THE PIMPERNEL AND THE PLANTAINS 451 



charming and interesting of all our wild-flowers. 

 It is ubiquitous, so much so as to be a source of 

 no little trouble to the gardener, but none the less 

 does the simple, bright-coloured little flower appeal 

 to our sympathy. It is a truthful little timepiece, 

 and its brilliant scarlet blossoms expand them- 

 selves from spring to autumn. Throughout the 

 sunnier hours of the day, so regular is it in its 

 habits, that it has earned the name of shepherd's 

 clock, shepherd's barometer, and poor man's 

 weather-glass. In cloudy, sunless weather it 

 refuses to unfold itself, but when the sun is 

 shining its petals are opened from 7 a.m. till 2 

 p.m., and this with such regularity as to enable 

 a very fairly correct estimate of the time to be 

 declared from its movements. Nor was it 

 formerly without its supposed medicinal virtues 

 near sight, epilepsy, dropsy, the bite of a 

 mad dog, being but a few of the ills for which it 

 was esteemed a valuable and efficacious remedy. 



The great plantain, so common and so familiar 

 a weed, is not without some interest, since it was 

 formerly used as a remedy for ague, the sap from 

 the roots being expressed, and it was also used as 

 a specific for other ailments. Their ribs having 

 been removed, the leaves were bruised and applied 

 as a cure for the stings of bees. 



The leaves of the hoary plantain, which is com- 

 mon in all chalky districts, are said to make a 

 good astringent lotion, and the seeds of the rib- 

 wort plantain, which are of a mucilaginous nature, 



