1 68 May — Marsh Caltha. 



bordered with its beautiful flowers, which in that place 

 are of the purest white, though they are often purplish. 

 Whatever the cuckoo may have to do with this elegant 

 and abundantly flowering plant, it is one of the glories 

 of advancing spring, and where you find it you are very 

 likely to find the marsh caltha not far off, for both of 

 them like damp places. The botanical name Caltha is 

 an allusion to the basket shape of the flower, which 

 reminded some one of a little gilt basket, — not that it 

 is much more like a basket than a buttercup is ; how- 

 ever, a name was got for it in this way from K<z\a6os. 

 The French name for it, populage, is an allusion to its 

 habits. The flower likes damp places as a poplar does, 

 so it was called after populus, a poplar ; which is a very 

 singular way of naming a plant, for similarities of struct- 

 ure are much more generally noticed than similarities 

 of taste. As the flower is much larger than that of the 

 buttercup, and equally golden in color, it often becomes 

 of considerable importance in spring foregrounds. 



