78 WILD FLOWERS. 



many glittering butterflies upon the spiny 

 branches. 



The furze is used for hedges, and its young 

 tops are eaten by animals. To the poor it fur- 

 nishes winter firing, and is often gathered from 

 the heath, and stacked by the cottage-door for 

 that purpose. In former times, large tracts ot 

 common were cultivated with the shrub, in 

 various parts of Devonshire, to supply the 

 winter fuel. The numerous pods which hang* 

 on the summer bush, are soon cleared away by 

 the birds, and a store of honey is furnished to 

 the bees by their fragrant pea-shaped flowers. 

 The summer wind bears to the traveller a de- 

 lightful odour from the common covered with 

 the furze ; and so beautiful is it that we have 

 not a wald flower which better deserves the 

 praises that the poets have lavished upon it. 

 The French call this plant, ^'owc marin, because 

 it bears the sea-breeze so well. The name of 

 Ulex is derived from a Celtic word, signify- 

 ing a sharp point ; in Scotland, it is usually 

 termed gorse, or whin. The Russian cultivates 

 it in a green-house, as one of his rarest flowers. 

 A double variety of furze grows wild on the 

 heaths of Devonshire, and is a handsome and 

 fragrant addition to the bushes and trees of 

 the shrubbery. 



On many a hedge may now be seen the 

 graceful flowers of the plant, called, familiarly, 

 traveller's joy, or virgin's bower, or wild 

 clematis. It is the clematis vitalba of the 

 botanist. The Greek word from which its 



