BOG ASPHODEL. 



Narthecium ossifragum. Nat. Ord. t 

 Juncacea. 



E can well remember the satis- 

 faction with which, after a 

 long tramp on the Yorkshire 

 moorlands, we first made 

 acquaintance with the bog 

 asphodel. All who have any 

 practical knowledge of the 

 wild moors of the north and 

 the mountains of Wales or 

 Westmoreland will be fami- 

 liar with the subject of our 

 illustration, as it is in the 

 swampy and marshy bits of 

 ground in these localities 

 that one so often finds that 

 the asphodel nourishes. 

 Those who would gather it 

 must not attach over much 

 importance to such a detail as keeping one's boots dry, or they 

 will have to be content with beholding it from afar, and 

 the beauty of the plant richly deserves a closer inspection. 

 The bone-breaking repute that it carries in its specific 

 name bears record to an old belief that the bones of sheep 

 feeding upon it become brittle and snap ; but the plant 



