FLOWERS AND GRASSES. 65 



and the old monkish herbalists called it " Halle- 

 lujah." The taste of the leaves of this plant is a 

 pleasant acid, and they have been eaten in Ireland 

 from time immemorial as a spring salad. It is a 

 plant very sensitive to the changes of the atmosphere, 

 not only closing its flowers and folding its leaves at 

 sunset, but also as the result of rude handling or 

 blows. 



Of the large number of plants belonging to the 

 pea-flower family only a few are sylvan in their habits. 

 Of these may be mentioned the Bush Vetch 1 and the 

 Wood Vetch,: the latter being the most rare of the 

 two 



"And where profuse the wood vetch clings 



Round ash and elm in verdant rings, 



Its pale and azure pencilled flower 



Should canopy Titania's bower. " 



The pretty little Grass-leaved Vetch, 3 with its solitary 

 crimson flowers, is one of the stray gems of southern 

 woods. Before flowering the plants cannot be dis- 

 tinguished from the grass amongst which they grow, 

 and it is only by the bright flowers that they are dis- 

 covered ; hence the plant is considered rare. The 

 tuberous-rooted Bitter Vetch 4 is the only other plant 

 of the family which need be named of the whole 

 number of nearly eighty that are British. 



The little Barren Strawberry, 5 so common on the 

 ground in woods, is with difficulty distinguished 

 by the uninitiated from the Wild Strawberry. 6 So 



1 Vida septum. 4 Orobus tuberosus, L. 



2 Vicia sylvatica. * Potentilla fragariastrum . 



3 Lathyrus nissolia. 6 Fragaria vesca. 



