THE TEASEL AND THE WILD THYME 457 



containing ; as much as half a pint is said to 

 have been collected from one leaf. The growth 

 of the leaves is peculiar, their bases being united, 

 and so forming a kind of natural cup. The 

 common teasel is not the plant which is used by 

 fullers for carding wool, the latter being a culti- 

 vated variety known as the fuller's teasel, the 

 seed-vessels being furnished with hooked spines ; 

 the flowers are also of a lighter hue. Though 

 somewhat similar to a thistle in its growth and 

 appearance, the teasel is distinct from the thistle, 

 the former belonging to the genus Dipsacus, the 

 latter to that of Carduus, the common teasel being 

 the Dipsacus sylvestris, the fuller's teasel Dipsac2ts 

 fullonum. 



The wild thyme may be found on every bank 

 and hillside pasture in the United Kingdom, and 

 is familiar to all. Though inferior to the culti- 

 vated variety, which is not a wild British plant, 

 but an importation from South-Western Europe, 

 the wild thyme is, nevertheless, by no means 

 without its good qualities. Bees feed eagerly on 

 its flowers. Virgil, who knew as much about 

 agriculture, etc., as any modern farmer, and 

 something about everything, refers to the value 

 of thyme in the vicinity of a bee-farm in the fourth 

 book of the ' Georgics,' in the lines thus rendered 

 by Dryden : 



* Wild thyme and savoury set around their cell, 

 Sweet to the taste, and fragrant to the smell.' 



Nor are other of the ancient classics unmindful of 



