YELLOW BROOM AND YELLOW BEDSTRAW 423 



summer breezes on many a sandy heath and road- 

 side bank. A graceful and free-flowering shrub, 

 it is also not without its uses ; the young buds 

 when picked are said to be an excellent substitute 

 for capers, and the tender branches were formerly 

 of medicinal value ; the wood, when matured, is 

 also useful for various purposes. When it is con- 

 sidered how many plants there are which were 

 formerly used either for culinary or medicinal 

 purposes, and how many others have been found 

 to be deadly poisons, we can but come to the 

 conclusion that the knowledge which our pre- 

 decessors gained regarding the qualities, good and 

 bad, of our British plants and flowers cannot have 

 been acquired without some very considerable 

 risk and loss of life, and we have, therefore, much 

 reason to be grateful to them for their apparently 

 disinterested and enterprising botanical researches 

 and experiments. 



The yellow bedstraw, otherwise anciently called 

 Our Lady's bedstraw (scientifically, Galium veriun), 

 grows in clustering masses on many a bank and 

 hillside. Small, fine, and delicate, as its name 

 implies, it was none the less at one time in con- 

 siderable request, being, when boiled, used for 

 the same purposes as rennet in curdling milk. 

 The Cheshire dairy-farmers found it of value in 

 the manufacture of cheese. A valuable dye of 

 a rich madder-colour is obtained from the roots of 

 this unpretentious little plant. In the Highlands 

 of Scotland the plant is still used both for milk- 



