142 FAMILIAR WILD FLOWERS. 



carries no such terrible power. Sheep, probably, would not 

 even touch it if they bad the opportunity, and a wise shep- 

 herd will not give them that opportunity; not, indeed, 

 because he need dread the innoxious asphodel, but because 

 he dreads the place wherein it grows. It is not the plant, 

 but the wet, boggy ground in which it nourishes that 

 proves a bane to the flock. 



The star-like perianth of the flower is composed of six 

 spreading and acutely -pointed parts of a brilliant yellow, 

 and within these the anthers form a conspicuous feature. 

 Each stamen, too, will be found to have the greater part of 

 its filament the slender part bearing the anther, or head 

 clothed with a thick, wool-like substance; and as this 

 is white in colour, it readily attracts our notice on an 

 inspection of the flower. The flowers form a stiff terminal 

 raceme, rising well above the leaves, and the leaves all 

 stand somewhat rigidly around the flower-stem, rising 

 from near its base, and sheathing it. The foliage is very 

 similar in form to that of the daffodil, but the leaves are 

 much smaller ; the whole plant is only a foot or so in 

 height, and the leaves are about half this. The flower 

 scape bears numerous scales. The plant is a perennial, and 

 the roots creep a good deal, so that when the plant is once 

 established it soon takes possession of the ground, and 

 covers it with its golden spires. 



The generic name, Narthecium, is derived from the 

 Greek word narthex, a rod, probably from the straight 

 upward growth of the flower-stem. The earliest botanists 

 gave the name to a quite different species the fennel, a 

 plant equally characterised by a sturdy upward growth. 

 Linnaeus classed it as an Anthericum; and Dr. Hooker 

 points out the curious fact that by an entirely undesigned 



