26 WILD FLOWERS. 



and the neglected field, are gay with the bright 

 yellow rays of the coltsfoot, (Tnssilaffo Far- 

 fara.) It is almost the only instance of a wild 

 flower which appears long before its leaves are 

 unfolded. This plant is a ceitain indication of 

 a clayey soil, and its large angular leaves some- 

 times abound on the moist clay grounds in the 

 middle of summer. Loudon says of this plant, 

 that " it covers the clay soils on the pestilential 

 Maremmas, in Tuscany, where scarcely any other 

 plant will grow ; and the traveller on these 

 desolate scenes, must rejoice even at this sign 

 of vegetation. We can, indeed, hardly find a spot 

 of earth on which some plant peculiar to the 

 soil will not take root." 



The coltsfoot is, in some country places, called 

 bviU's-foot, or horse-foot. The cottony down, 

 under the leaves, is often gathered in villages 

 for tinder ; and the feather of the seeds, which 

 is of a more woolly texture than that of the dan- 

 delion, is used by the Highlanders for stufiing 

 mattresses. The coltsfoot leaves, previously 

 dried in the sun, will, if dipped in a solution of 

 saltpetre, burn like linen rag. The flowers are 

 infused as a remedy for coughs, and were smoked 

 through a reed by the ancient Greeks, as a cure 

 for asthma. The leaves are, in modern times, 

 the chief ingredient of the British herb tobacco, 

 and are often smoked ])y country peo{)le. 



By the cold river-side may be found the 

 flowers of the marsh marigold, {Caltha pa- 

 lustris;) its sturdy stem unbroken by the winds; 

 which make wild music, on the harp of reedsj 



