APRIL. 55 



by reason when it springeth forth the cuckowe 

 singeth most ; at which time also alleluya was 

 wont to be sung in our churches." It is still 

 known both in Spain and Italy by the name of 

 alleluya. It is much used on the continent 

 as a fish-sauce, and was, among our ancestors, 

 in great repute, as the chief ingredient in the 

 "green sauce," which, in former days, always 

 accompanied fish on the table. 



The acid flavour of the sorrels, renders them 

 generally palatable to children, and, if taken 

 only in small quantities, they are not pernicious ; 

 but no one should, at one time, eat more than a 

 handful of wood-sorrel. The expressed juice 

 of this plant is used to remove spots and iron- 

 moulds from linen. It is also diluted with milk 

 and given as a febrifuge in our English villages, 

 and still more commonly in Russia. 



A yellow species of the wood -sorrel (Oxalis 

 corniculata) is occasionally found in shady 

 places, but it is rare. The plant which is most 

 commonly known as sorrel, and which may be 

 seen in any summer meadow, is the field dock- 

 sorrel, {Rumex acetosa.) It is most abundant 

 on the sandy soil. Its acidity is less than 

 that of the wood-sorrel, and its spikes of dark 

 red flowers often rise above the grass, and may 

 be seen very plainly on the pasture land. The 

 sheep's sorrel, too, {Rumex acetosella,) is scarcely 

 less frcfuicnt on open places, and its flowers are 

 similar to those of the field-sorrel, but much 

 smaller. These two sorrels are not in bloom 

 until June and July. They resemble the wood- 



