72 FLOWERS OF THE FIELDS AND MEADOWS 



the town-immured lassie when she searches for and gathers it herself 

 in the early spring morning". 



This plant was called Our Lady s Bunch of Keys and St. Peter- 

 wort from its resemblance to a bunch of keys. It was supposed to 

 induce sleep. Another legend has it that the nightingale is only to 

 be heard when Cowslips are in profusion, but the nightingale's range 

 is not so extensive as that of the Cowslip. It was used as a drug 

 in the time of Chaucer. At the present day it is used in country 

 districts for making Cowslip wine, which is very like the sweet wines 

 of S. France. 



Cowslip smells of anise. The leaves have been used as potherbs 

 and in salads. Silkworms are fed upon them. Liqueurs and syrups 

 are flavoured with the leaves. 



It is not variable under cultivation, though it is remarkable that 

 Parkinson and Gerarde speak of a double variety. Milton speaks of 

 "the yellow Cowslip and the pale Primrose". 



The Cowslip has been used as a corroborant and antispasmodic, 

 and as an anodyne. 



ESSENTIAL SPECIFIC CHARACTERS: 



200. Primula rcris. L. Flowering stem a scape, leaves ovate, 

 contracted below, flowers pale yellow, in drooping umbels, calyx cam- 

 panulate, teeth ovate, corolla limb cup-shaped, capsule oval. 



Yellow Rattle (Rhinanthus Crista-Galli, L.) 



Though one of the Arctic plants, Yellow Rattle is not represented 

 at present in ancient deposits. It ranges throughout the Arctic and 

 Temperate X. zones in Arctic Europe, X. Asia, and X. America. It 

 is found, moreover, throughout Great Britain as far north as the Shet- 

 lands. and ascends to 2500 ft. in the Highlands. It is found in Ireland 

 and the Channel Islands. 



Xo plant is more typical of low-lying meadow land than Yellow 

 Rattle, for when grass is laid to hay in spring and early summer it is 

 one of the commonest of flowers. To the farmer, as with Rest Harrow, 

 it is a sign of rough and poor pasture. It grows mainly on wet clayey 

 ground, along with Plantains, Cat's Ear, Dog Daisy, Early Purple 

 Orchis, and other plants of the valleys. 



This is an erect plant, either simple or branched, with a square 

 stem, spotted with black or brown, and smooth. 



The leaves are opposite, distant, stalkless, narrowly elliptical, heart- 

 shaped, blunt-veined, smooth, net-veined, toothed, the notches nearly 



