30 WILD FLOWERS. 



sister, who died in consequence of eating but 

 a small number of these bright fruits. Yet, 

 poisonous as they are to man and animals, in 

 general, the Great Creator has adapted them to 

 the use of some of his creatures, for to the 

 birds they are palatable and nourishing ; and 

 the thrush and the blackbird search for them 

 eagerly, and haunt the neighbouring trees and 

 hedges where these bushes abound. 



A small piece of the mezereon baric, bound 

 down upon the skin with a plantain leaf above it, 

 is used in villages to raise a blister. In France, 

 the use of plants, in their simple forms, is much 

 more common than v/ith us ; and the physician 

 directs his patient to gather his remedy from 

 the wood or field ; and the herbalist collects a 

 quantity of plants, which are hung, dried on 

 strings, and sold in the shops of Paris. There 

 we may find the mezereon bark, for the blister; 

 and the mullein, the mclilot, the mallow, and 

 fifty others, ready for medicinal or sui'gical pur- 

 poses. Both in France and England, the meze- 

 reon-root is used for toothache, and a yellow dye 

 has been obtained from its branches. 



This plant, and the several kinds of Daphne, 

 are often termed laurel, from the similarity of 

 the leaves of some species to those of the 

 shining laurel tree. Our old names for the me- 

 zereon, are olive spurge and mountain pepper, 

 and the French call it laureole yentille. In 

 Italy, it is a favourite flower, and called Bion- 

 della, (Little fair one.) 



Our other wild Daphne is much more general 



