

 appears to be wholly unknown. 



