14 FAMILIAR WILD FLOWERS. 



leaves of the olive-tree : the flowers be white, sweet of smell, 

 very little, growing in clusters ; which being faded there 

 succeed clusters of berries, at the first greene, and when they 

 be ripe blacke, like a little cluster of grapes, which yeeld a 

 purple juice. The common privet groweth. naturally in 

 every wood and in the hedgerowesof our London gardens." 

 Gerarde wrote during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and 

 this little side reference to the privet hedgerows of our 

 ancestors is interesting. Another old writer, the author of 

 the "Theatrum Botanicum," published in 1649, refers also 

 to this use of the plant. " It is carryed up with the many 

 slender branches to a reasonable height and breadth to 

 cover arbours, bowres, and banquetting houses, and brought 

 wrought and cut into many formes of men, horses, birdes, 

 &c., as the workman list, supported at the first with timber, 

 poles, and the like, but aftew'd groweth strong of it selfe, 

 sufficient to hold it in the forme it is made into/' Several 

 reasons commend it as a hedge-maker : it grows very 

 rapidly, and soon makes a substantial fence; it is evergreen, 

 and so always looks cheerful ; it bears clipping admirably 

 well ; it is but little disfigured by insects ; its roots are 

 fibrous, and rob the ground less than those of many other 

 shrubs; it bears the smoke and dirt of towns better 

 than most other things; and it is not particularly 

 choice as to soil or situation, though it flourishes most in 

 fairly moist ground. It stands sea breezes, too, better than 

 many other plants. It may be raised either by seeds, 

 layers, or cuttings, the last named being most efficacious 

 when it is desired to produce a fencing as quickly as 

 possible. 



From the berries of the privet a good green dye for 

 woollen materials has been obtained, and it is said to 



