MAY. 89 



flower, either for the shrubbery or garden, be- 

 cause it is seldom quite out of bloom ; but if the 

 winter be mild, has here and there a floAver on 

 its branches, even to the season least favour- 

 able to vegetable beauty. Its yellow stars are 

 now in great profusion on the weak straggling 

 branches which reach over the sunny wall. 

 They are composed of rays, and round, like 

 dandelions or marigolds, but of a darker and 

 less brilliant colour, and the long notched and 

 deeply-veined pale green leaves, grow thinly 

 over the weak boughs. This plant is some- 

 times upright, being merely fastened to a stick ; 

 but it is much better adapted for covering the 

 garden or house wall. It grows wild in Japan, 

 and was named after Ker the botanical collector, 

 who, some years since, introduced into our 

 gardens several plants from China. 



Some very pretty flowers of the ranunculus 

 genus are blooming on the border. There is 

 the common bachelor's button, {Ranunculus 

 acris fiore pleno^) with its double yellow flowers, 

 which are to be seen in every garden, and 

 which is merely a variety, rendered double 

 by cultivation, of our wild flower, the acrid 

 crowfoot of the meadows. There are also the 

 pretty double blossoms of the white-flowered 

 bachelor's button, {Ranunculus aconitifolius,) a 

 long-standing ornament of the British parterre, 

 but which in its native haunts, the high moun- 

 tains of Switzerland, rears its snowy flowers, 

 and varies the monotonous tints of ice and 

 snow with its dark green leaves. This flower 



