THE WOOD SORREL 459 



The root is used medicinally as a nerve tonic, 

 and has a peculiarly strong and disagreeable 

 smell. It is said, though I have never witnessed 

 it, that cats eat the leaves and the root of the 

 valerian greedily, and become apparently intoxi- 

 cated by them. 



The wood sorrel, or wood-sour, as it is locally 

 termed, may well be regarded as one of the most 

 beautiful and delicate of all our earlier spring 

 flowers. Nor are the leaves less beautiful than 

 the flowers. It appears to have been a plant 

 which was formerly regarded with some venera- 

 tion, probably from its being a trefoil, and so 

 considered as emblematical of the Trinity. It 

 was also called cuckoo's meat (by the {French, 

 pain de coco), and ' alleyluya ' by ancient writers. 

 The leaves contain oxalic acid, and were formerly 

 used as an antiscorbutic medicine. The scientific 

 name of the plant is Oxalis acetonella. 



