The Bramhall Valley. 29 



of a delicate silvery gray, as alluded to by Tennyson in 

 the "Idylls:" 



" A robe that more expressed 

 Than hid her, clung about her lissome limbs, 

 In colour like the satin-shining palm 

 On sallows in the windy gleams of March." 



He calls them " palm," in acknowledgment of the popu- 

 lar name, which has reference to the circumstance of 

 willow-shoots, covered with flower-catkins, being used 

 on Palm-Sunday, in the ceremonials of the Roman 

 Catholic Church.* 



In high summer, when the scythe is being sharpened, 

 the meadows by Bramhall Brook contain profusion 

 of the yellow goatsbeard, one of those odd plants 

 that combine the aspects of two or three others, and 

 weave out of the union a pretty and striking individu- 

 ality. The foliage resembles that of a large grass ; the 

 flowers are those of a dandelion in miniature, set round 

 with long green rays, that make them seem a spot 

 of gold in the bosom of a leafy star ; like the convol- 

 vulus or " morning-glory," the blossom opens with the 

 song of the lark, and shuts by noon ; so that, if we 

 let twelve or one o'clock go by, the plant, though close 

 to our feet, like a child hiding in sport, is unper- 

 ceived. By and by, where the yellow blossom stood, 



* See for further particulars, " British and Garden Botany," pp. 

 59. 591- 



